Wireless Philadelphia has taken the next step in providing the entire city with Wi-Fi access, announcing that EarthLink will build, manage and fund the network. According an article in the Washington Post, EarthLink officials have said that the company would pay the network's estimated $10 million to $15 million cost by itself. While private sector funding for the project is a welcome development, it does not answer the question of whether or not a Wi-Fi network is an appropriate solution at all.

Today, Cingular announced it has teamed up with Dell to offer its version of high-speed wireless technology in notebooks. This comes on the heels of Verizon reaching agreements to offer its BroadbandAccess in laptops by Dell, HP and Lenovo.

Earlier this week, Verizon announced that it has reached deals with computer manufacturers Dell, Lenovo and HP to offer its 3G wireless technology as an integrated option in laptop computers. Using EV-DO technology, Verizon is currently offering its BroadbandAccess service in 60 markets across the U.S., including its recent launch in San Francisco, where the mayor has designs of a municipal Wi-Fi network. This move comes shortly after announcing a 25% price cut for BroadbandAccess last month. Verizon, along with other cellular providers Sprint and Cingular, are ramping up their deployment of 3G wireless broadband networks.

You know an issue has reached public relevancy when it is being portrayed in the morning comics, and it appears even Dilbert's pointy-haired boss is vulnerable to phishing attacks.

Today, Senator Gordon Smith introduced the US SAFE WEB Act of 2005, which is a bill designed to provide the FTC with cross-border jurisdictional authority to pursue fraudsters and criminals in other countries. The bill allows for cooperation between the FTC and foreign agencies to work together to stop spammers, spyware purveyors and other fraudsters.

The US SAFE WEB Act is a step in the right direction to handling the problem of fraud, particularly those crimes associated with the Internet. By granting the FTC authority to work with other nations, the global community will become better equipped to fight cross-border fraud, as well as domestic fraud, through improved communication, collaboration and enforcement efforts among nations.

A day after the announcement that Google, Goldman and Hearst are investing $100 million in Current Communications BPL, Sprint announced that it will begin offering wireless broadband at speeds comparable to wired broadband to half the U.S. by the end of the year. Sprint's system is being built to rival Verizon's wireless broadband system that currently serves dozens of cities and expects to reach half of the country by year's end.

This type of wireless broadband offering by cell phone companies comes at a time when alternatives to DSL and cable high-speed are becoming increasingly prevalent. Wi-Fi has been the dominant wireless solution, but is technologically inferior to newer solutions that are increasing in popularity, such as EV-DO, 3G HSDPA (wireless broadband technology offered by Cingular), and WiMax. In light of the increasing interest by municipalities to invest in city-owned Wi-Fi or fiber networks, it is encouraging to see private companies focusing on new technologies while the prices of standards such as DSL and cable have continued to fall in the wake of competition. With any luck, private industry and superior technology will win out over municipal involvement in an already competitive and ever-evolving market for Internet connectivity.

Yesterday the House passed two different spyware bills. They passed HR 29, which targets the technology used by spyware purveyors and provides authority over spyware crimes to the FTC, and they also passed HR 744, which targets the crimes transgressed, not the technology used to commit them and provides the Department of Justice with authority to prosecute and fine criminals. The passage of two bills with very different objectives and levels of regulation reaffirms my contentions that legislating on an issue such as spyware is no easy task.

On Cnet news today, Declan McCullagh has an op-ed discussing the spyware legislation currently under discussion in Congress. McCullagh concludes that the Spy Act, sponsored by Mary Bono, is not necessary and has the potential to be a harmful piece of legislation. The Spy Act targets deceptive software that can lead to the theft of personal information and other misuses of a consumer's computer. Instead, he commends the approach taken by Representative Goodlatte, which targets problematic behavior, rather than technology. As stated previously in this space , the Goodlatte bill represents the most logical path towards legislating problems such as spyware and phishing. Its focus on the action, rather than the means through which the action was facilitated, affords the bill the ability to be effective, but prevents it from overreaching its objective and regulating a successful and unregulated entity like the Internet.

As the debate over spyware continues to make waves in Congress, many states are also taking action to curb the incidence of the pernicious software. Yesterday, the Alaska State Senate passed a bill to put a ban on spyware. The Alaska bill, which appears to focus more on the adware aspects of spyware, including pop-up ads, adds a section to the state's current laws on unfair trade and business practices to include spyware. While this law is unlikely to have an adverse impact on the legitimate software market, it reintroduces the question of whether or not states should be legislating on this issue. The spyware issue is one that cannot be reasonably corrected at the federal level, due to its medium, the Internet, and thus its global nature, not to mention the difficulty in tracking spyware purveyors. These factors make it even less likely that state legislation will have a positive impact.

As stated previously in this space, federal legislation on spyware is a cause for alarm, based on the vague definition of spyware and implications such legislation could have on legitimate software and innovation, yet it may prove to be a necessary evil to thwart state legislation from running rampant and hurting interstate commerce as well as innovation in the software industry and the Internet as a whole. The task at hand then becomes choosing the appropriate legislation that will not only maximize positive benefits, but equally as important, limit the potential negative effects of regulation.

Two good articles on phishing from Sunday and Monday. The first article talks about eBay phishers and the second about just how lucrative and prevalent phishing scams have become. Both offer some good insight into some of the scams being perpetrated, and also, both come to the conclusion that one of the keys to battling phishing is consumer education and awareness, as I alluded to in my post last week.