Free WiFi is the peephole into stealing your content

purple_wifiThe more we travel and the more we need the internet, the more the desire to access WiFi at any public output. But this craving for connection may be the undoing of keeping personal data safe .

According to a survey by cloud-based social WiFi company Purple WiFi, 82% of 3,349 global WiFi venues believe they are legally compliant, but were actually in breach of legislation. More than 2,000 venues also confirmed that they were running completely open networks or handing, indicating the venue has no way of tracking internet access back to the user. This leaves the network open to criminal or terrorist use and such venues would be culpable. Continue reading

The UK lags behind India with WiFi on the train

broadband_trainNetwork Rail has announced it is spending £1.9 billion to upgrading its telecoms infrastructure to roll out ‘high-speed mobile broadband’ across the busiest parts of Britain’s rail network.

According to the rail company, by 2019 more than two-thirds of train passengers ‘should’ have access to the faster technology, leaving rail users and business travellers who rely on the backbone of Britain’s transport network to struggle with inadequate mobile broadband for the next six years.

This announcement only underscores how primitive and medieval rail networks are in the UK. Earlier this year in India, which has the biggest train network in the world and trains that must cope with all terrains, launched WiFi on several major routes. Customers don’t care how fast trains run as long as they can access the internet. That particular axiom seems to have been missed by the nincompoops who run these things.

Air travellers prefer use of the internet over use of the toilet

wifi_planesRather like goal-line technology in football or the use of DRS in cricket, once new technologies are finally accepted there is no going back, however long it took for them to be implemented. So it appears to be so for internet connectivity on flights.

While time doesn’t pass quickly on a flight if you’re travelling alone, it appears we are so desperate to use the internet on planes that we will do almost anything to use it. A report this week from Honeywell Aerospace says that 90% of travellers would give up legroom, preferred seats and even toilet amenities to use the internet. Continue reading