LinkNYC

Payphones and plans for reuse

In 1999, thirteen companies signed a contract that legally obligated them to maintain New York City's payphones for fifteen years. In 2000, the city's tens of thousands of payphones were among the 2.2 million payphones spread across the United States. Since then, these payphones' use had been declining with the advent of cellphones. As of July 2012, there were 13,000 phones in over 10,000 individual locations; that number had dropped to 9,133 phones in 7,302 locations by April 2014, at a time when the number of payphones in the United States had declined more than 75 percent, to 500,000. The contract with the thirteen payphone operators was set to expire in October 2014, after which time the payphones' futures were unknown.

In July 2012, the New York City government released a public request for information, asking for comments about the future uses for these payphones. The RFI presented questions such as "What alternative communications amenities would fill a need?"; "If retained, should the current designs of sidewalk payphone enclosures be substantially revised?"; and "Should the current number of payphones on City sidewalks change, and if so, how?". Through the RFI, the New York City government sought new uses for the payphones, including a combination of "public wireless hotspots, touch-screen wayfinding panels, information kiosks, charging stations for mobile communications devices, [and] electronic community bulletin boards," all of which eventually became the features of the kiosks that were included in the LinkNYC proposal.

In 2013, a year before the payphone contract was set to expire, there was a competition that sought ideas to further repurpose the network of payphones. The competition, held by the administration of Michael Bloomberg, expanded the idea of the pilot project. There were 125 responses that suggested a Wi-Fi network, but none of these responses elaborated on how that would be accomplished.

Previous free Wi-Fi projects

In 2012, the government of New York City installed Wi-Fi routers at 10 payphones in the city (seven in Manhattan, two in Brooklyn, and one in Queens) as part of a pilot project. The Wi-Fi was free of charge and available for use at all times. The Wi-Fi signal was detectable from a radius of a few hundred feet (about 100m). Two of New York City's largest advertising companies—Van Wagner and Titan, who collectively owned more than 9,000 of New York City's 12,000 payphones at the time—paid $2,000 per router, with no monetary input from either the city or taxpayers. While the payphones participating in the Wi-Fi pilot project were poorly marked, the Wi-Fi offered at these payphones was significantly faster than some of the other free public Wi-Fi networks offered elsewhere.

The Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem received free Wi-Fi starting in late 2013. Routers were installed in three phases within a 95-block area between 110th Street, Frederick Douglass Boulevard, 138th Street, and Madison Avenue. Phase 1, from 110th to 120th Streets, finished in 2013; Phase 2, from 121st to 126th Street, was expected to be complete in February 2014; and Phase 3, the remaining area, was supposed to be finished by May 2014. The network was estimated to serve 80,000 Harlemites, including 13,000 in public housing projects who may have otherwise not had broadband internet access at home. At the time, it was dubbed the United States' most expansive "continuous free public Wi-Fi network."

Bids

On April 30, 2014, the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DOITT) requested proposals for how to convert the city's over 7,000 payphones into a citywide Wi-Fi network. A new competition was held, with the winner standing to receive a 12-year contract to maintain up to 10,000 communication points. The communication points would tentatively have free Wi-Fi service, advertising, and free calls to at least 9-1-1 (the emergency service) or 3-1-1 (the city information hotline). The contract would require the operator, or the operating consortium, to pay "$17.5 million or 50 percent of gross revenues, whichever is greater" to the City of New York every year. The communication points could be up to 10 ft 3 in (3.12 m) tall, compared to the 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) height of the phone booths; however, the advertising space on these points would only be allowed to accommodate up to 21.3 square feet (1.98 m²) of advertisements, or roughly half the maximum of 41.6 square feet (3.86 m²) of the advertising space allowed on existing phone booths. There would still need to be phone service at these Links because the payphones are still used often: collectively, all of New York City's nearly 12,000 payphones were used 27 million times in 2011, amounting to each phone being used about 6 times per day.

In November 2014, the bid was awarded to the consortium CityBridge, which consists of Qualcomm, Titan, Control Group, and Comark. In June 2015, Control Group and Titan announced that they would merge into one company called Intersection. Intersection is being led by a Sidewalk Labs-led group of investors who operate the company as a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. that focuses on solving problems unique to urban environments. Daniel L. Doctoroff, the former CEO of Bloomberg L.P. and former New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding, is the CEO of Sidewalk Labs.

Installation

CityBridge announced that it would be setting up about 7,000 kiosks, called "Links," near where guests could use the LinkNYC Wi-Fi. Coverage was set to be up by late 2015, starting with about 500 Links in areas that already have payphones, and later to other areas. These Links were to be placed online by the end of the year. The project would require the installation of 400 miles (640 km) of new communication cables. The Links would be built in coordination with borough presidents, business improvement districts, the New York City Council, and New York City community boards. The project is expected to create up to 800 jobs, including 100 to 150 full-time jobs at CityBridge as well as 650 technical support positions. Of the LinkNYC plans, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said,

With this proposal for the fastest and largest municipal Wi-Fi network in the world – accessible to and free for all New Yorkers and visitors alike – we’re taking a critical step toward a more equal, open and connected city – for every New Yorker, in every borough.

