http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/technology/personaltech/are-the-free-wi-fi-kiosks-on-new-york-streets-safe.html 2016-09-05 09:39:13 Are the Free Wi-Fi Kiosks on New York Streets Safe? Like other urban areas, New York City has free internet hot spots around town that can give you web access. But as always, be careful. === Q. A. Each of the slender vertical LinkNYC towers also provides a fast, free Wi-Fi connection for mobile devices and laptops. The display screen offers free web browsing, and each Link station has USB ports for charging phone and tablet batteries. For emergencies, each tower has a red 911 button, too. As explained in the Using any public wireless network or computer terminal brings a risk of For example, there is a standard open network called “LinkNYC Free Wi-Fi” that relies on your web browser’s security to The kiosks also include a “LinkNYC Private” network for those with the hardware to handle it. This is an encrypted network connection between the towers and the For further security measures, the USB ports on the LinkNYC towers can be used only for charging devices but not for transferring data (including malicious software that may be lurking). The LinkNYC’s web browser has a content filter designed to help screen out malware, although the software has not been particularly successful yet in Even with all the safeguards in place, it is a good idea to treat the LinkNYC kiosks as you would any public network anywhere in the world. Do not log in to sites that store your financial information, do not enter your credit card number into any web forms and stay aware of others on the street who may be playing close attention to your online activity.