Michael Grothaus 03.17.16 8:15 AM The New York Civil Liberties Union says LinkNYC "carries a risk of security breaches and unwarranted NYPD surveillance."
Presumably it requires you to log in to gain access? In which case, they'll have your location data if they didn't already from you mobile(!). Use of VPN would be, as they say, well advised - and that's not only for govt. snooping.
Yes but wouldn't you be hidden in the crowd? Go to a place where there are tons of people, keep your smartphone in your pocket, and connect that way. Remember to act as if you're doing nothing, because they have security cameras and they're able to identify who you are if they see you using your mobile at the same time as when the connection was made.
As long as the sole requirement is an email I don't see a problem. If they require real ID in some form, then it would be a serious concern. If I was in NYC, I would test the system with a disposable email address. VPN use goes without saying, this is no different from any public wifi network. For someone who actually resided there, a wireless repeater and cantenna could easily bring in distant access points.
Some recent articles on the subject: http://www.villagevoice.com/news/go...into-a-personalized-propaganda-engine-8822938 https://cryptome.org/2016/06/linknyc-spy-kiosks-installation-videos.htm
This very much reminds me of corporate behavior in the early days of the industrial revolution - there was no consumer or worker protection, and what is basically an unprincipled land grab. What peeves me even more is that "we" sell ourselves so cheaply for "free". Mind you, it's not hard to persuade a few people to disadvantage the majority.
Are New York’s Free LinkNYC Internet Kiosks Tracking Your Movements? September 8, 2018 https://theintercept.com/2018/09/08/linknyc-free-wifi-kiosks/