Wi-Fi booths in NYC web browsing cut cuz of homeless wankers

[ninjahood]

DNAinfo
UPPER EAST SIDE & RO...
Internet Browsing Cut at LinkNYC Kiosks to Curtail Porn and Squatters
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UPPER EAST SIDE & ROOSEVELT ISLANDTechnology
Internet Browsing Cut at LinkNYC Kiosks to Curtail Porn and Squatters

By Noah Hurowitz | September 14, 2016 2:34pm
@NoahHurowitz
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Valerie Mason saw a man sleeping in a plush recliner, plugged into a LinkNYC kiosk at East 49th Street and Third Avenue, on July 4.
Valerie Mason saw a man sleeping in a plush recliner, plugged into a LinkNYC kiosk at East 49th Street and Third Avenue, on July 4.
View Full CaptionValerie Mason
MANHATTAN — Users of LinkNYC internet kiosks will no longer be able to browse the web on the built-in tablets as the city looks for a way to prevent people from monopolizing the kiosks or using them to watch porn, officials said.

LinkNYC plans to disable web browsing over the next 48 hours at the 400 internet kiosks it has installed around the city after residents in neighborhoods with the kiosks complained that people were turning them into virtual living rooms — or bedrooms — by pulling up chairs, watching movies, and even masturbating in broad daylight.

“We also know that some users have been monopolizing the Link tablets and using them inappropriately, preventing others from being able to use them while frustrating the residents and businesses around them,” LinkNYC officials said in a statement Wednesday.


Noah Hurowitz · DNAinfo Reporter
What do you think of the plan to disable web browsing at LinkNYC kiosks?
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“The kiosks were never intended for anyone’s extended, personal use and we want to ensure that Links are accessible and a welcome addition to New York City neighborhoods.”

► SEE ALSO: LinkNYC Kiosks Clogging Sidewalks With Encampments and Drug Deals, Locals Say

LinkNYC is looking into possible solutions to the problem, including implementing time limits, which Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz called for in a letter to the city last month.

LinkNYC began disabling web browsing on a handful of kiosks on Wednesday afternoon and will extend the ban to the rest of the city's kiosks over the next 48 hours, a spokesman said.

Users will still be able to use the tablets to make free phone calls, check maps, charge their phones, and access 311 and 911, and the kiosks will still provide WiFi even while the internet on the tablets is discontinued.

CityBridge, which operates LinkNYC, began installing the kiosks — meant to replace antiquated phone booths — this year and says it has installed 400 so far. The goal was to provide Internet access to anyone who needs it and give people without phones the ability to make calls and check the web.

The city aims to bring 4,550 of the machines to the city by July 2019, according to CityBridge.

But almost immediately after the first kiosks popped up, people began complaining that some users were hogging them, clogging the sidewalk, and watching lewd content on the tablets.

Diaz, who wrote the letter calling for time limits just one day after welcoming the kisks to the Bronx, cheered the move.

"We’ve heard a great deal of concern from all corners of the city about the misuse of these kiosks for lewd and nefarious purposes, and today’s announcement that web browsing services will be disabled on LinkNYC kiosks is a step in the right direction," he said in a statement.

The misuse of the kiosks has also raised concerns at Manhattan Community Board 6, the board responsible for Midtown East, Murray Hill, the Flatiron, and Union Square, which will hold a meeting concerning the kiosks on Sept. 26. The board is currently asking residents of the district to fill out surveys to give feedback about LinkNYC.

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20...ys-linknyc-kiosks-curtail-abuse-officials-say

saw this coming

 

[teamjordan79]

the public library is officially obsolete now

 

[harlemtothebronx]

This was bound to happen. You have a homelessness issue in this city, and somehow it's a good idea to place little docking stations (where now I literally see people sitting on crates and on the ground to charge at times) all throughout a city that doesn't do enough to house everyone.

Just another example of the wealth disparity in this city.

There's so much more we have issues with in this city, but it seems the Mayor's office is still only interested in making this place comfy for tourists. Chargers on the sidewalks and now on the busses to fight over, meanwhile homeless people are being shoved into public housing and stopgap hotels.

 

[ohokalright]

Guess more of them will migrate towards da new ugly Q10's with da free wifi and stink up da buses :x

Early Morning E Train makes you just want to live in a bathtub forever.

 

[ninjahood]

the public library is officially obsolete now

before they took off da net, id agree.

im thinking this is a temporary measure...cuz these guys are set to install over 4k kiosks..

 

[AEA18]

What happened to the wi-fi hotspot trash cans?

 

[sreggie101]

This was bound to happen. You have a homelessness issue in this city, and somehow it's a good idea to place little docking stations (where now I literally see people sitting on crates and on the ground to charge at times) all throughout a city that doesn't do enough to house everyone.

Just another example of the wealth disparity in this city.

There's so much more we have issues with in this city, but it seems the Mayor's office is still only interested in making this place comfy for tourists. Chargers on the sidewalks and now on the busses to fight over, meanwhile homeless people are being shoved into public housing and stopgap hotels.

strong post. i was skeptical about this move, but now i see the consequences illustrated. if you got creeps in the subway stroking it out of sheer will...well giving them internet for free can't help.

the claim that making this city more tourist friendly is a very astute observation, i never looked at it that way.

the city should really be funding essential things...education, infrastructure, and affordable housing.

 

[ninjahood]

What happened to the wi-fi hotspot trash cans?

probably not as ubiquitous as da kiosks yet...

pretty soon, all you'll beed to conduct street business is a old dusty tablet with wifi capabilities, at least in Manhattan.

 

[putting in work]

Guess more of them will migrate towards da new ugly Q10's with da free wifi and stink up da buses :x

Early Morning E Train makes you just want to live in a bathtub forever.

Damn I remember those days the bus rides to Union Tpke to hop on the E

 

[dman14]

i remember going to the public library and ya have a bunch of ppl watching porn. not even the good stuff, too

 

[sreggie101]

Guess more of them will migrate towards da new ugly Q10's with da free wifi and stink up da buses :x

Early Morning E Train makes you just want to live in a bathtub forever.

Damn I remember those days the bus rides to Union Tpke to hop on the E

there had to have been worse trains than the E (that's my train lol). what about that 7?

 

[gentrification]

Moth*****s out there on chairs and **** lmao

 

[ninjahood]

Moth*****s out there on chairs and **** lmao

bums were in heaven in da summer with these

 

[dipsetgeneral]

Just