If you're one of those people suspicious of free WiFi services, here's an example of why you are right to be suspicious.
There's a slogan in use these days: If it's free, you are the product.
This article by the excellent Paul Ducklin titled, Why ‘free’ Wi-Fi isn’t really free tells an interesting tale. He refers us to an article with more detail: Free Wifi User Data Exposed in Multiple UK Train Stations. Here's a self explanatory excerpt:
On February 14th I discovered a non-password protected database that contained a massive amount of records totaling 146 million. Upon further review I was able to see connections to what appeared to be free wifi details in major UK train stations. I could see a large amount of records that contained email addresses, age ranges, what was the reason for their travel, device data, and other internal logs. There were references to a company called C3UK inside the database and multiple domains that contained some form of the name C3.
He notified the owner of the cloud service as well as the WiFi provider, and the sloppiness was corrected in short order. But the experience highlights the fact that those services will not always operate in a manner that "the product" -- you and me -- would appreciate.
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2:07 PM 3/4/2020
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