These articles were written in 1995, and appear courtesy of Wired
Ventures, Inc.
As the Great Cyber Land-Grab runs its course,
a campaign is underway to stake a claim
on the electronic frontier
for those who lack the capital or clout to elbow in themselves.
Free-Nets - community computer networks dedicated to meeting local needs
- are some of the most successful arms of this movement.
You can choose your metaphor -
public broadcasting, public libraries, public utilities -
but the concept behind Free-Nets is simply
to provide low- or no-cost Net access and community information
to anyone who wants it.
For the past century, the telephone has served
as our dominant metaphor for keeping in touch.
But with the explosive growth of the Internet - and the
release of real-time, Net-based voice-transmission tools -
the telephone's reign as monarch of intimacy
may be drawing to a close.
