Wireless Silicon Valley
Page Media
In April 2006, Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a non-profit business government coalition in San Jose, California, released a request for proposals for it's new initiative, Wireless Silicon Valley, an ambitious project to create a region-wide wireless system to "anyone, anywhere, involving any device."
Nothing in the extensive vision and planning documents discussed privacy and free speech considerations. Prior to the release of the request for proposals (RFP), advocacy groups such as the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC), Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) submitted a letter detailing the privacy and free speech concerns that must be taken into account when selecting a municipal wireless vendor. Unfortunately, Wireless Silicon Valley declined to include any specific questions about privacy or free speech in the RFP, but instead asked each vendor to submit its end user license agreement (EULA). The advocacy groups expressed concerns, and as feared, the EULAs submitted were extremely general.
The three proposals selected by Wireless Silicon Valley — MetroFi, VeriLan, and Silicon Valley Metro Connect all had EULAs which revealed that each of the proposals had deep privacy and free speech flaws. Meetings and a public forum followed, including presentations about privacy and free speech issues.
Wireless Silicon Valley chose MetroConnect whose proposal contained very few privacy and free speech safeguards including requiring a user login tied to the user's address and credit card which allowed for "user tracking." Neither the proposal nor the EULA contained any limitations on how MetroConnect would share user data with third parties or how user date would be tied to target advertisements nor had any proper safeguards for resisting demands about user information. The company planned to disclose personal information in response to criminal and civil subpoenas without giving users any notice and there was no limitation on how long data would be stored about users.
In February 2007, Wireless Silicon Valley planned to roll out the new system in two markets, San Carlos and Palo Alto but in December 2007, the program began to hit substantial snags. During this time, Wireless Silicon Valley announced that while the network was initially marketed as a way to provide universal Internet access to Silicon Valley residents, it would now be an economic development tool for local businesses that would pay to use the service. While a one square mile pilot program has been launched in San Carlos, the privacy and free speech protection that Wireless Silicon Valley long pledged to incorporate appear to remain grounded.
Following the original selection of MetroConnect, Wireless Silicon Valley asked professors from Stanford Law School and Santa Clara University Law to research and submit models for privacy policies and contract terms that would incorporate adequate safeguards. While the professors presented their findings, no action has yet to have been taken.
Learn more:
DTIS Response to ACLU of Northern California Privacy and Free Speech Concerns
May Letter to SF Supervisors - Necessary Modifications to Earthlink/Google contract
February Letter to SF Supervisors - Earthlink/Google contract
Analysis of Earthlink and Google Final Contract
