Privacy is optional.
Nothing in life is free.
Google is setting up a free outdoor Wi-Fi zone around its New York headquarters in the Chelsea district, making it available to local residential homes and schools. At a press conference on Tuesday, New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that free Wi-Fi was a "great idea" and the city has already wired up 20 public parks in …
You have to admit, the estimated costs to install ($115k) and operate ($45k) the network are pretty low. Sure not as cheap as 3 DSL lines and 3 SOHO routers, but nowhere near what companies were quoting back in the years of muni-WiFi.
Can you imagine what kinds of operational overheads and costs would come with having to create billing, authentication, support center (including a way to give credit to users who pay but can't get connected), and roaming agreements and transfer payment schemes and revenue sharing, and on and on...