"Our industry is constantly looking to strike a balance between the experience and economics of free Wi-Fi ..."
Perhaps translated:
"Our industry just wants to see what it can get away with ... your "experience" should ONLY be about ... how much we can identify about you ... so we can sell stuff to you."
Look ... no one is saying WIFI is not fabulous ... or that we don't need it ... or that its not a marvelous invention.
BUT what is just over the top ridiculous? ISP's pretending that they are looking to make a better product by hijacking my computer.
Just be transparent. If its free ... and you want to do the dance of tampering with my WIFI ... tell me... and I can choose to use it or not. AND if I am PAYING for my WiFi service then leave it the F alone.
Ironically ... even with transparency ... I bet ... if ISP XYZ just came out with what they were doing ... people are so addicted to "fill in the blank" ... that they would still use the ISP "Free hijacked WiFi" service because they will be jonesing for their latest Facebook update anyway