Nearest Target to me is an hour away. I really thought our one local bank surely had wifi (no, of course a bank doesn’t have wifi, silly, security too big a risk, duh). It’s our little teeny 1930s public library or nothing. So this San Francisco story hit me square in the chops as something like that here would take away our only free access point. Why would anybody do that?!?
I live in a rural area without broadband access. Any quality broadband access. During the pandemic, kids sat in their parents’ cars (typically after they got home from work) to do their remote-learning homework in front of the public library to get free access to decent connection speeds AND access the library files electronically (for California check here https://www.library.ca.gov/services/to-libraries/ebooks-for-all/ - every state has an equivalent ). People, including kids, check out books (and periodicals) electronically 24/7.
Publicly funded but not for the public.
And before anyone makes a comment about the unhoused probably not paying taxes … neither do any of the children or retirees who use the service every single day of the year.
We’ve pretty much just abandoned any concept of citizenship or civic responsibility…
It should have been avoided. Facts tell us very clearly it could not have been: there has been zero regulatory appetite for this activity, in the U.S. or elsewhere. And adventure-seekers will amuse themselves even at the expense of other’s lives. Amoral profiteers abound. Caveat Emptor.