User Info From City’s New LinkNYC Kiosks Need Stronger Protections: Group
(DNAINFO) Noah Horowitz | March 22, 2016 The NYCLU is asking the city to strengthen protections against hackers and NYPD surveillance.
A civil-liberties group is asking the operator of the city’s new public WiFi system to make it harder for hackers to access user information and to safeguard against overreach by law enforcement.
The New York Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday sent a letter to CityBridge — operator of the new LinkNYC system of public kiosks and wireless hot spots that began replacing street payphones last month — imploring the firm to strengthen privacy protections and develop stricter policies for deleting user information.
The NYCLU is concerned that information collected about users, which includes email addresses, could be vulnerable to hackers and police if measures aren’t taken to protect their data, according to Mariko Hirose, a senior staff attorney with the group.