Council acts on Wi-Fi worries
THE Gold Coast City Council has dumped Facebook from its free Wi-Fi system to avoid a repeat of the social media scandal dogging the tech giant in the US.
The council this week unveiled its first free high-speed Wi-Fi hotspot in Broadbeach Mall, spruiking it as a way for anyone in the area to connect to the internet for free.
However, concerned residents questioned if their private information would fall into the wrong hands as council’s Wi-Fi program originally required users to log in through a Facebook account.
“The city has built and owns the Wi-Fi network. The city is not collecting any Wi-Fi content data,’’ a spokesman said in an email to the Bulletin.
“Council will not collect, or store, any user’s private data.
“There is no contract with any third party data mining companies – the city is doing its own analytics, on its own systems – it has not entered into any third party contract for this.
“The city will not make data available to any third party.”
The council decision comes days after it was revealed more than 50 million Facebook users had their private information leaked to political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked with US President Donald Trump’s successful 2016 campaign.
Cambridge Analytica retained copies of the private data of Facebook users despite having promised to delete the information in 2015.
Facebook, which has been under fire since the revelations became public, responded by banning the company and its members.
A leading Gold Coast technology expert said there were easy ways for people to avoid unwittingly handing over data to the council but warned it was too late to prevent much of their information from reaching the public domain.
“It’s true that most people do not realise their data is already out there through Facebook and other means and they have been willing to give it away for free,” Bond University adjunct professor Stephen Holden said.
“When you are getting something like Wi-Fi for free, you need to understand that you are the product – it’s like the old saying that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
“If people are afraid of getting their information out there, the easiest thing to do is not sign up to use the Wi-Fi.”
Dr Holden said the way phone users could minimise the release of their information would be to shut down their Facebook account or strip it of both their real names and birth dates.