If you don't already know FON, you may soon. Founded by Martin Varsavsky of Jazztel fame, FON is a movement to create shared wireless access networks, begun in Spain and now being exported worldwide, albeit one connection at a time. The basic idea is that users with Wi-Fi connections sign up and share their network access to others also belonging to the FON system, er, movement. A little piece of software makes it happen, but at the moment only if you have a Linksys wireless router. More importantly, FON has its own Flickr tag.

Earlier this week the inimitable Om Malik carried some buzz about FON's founders talking to Google about some flavor of cooperation, creating a small tempest in a blog cup and driving responses from other leading FONeros.

While FON is limited by its Linksys issue, FON does present an interesting model, perhaps not yet a strong commercial one, but a community-building idea (very European) that might find some traction in areas around the US, as well in underserved countries where incumbents keep a tight leash on competition. Perhaps most intriguingly, FON presents some interesting options for developing countries, as Varsavsky talks about here. After all, what is a $100 laptop without cheap or free wireless internet access?