The Internet is everywhere. And in New York City, it’s now everywhere and free.
Back in February, the Big Apple launched its LinkNYC program, which aims to bring free, fast wireless service to the residents of the city. Which, given the some 8.4 million people living there is no small feat. If the program’s successful it could mean similar programs are rolled out in other metropolises, and that could be a big deal for Internet privacy rights.
You see, though New York is not the first municipality to offer free wi-fi, it’s a pretty major and expansive hub to do so. As the city rolls out the program over the next 10 years, converting old payphones into touchscreen terminals and access points for wi-fi, it will set a major standard for how other cities follow in their tracks. And as such it’s important that this system be secure.
As The Atlantic has found, the privacy policy for LinkNYC has been a bit uninspiring, stating that users agree to share information about devices browsing & search history, and the ways they interact with the web pages they go to. And though a spokesperson has stated that information is actually only gathered at kiosks, and even then it’s purely an email address (which they don’t verify) and a MAC address, it’s not exactly the pristine privacy policy that have come into demand. In fact, it’s very unclear what exactly users can come to expect in terms of security from LinkNYC.
“In response to our concern that CityBridge is amassing a database of people’s private Internet browsing histories, you stated that to the extent this information is personally identifiable it must be deleted after 12 months of user inactivity,” said the ACLU in a letter to the mayor’s office last month.
“However, the only reference we could find to a retention period in the privacy policy was this line: ‘We will make reasonable efforts to retain Personally Identifiable Information that you provide to us during registration no longer than 12 months after your last login.’ Promising to make some unspecified ‘reasonable efforts’ to delete data is not an adequate retention policy. Moreover, ‘12 months after your last login’ is not the same as a 12-month retention policy. It is effectively an indefinite retention period for people who use LinkNYC in their daily lives, as the retention period will be re-set to 12 more months into the future every time they use the service.”
As The Atlantic notes, those who can’t afford broadband access will be the most likely to take advantage of the free Internet offered to them, and those are often the same communities that are among the most heavily surveilled. Without protections in print, it’s possible that the system is letting down those it’s claiming to help:
Hirose, the NYCLU staff attorney, said it’s encouraging that LinkNYC doesn’t intend to collect browsing data on its wi-fi users, but stressed the importance of reflecting that fact in the official privacy policy. “There are people for whom this will be their way to connect to the Internet,” Hirose said. The essential nature of Internet access creates an power imbalance that could leave those people vulnerable, so she said she hopes people will push for more protective privacy rules.In rolling out a huge public network, LinkNYC had to attend to a huge range of security and privacy issues. Those challenges are clearly on their minds: The program’s CTO, Colin O’Donnell, told The Verge about the network’s security protections, which aim to keep malware out of the system.The encrypted private network, too, is a very important feature that will make browsing safer for the system’s regular users. The fact that it’s currently only available on newer, higher-end Apple devices leaves the security feature out of reach of those who need it most, but LinkNYC says they’re working to bring it to more devices soon.
Admittedly the program has only been underway for a couple of months. But building privacy into the roots of technology is increasingly more important. And if a major city like New York can not only offer free, fast wi-fi and negotiate the privacy concerns that come with it, it could mean a better (and broader) push for clarification of Internet privacy rights elsewhere. And if the numerous hacks have taught us anything over the past few years, it’s that real privacy can happen, but it takes some accountability.
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