The message of the day is: tread carefully. A local group intends to create a city-wide wireless Internet service. The hope is that anyone in Ames would be able to jump on the Net, wherever they are, using a single wireless service. The idea sounds attractive at first, and why not? It would be cool to have such a service. Laptops are becoming more affordable and productive, and from a certain point of view, wireless laptops carry the same flexibility as cell phones – now an ordinary feature of daily life.

But that wouldn’t be a fair comparison. The unfortunate reality is that government-controlled communication services tend to be subject to abuse and censorship. This is especially true in the case of the Internet, which has been under constant attack ever since the Clinton presidency. Government has shown itself to be detrimental to the free growth and free use of communication systems. So why now does the Story County Free Wireless Project intends to approach the Ames City government?

Tread carefully. City-wide wireless would be neat, but there’s more than one way to skin a cat. These ideas start well – and who could complain about wireless Internet – but unforeseen events down the road usually derail the original honest aims. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” as they say.

For a moment, let’s imagine the city government establishes a city-wide wireless Internet service. It is owned by the city, or privately owned and publicly funded. In either case, the City Council and mayor would be able to censor the service. Things are clicking, people are surfing, it’s great.

Then, imagine further that a few years down the road, an emotional issue surfaces, a handful of parents freak out, and City Council rushes in to “save” Ames through censorship. Those parents are relieved, we have a watered-down Internet service funded through parking ticket revenue, and the original aims of the service are memories – as are the previously existing wireless offered by various businesses that unlike the city wireless, left residents to parent and choose for themselves.

Fortunately, there are options. Wireless Internet and technology in general are seeing tremendous growth, and there is no reason to expect a change. Current capacities are growing rapidly, bringing with them new ways of addressing technological problems. Someday down the road, Internet access will be viewed as a utility like electric or phone service. The most rational, safe and healthy path to this future is through the private sector. For all of its faults, it has not disproven itself, as has government.

There are numerous alternatives to a city government-controlled wireless service. Let’s start there: It has already proven itself.