
New York's Wi-Fi kiosks disabled after complaints of people watching - Dowwie
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/14/new-york-sidewalk-wifi-homeless-people-porn
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Lendal
I actually read the whole article. The porn part was an afterthought at the
end, but it appears the editor decided to promote that part into the title,
because clicks. Music videos and extended use was the actual main culprit.

My takeaway is, why roll out wifi if you don't want people to use it?

~~~
jrowley
I believe there is actually a screen on the device, so people are actually
watching porn on the public kiosk, as opposed to their own device which is
connected to the kiosk via wifi.

~~~
evoloution
Yes, there is a screen. I can verify people chilling at the kiosk while having
youtube videos playing for hours. I have not seen people watching porn
though...

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wepple
The title has an unfortunate cut-off, I assumed this article was about 'people
watching', not 'people watching porn'

I wonder if there's an opportunity to provide useful information to the
homeless via these systems? It may end up becoming their one source of
reliable communications.

~~~
evoloution
You would be surprised how much effort has been put to improve the quality of
life of the homeless population in NYC. For example every homeless is entitled
to a shelter and they have access to food and emergency healthcare, let alone
the opportunity to enjoy public spaces. This is in direct contrast of what's
happening in other US cities. The total homelessness in US is dropping but
there is I think around a 40% increase in the homeless population in NYC. I
have been waiting some time now for an investigative journalist to come up
with an article that reads something like "The great migration of the
homeless".

~~~
humanrebar
> ...every homeless is entitled to a shelter and they have access to food and
> emergency healthcare...

Do someone have more information about this?

~~~
eternalban
[http://www1.nyc.gov/site/hra/help/i-need-
help.page](http://www1.nyc.gov/site/hra/help/i-need-help.page)

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discardorama
Anybody who has spent even 5 minutes in a public library knows that this is a
big problem with public computers. So why was this a surprise?

~~~
sp332
It's not a surprise. A particular case generated enough noise to generate a
lot of negative feedback. [http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2016/09/after-...](http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2016/09/after-lewd-acts-nycs-free-internet-kiosks-disable-web-
browsing/)

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JustUhThought
Lots of [dead] comments on this thread. Either, moderators are prudes or they
haven't lived in NYC. I once, first hand, saw a homeless woman change her
tampon in a crowded subway car. That happened. In real life. If you've never
lived in NYC, don't judge; you don't know.

