From Newsgroup: alt.privacy

I have almost zero experience using public wifi, my few examples have
been coffee shops, the courthouse, hotels, airplanes & trains.

A linux software app was recently dev/d by someone who uses public wifi regularly to suit his convenience, and his convenience accordingly
caused him to dev a tool called freewifid.

While it seems useful for its purpose, I found myself wondering what the people who frequently use public wifi should be doing for their security
and privacy concerns.

One place said they should be using a VPN.

The linux app and its source are here
https://codeberg.org/jbb/freewifid

This is an article at his website/blog https://jbb.ghsq.de/kde/2025/08/29/freewifid.html

Improving the experience with public Wi-Fi hotspots

--
Mike Easter

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From Newsgroup: alt.privacy

On 04/09/2025 02:08 Mike Easter <MikeE@ster.invalid> wrote:

I have almost zero experience using public wifi, my few examples have
been coffee shops, the courthouse, hotels, airplanes & trains.

A linux software app was recently dev/d by someone who uses public wifi regularly to suit his convenience, and his convenience accordingly
caused him to dev a tool called freewifid.

While it seems useful for its purpose, I found myself wondering what the people who frequently use public wifi should be doing for their security
and privacy concerns.

One place said they should be using a VPN.

The linux app and its source are here
https://codeberg.org/jbb/freewifid

This is an article at his website/blog https://jbb.ghsq.de/kde/2025/08/29/freewifid.html

Improving the experience with public Wi-Fi hotspots

Free Wifi is mostly moot because almost everyone uses their
mobile 4G or 5G connection to access the internet.

Free WiFi often comes with substantial caveats, such as a
providers where you need to accept their T&C's which allows
them to identify you and to log and sell your surfing behavior and
maybe even perform MITM attacks to access your communication
data.

I've stopped using free WiFi a long time ago and it will probably
fade away in a couple of years.
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From Newsgroup: alt.privacy

The Running Man wrote:

Free Wifi is mostly moot because almost everyone uses their
mobile 4G or 5G connection to access the internet.

But I don't do that. I normally don't carry a cellphone 'in everyday
life'. I normally don't use a cellphone at home, favoring cordless
old-style landline phones connected by VoIP.

When I travel out of state I take a cellphone and laptop and use public
wifi and the wifi of my host.
--
Mike Easter
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From Newsgroup: alt.privacy

On 04/09/2025 17:44 Mike Easter <MikeE@ster.invalid> wrote:

The Running Man wrote:

Free Wifi is mostly moot because almost everyone uses their
mobile 4G or 5G connection to access the internet.

But I don't do that. I normally don't carry a cellphone 'in everyday
life'. I normally don't use a cellphone at home, favoring cordless
old-style landline phones connected by VoIP.

When I travel out of state I take a cellphone and laptop and use public
wifi and the wifi of my host.

In that case a VPN is a must. But most public WiFi providers block these.

Like they say: "When it's free, you're the product!"


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