You may have noticed free wi-fi signs located in a few choice subway stations, but the city is stepping up its game: New York City is planning to convert its old phone booths into free wi-fi stations. Not only that, but these lil wifi hotspots will include free calls for those who aren’t blessed with a smartphone (or any phone), as well as charging ports for people like me who always run out of battery.
That’s really quite fantastic given that a lot of Americans don’t have access to the Internet (though admittedly, free wi-fi hardly helps when someone can’t afford a device to access the internet). The program, called LinkNYC, is run by a larger group called CityBridge and will be able to provide a completely free, super fast wifi network simply through advertising money.
However, New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) told Gizmodo that the terms and conditions for the free wifi are a bit fuzzy on security.
NYCLU points directly at the Terms & Conditions for the free wifi where it is noted that the company running this show, CityBridge, will only make “reasonable attempts” to chuck your data after 12 months and “reasonable attempts” to let you know if the government wants to speak with you about information you circulated through the network.
“We fully support free wi-fi for New Yorkers,” Mariko Hisone, a senior staff attorney with the NYCLU told Gizmodo. “The idea is to have a service that people can rely on everyday. For those people, this company is going to be retaining your browsing history.”
In a similar vein, CBS brought in cybersecurity expert, Gary Miliefsky, to figure out how to hack the system — which he quite easily did by creating a fake login page.
“The first thing you see is an ad that is a spear phishing attack. They think they’re connecting to LinkNYC wireless kiosk when in reality, they are connecting to a malicious sight and they don’t know it and put in their credit card info and it goes to the hackers,” Miliefsky told CBS.
But the mayor’s office says the new wifi is perfectly safe.
“New York City and CityBridge have created customer-first privacy protections to ensure our users’ personal information stays that way — personal. We believe our privacy policy is the best way to protect New Yorkers and LinkNYC users while they safely and securely enjoy free superfast Wi-Fi across the five boroughs. We will continue to work to ensure legitimate concerns are addressed.” the office said in a statement.
Likewise, LinkNYC says its privacy policy will ensure for user safety.
“New York City and CityBridge have created a customer-first privacy policy, and will never sell any user’s personal information. LinkNYC does not collect or store any data on users’ personal web browsing on their own devices. CityBridge would require a subpoena or similar lawful request before sharing any data with the NYPD or law enforcement, and we will make every effort to communicate government requests to impacted users. Link cameras are currently inactive and are not designed to feed into any NYPD systems.” said Jen Hensley, the General Manager of LinkNYC.
In any case, use your judgement to make safe choices on the Internet.
