Starbucks to offer free Wi-Fi starting July 1

Starbucks announced their plan to offer free wireless internet for customers starting July 1 of this year. Feeling the heat from competitors like McDonald’s who has had free Wi-Fi since last year, Starbuck’s plan is a bit different than simply setting up a hotspot for people to check their Facebook. This fall Starbucks will launch the Starbucks Digital Network. The content delivery system will offer original, local content for free. The source of the content wasn’t specifically laid out but Starbucks has a deal going with Yahoo and is in talks with AOL’s Patch.com. Also, by logging onto the Starbucks Digital Network you will be able to access the Wall Street Journal for free. Unfortunately for anonymity advocates, Starbucks will require you to log in to their Wi-Fi with a unique ID so they can track who you are and where you log into their networks. Hopefully this doesn’t pave the way for targeted advertisements.