Free wifi in the City

[smiggs]

Interesting that out of all 27 companies invited to tender they chose a local company in Idaq to provide the service, their main business is ultra fast broadband to businesses their technology is based on a mesh network of infra red point to point connections with this contract they have just gained a ton of new points. This should give their network much better reliability, it's not about the ad revenue.

[Super Hans]

It's there for people to use if they want to, if you are too paranoid to use it then you don't have to.

 

Loads of places offer "free" WiFi, Starbucks, Costa, McDonald's, Gregg's, Weatherspoons, a load of clothes shops etc, just seems odd to me that people are unfairly picking out SCC to criticise.

 

I wouldn't call them collecting data for advertising purposes a "major catch", that's how free internet works.

[altus]

It's there for people to use if they want to, if you are too paranoid to use it then you don't have to.

If you've got wi-fi enabled on your device they can track you as you move around the city centre even if you don't connect to their service.

 

Loads of places offer "free" WiFi, Starbucks, Costa, McDonald's, Gregg's, Weatherspoons, a load of clothes shops etc, just seems odd to me that people are unfairly picking out SCC to criticise.

Those places know where you are when you're in range of their stores. This scheme allows them to track you everywhere you go in the city centre.

 

I wouldn't call them collecting data for advertising purposes a "major catch", that's how free internet works.

 

For people who use the system it's fair exchange. For people not using their system, depending on what they are doing, it could be an invasion of privacy.

[ormester]

very good point!

 

Anybody with cash to spend already has a mobile phone contract, with data plan.

 

The only people to benefit from free WiFi in the city centre will have so little disposable income anyway, there’s no point advertising anything to them

 

a lotof people will benefit

[ECCOnoob]

If you've got wi-fi enabled on your device they can track you as you move around the city centre even if you don't connect to their service.

 

 

Those places know where you are when you're in range of their stores. This scheme allows them to track you everywhere you go in the city centre.

 

 

 

For people who use the system it's fair exchange. For people not using their system, depending on what they are doing, it could be an invasion of privacy.

 

I really dont understand what you mean.

 

Wifi enabled does not mean that your device will automatically connect to a network. Even more so if its a network that is only activated once a user has gone through their registration (either by way of paywall or otherwise).

 

My phone does it all the time. I sit down somewhere and it pops up with a list of possible wifi networks I COULD connect to but that doesn't mean I am.

 

If you are really that paranoid about being allegedly tracked turn off your phone settings until you are somewhere you feel more secure.

 

To be honest, given the amount of CCTV, facial recognition, bank payment records, loyalty card records and gathered marketing there are already ample opportunities to be tracked and monitored just by leaving the house. Wifi networks should be least of your worries.

[squirrelz]

If your phone is showing a list, it has to probe for that list, and it uses a unique hardware identifier (the WiFi adapter's MAC address) to do so.

 

This was reported on some time ago as being something that some retailers were looking at.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/techftc/2014/02/my-phone-your-service

 

If your phone's WiFi is on, people can track your phone as you move through the store, they just don't know who you are, unless you connect to the WiFi and sign in to one of their services.

[kaytie]

Surely all mobile phones are trackable anyway through the mobile telecoms network!

[altus]

I really dont understand what you mean.

 

Wifi enabled does not mean that your device will automatically connect to a network. Even more so if its a network that is only activated once a user has gone through their registration (either by way of paywall or otherwise).

 

My phone does it all the time. I sit down somewhere and it pops up with a list of possible wifi networks I COULD connect to but that doesn't mean I am.

When any device has wi-fi enabled it periodically broadcasts "are there any wi-fi access points?" messages which contains the device's MAC address. You can be tracked by those without having to connect to the service or agree to any terms and conditions.

 

If you are really that paranoid about being allegedly tracked turn off your phone settings until you are somewhere you feel more secure.

 

To be honest, given the amount of CCTV, facial recognition, bank payment records, loyalty card records and gathered marketing there are already ample opportunities to be tracked and monitored just by leaving the house. Wifi networks should be least of your worries.

Most of those are optional and/or regulated. 'Some people are doing it under limited circumstances' doesn't mean 'everybody should be able to do it under any circumstances'.

 

---------- Post added 04-12-2017 at 10:40 ----------

 

Surely all mobile phones are trackable anyway through the mobile telecoms network!

What they can do with the data is highly regulated.

[Cyclone]

Makes sense to me.

 

I think most adults realise there is no such thing as "FREE". Something or someone is paying for it.

 

Advertising revenue being a secondary purpose of the service is not so much as a "catch" but just "obvious".

 

Its exactly the same reason why every single hotel, coffee shop, bar and restaurant offers "free" wifi but strictly subject to providing your email address and registration.

 

Most of these have no verification, so I routinely give a fake email address and untick any boxes regarding advertising.

Mobile data is getting cheaper and cheaper anyway, will anyone actually need wifi in the future?

I now get 20GB for £20/month... So unless the signal is poor I don't care about connecting to wifi anyway.

 

---------- Post added 04-12-2017 at 10:46 ----------

 

What about people who use Wi-Fi in the city centre who don't connect to this service? Connecting to someone's Wi-Fi and getting advertising/tracked in return is a fair exchange. Getting tracked (possibly in your own home) because your device has Wi-Fi enabled even though you aren't using their service isn't.

 

Perhaps I should read the story, but the council aren't going to magically track you if you don't connect to their wifi.

 

---------- Post added 04-12-2017 at 10:48 ----------

 

For a company that has supposedly invested heavily in Sheffield their accounts, capital and shareholders (1) make for easy reading.

 

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06422644/filing-history

 

 

https://companycheck.co.uk/company/06422644/IDAQ-NETWORKS-LIMITED/financials

 

This is just someone's personal service company, apparently with more debt than credit...

 

---------- Post added 04-12-2017 at 10:59 ----------

 

Re: tracking your MAC address. Don't you all turn off wifi? I use tasker to turn off wifi when I'm away from home.