This is an interesting article published in the New York Times that deals with the problems suffered by those who leave wi-fi unprotected. It seems that more and more people take advantage of this situation to “steal”broadband. This practise has already been baptized: it is called ‘piggybacking’.

Wi-fi is God. Soon it will be everywhere and, thanks to it, the ‘big brother’ will keep his eye on us all.A goog example are Scottsdale(Arizona) school students: in no time their school buses will be equipped with CCTV cameras connected via wi-fi; they will make thesurveillance inside the buses possible.

A public-private coalition in Cincinnati (USA) supports the installation of wi-fi hotspots for poor people. This supportive access points, of which 20 are already working, are managed by volunteers and funded by private donations.

Fon is revolutionising the wi-fi sector According to Expansión, the Spanish, Italian and Portuguese phone companies have teamed up to share their wi-fi aerials and compete against Fon. The three operators will allow their clients paying broadband services to connect to any of their hotspots.

Wi-fi is especially recommendable to offer Internet connection in those rural areas where cable can’t reach. That’s why the North American NGO Wireless Networking in the Developing World has published a free book explaining the installation process of this kind of infrastructures in remote areas. The guidebook comes with a wiki and a mailing list.

Vodafone has come to an agreement with KubiWireless (Boingo partner in Spain) in order to put its 220 Spanish hotspots at its clients disposal. With this strategy, Vodafone users can access 3G where wi-fi is not available, and use wi-fi where they can. However, to be honest, KubiWireless doesn’t work that well, as we gather from the fact that currently it counts on the same amount of hotspots as a year and a half ago.

According to Jiwire, Spain is the eleventh in the list of countries with the higher number of wi-fi hotspots, that includes 100.000 access points from all over the world. The Basque country has 99 of the 1.186 that have been found in Spain, which practically means a 10%.

This isn’t our threat, but Lakehead University (Ontario, Canada) vice-chancellor’s, who has forbidden the use of wi-fi in the campus to avoid health problems. It seems that the head of this University believes that, in a few years time, we’ll start to suffer the consequences of wireless connections, that he even compares with asbestos (which was considered harmless until not long ago).

Wi-fi will be everywhere. Since they help to differentiate products and services, all kinds of companies and organizations are installing wi-fi networks. And the most outstanding ones are those related to transports:from gas stations and airports, to ferries or Renfe trains.

Wi-fi networks are becoming the new alternative to the communications networks valid up till now. City Councils in the whole world are tendering the installation of these infrastructures. The most recent and close case is London’s, whose City Council has ordered The Cloud the setting up and further exploration of a wi-fi network.