Okay, it might be a bit too soon to follow up on my own post of a couple of days ago, but anne Broache wrote an excellent article at CNET News.com today that sums up a key question: should cities run Wi-Fi networks?

As Broache notes, there's a lot of passion on both sides of the issue.

Proponents of citywide Wi-Fi say it's a crucial resource -- Broache quotes Harold Feld, Senior Vice President at the Media Access Project, as saying, "I think most of us recognize that the Internet is not a luxury. It has become something essential for the conduct of business and even the conduct of everyday life."

But bills have been proposed in Congress to prohibit municipal Wi-Fi, contending that cities take profits away from Internet access providers and others when they provide the service as a municipal offering -- and that no city can run a business as well as private enterprise can.

Me, I think it's silly to try to legislate against a service that's clearly so popular, and which is becoming a key differentiator in attracting business to a given city. Look in the news these days, and citywide deployments are popping up everywhere, from Anaheim to Charleston to Tempe.