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SAN FRANCISCO--Google is the celebrity runner in San Francisco's race to become the first U.S. city with affordable or free wireless access to the Internet--but any such deal faces likely lawsuits or legislation, Mayor Gavin Newsom said Monday.

Among other dissenters, phone giants SBC Communications and Verizon Communications and cable companies such as Comcast have publicly and privately criticized the city's project, calling it "foolhardy" given that low-cost access to the Internet is already widely available to the public in San Francisco, Newsom said during a press conference at City Hall.

"Either they're right, or we're onto something," Newsom said, adding a strong note of confidence in his plan to tear down the digital divide between poor and wealthy people's access to broadband.

"This is inevitable; it's long overdue; and the public has a fundamental right to have access to information," Newsom said.
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Read More / Source: News.com