Google’s Plan to Bring Free Superfast Wi-Fi to the World Has Begun

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According to Bloomberg, Google has already set up a company that’ll handle the free Wi-Fi job in the Big Apple. Sidewalk Labs is the Google-backed startup that will turn 10,000 of New York’s old phone booths into ad-supported Wi-Fi pylons this September.
 
The company is leading a group of investors that are buying Control Group and Titan, companies working on covering New York City with free, superfast Wi-Fi.
 
The booths will provide cell-phone charging, free domestic phone calls and a touchscreen-based information point that delivers city and transit directions. Their most important feature will be free Wi-Fi Internet access though, and each pylon will have a range of 150 feet.
 
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Good to see that now people in New York City can use free Wi-Fi from Google without going to the library, Coffeeshop, or a restaurant.
 
As a person studying security for PC, I can't help but feel this is pretty bad in security concerns.
 
Demon_Skeith said:
As a person studying security for PC, I can't help but feel this is pretty bad in security concerns.
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I agree there would be some security concerns. There are some paid and free Virtual Private Network/VPN, and proxy apps which password protect your connections, so you are less likely to get spyed on, and hacked when using a public wifi connection. I bet, Google has good wifi security software installed on their public wifi, or make every device connect to a secure connection where spying is harder.
 
froggyboy604 said:
I agree there would be some security concerns. There are some paid and free Virtual Private Network/VPN, and proxy apps which password protect your connections, so you are less likely to get spyed on, and hacked when using a public wifi connection. I bet, Google has good wifi security software installed on their public wifi, or make every device connect to a secure connection where spying is harder.
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I have my doubts google's security will do much against anyone serious.
 
Their main objective is to allow users to access internet securely after all.
So, security is not an issue here..... :D
 
Demon_Skeith said:
I have my doubts google's security will do much against anyone serious.
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I think Google's Wifi maybe more secure than the free Wifi which you get at school, the library, or even at home because a lot of security software installed on Wifi networks are not always updated, and the firmware on routers are rarely updated by router makers, and the router owners don't keep their firmware updated most of the time.

It is best to use Privacy Apps like Tor, VPN, Proxy, firewall, Secure DNS, and file encryption on e-mails, chats, and files when you are using the internet for protection from serious attackers rather than rely on the protection on your wifi router, or the network operator like Google, or your ISP.
 
So, I totally see both sides of this coin.
Incredibly rocking of Google? Oh yes. Convenient and awesome for these city folk up there NY? Um, yeah. (  :yuck:  rural southern gals like me will never get that cool stuff, lol)
However, I can totally see this becoming a major security issue. For basic stuff, I can see Google having some decent protections in place but... either way, I'm wary of public networks and public wifi anyways and very careful about what I do when on them. Maybe I'm paranoid but I'd rather be paranoid than naive and taken advantage of!
 
Demon_Skeith said:
you are text book example of people who get hacked very easily, not to scare you but the best security is your own security.
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Think I don't know what security is?
I have attended various seminars kiddo....but trust me this isn't a bad thing ;)
 
alakazam said:
This seems interesting... Although I agree with Demon_Skeith that security issues will arise. And knowing Google's almost-existent customer support, they won't do anything about it if passwords get stolen and accounts get hacked...
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To be fair, I'm sure some ISPs won't do anything if your password gets stolen, and account gets hacked because a lot of ISPs probably blame your account getting hacked because of spyware on your PC like keyloggers, and viruses, or the websites security problem like Heartbleed, and an insecure https connection between your account and your PC which cause your online accounts to get hacked.
 
froggyboy604 said:
To be fair, I'm sure some ISPs won't do anything if your password gets stolen, and account gets hacked because a lot of ISPs probably blame your account getting hacked because of spyware on your PC like keyloggers, and viruses, or the websites security problem like Heartbleed, and an insecure https connection between your account and your PC which cause your online accounts to get hacked.
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I know from other people, if anything happens on your IP address, ISP will blame you no matter if there was an illegal entry to your system.
 
Demon_Skeith said:
I know from other people, if anything happens on your IP address, ISP will blame you no matter if there was an illegal entry to your system.
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I think the IP address is no longer a good way of identifying people online since there are software programs to use a fake IP, so sometimes criminals don't even need entry to your system. I bet, a skilled tech savvy person can find your IP somehow by phoning up your ISP, or sending you a link to a website which logs your IP with a program like Statscounter, Google Analytics, or their web host's traffic analytic program. 

A tech savvy Judge Says An IP Address Is Not Enough To Identify A Movie Pirate .
 
froggyboy604 said:
I think the IP address is no longer a good way of identifying people online since there are software programs to use a fake IP, so sometimes criminals don't even need entry to your system. I bet, a skilled tech savvy person can find your IP somehow by phoning up your ISP, or sending you a link to a website which logs your IP with a program like Statscounter, Google Analytics, or their web host's traffic analytic program. 

A tech savvy Judge Says An IP Address Is Not Enough To Identify A Movie Pirate .
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I'm not incredibly tech savvy but I do run a blog and use Google Analytics so I was wondering one day seeing the IP addresses of my visitors just how many people are out there abusing that. Scary. But that is definitely a smart and tech savvy judge right there. LOL, I bet the judges in my tiny town have NO CLUE what an ISP even is!
 
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