On December 10, 2014, the network was approved by New York City's Franchise and Concession Review Committee. Installation of two stations on Third Avenue—at 15th and 17th Streets—began on December 28, 2015, followed by other Links on Third Avenue below 58th Street, as well as on Eighth Avenue. After some delays, the first Links went online in January 2016. The public network was announced in February 2016. Locations like St. George, Jamaica, South Bronx, and Flatbush Avenue were prioritized for LinkNYC kiosk installations, with these places receiving Links by the end of 2016. By mid-July 2016, the planned roll-out of 500 hubs throughout New York City was to occur, though the actual installation proceeded at a slower rate. As of September 2016, there were 400 hubs in three boroughs (most of which were in Manhattan along lower Second Avenue, Third Avenue, Eighth Avenue, upper Amsterdam Avenue, Lafayette Street, parts of Broadway, and the Bowery; at least 25 along Grand Concourse and in Fordham in the Bronx; and some along Queens Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue in Queens). In November 2016, the first two Links were installed in Brooklyn, along Fulton Street in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood, with plans to install nine more Links in various places around Brooklyn before year's end, especially around Prospect Park and LIU Brooklyn. Around this time, Staten Island also received its first Links, which were installed in New Dorp. The Links were being installed at an average pace of ten per day throughout the boroughs with a projected goal of 500 hubs by the end of 2016.

There would be 4,550 hubs by July 2019 and 7,500 hubs by 2024, by which time LinkNYC is proposed to be the largest and fastest public, government-operated Wi-Fi network in the world. Slightly more than half, or 52%, of the hubs would be in Manhattan and the rest would be in the outer boroughs. There would be capacity for up to 10,000 Links within the network, as per the contract. The total cost for installation is estimated at more than $200 million. The eventual network includes 736 Links in the Bronx, 361 of which will have advertising and fast network speeds; as well as over 2,500 in Manhattan, most with advertising and fast network speeds.

The vast majority of the payphones will be demolished and replaced with Links. However, three or four banks of payphones along West End Avenue in the Upper West Side are expected to be preserved rather than being replaced with Links. These payphones are the only remaining fully enclosed payphones in Manhattan. he preservation process includes creating new fully enclosed booths for the site, which is a difficulty because that specific model of phone booths is no longer manufactured. The New York City government and Intersection agreed to preserve these payphones because of their historical value, and because they were a relic of the Upper West Side community, having been featured in the 2002 movie Phone Booth and the 2010 book "The Lonely Phone Booth."

Links

The Links are 9.5 feet (2.9 m) tall, and are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. There are two 55-inch (140 cm) high-definition displays on each Link for advertisements and public service announcements. There is an integrated Android tablet embedded within each Link, which can be used to access city maps, directions, and services, as well as make video calls; they were formerly also available to allow patrons to use the internet, but these browsers have now been disabled due to abuse (see below). Each Link includes two free USB charging stations for smartphones as well as a phone that allows free calls to all 50 states and to Washington, D.C.. The Links allow people to make either phone calls (using the keypad and the headphone jack to the keypad's left), or video calls (using the tablet). Vonage provides this free domestic phone call service as well as the ability to make international calls using calling cards. The Links feature a red 9-1-1 call button between the tablet and the headphone jack. The Links can also be used to call 3-1-1, and as of October 2016, they can be used for other simple tasks such as registering to vote.

The Wi-Fi technology comes from Ruckus Wireless and is enabled by Qualcomm's Vive 802.11ac Wave 2 4x4 chipsets. The Links' operating system runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor and the Adreno 320 graphics processing unit. The Links' hardware and software can handle future upgrades. The software will be updated until at least 2022, but Qualcomm has promised to maintain the Links for the rest of their service lives.

All of the Links are cleaned twice weekly, with LinkNYC staff removing vandalism and dirt from the Links. Each Link has cameras and over 30 vibration sensors to sense if the kiosk has been hit by an object. A separate set of sensors also detects if the USB ports are tampered with. If either the vibration sensors or the USB port sensors detect tampering, an alert is displayed at LinkNYC headquarters that the specific part of the Link has been affected. All of the Links have a backup battery power supply that can last for up to 24 hours if a long-term power outage were to occur. This is because of what happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which caused power outages citywide, especially to the city's payphones (which were connected to the municipal power supply of New York City).

Antenna Design helped with the overall design of the kiosks, which are produced by Comark subsidiary Civiq.

Advertising

New York City does not pay for the system because CityBridge oversees the installation, ownership, and operations, and is responsible for building the new optic infrastructure under the streets. CityBridge stated in a press release that the network would be free for all users, and that the service would be funded by advertisements. This advertising will provide revenue for New York City as well as for the partners involved in CityBridge. The advertising is estimated to bring in over $1 billion in profits over twelve years, with the City of New York receiving over $500 million, or about half of that amount. Technically, the LinkNYC network is intended to act as a public internet utility with advertising services.

Links in some areas, especially lower-income and lower-traffic areas, are expected to not display advertisements because it is not worthwhile for CityBridge to advertise in these areas. Controversially, the Links that lack advertising are expected to exhibit network speeds that may be as slow as one-tenth of the network speeds of advertisement-enabled Links. As of 2014, wealthier neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens are expected to have the most Links with advertisements and fast network speeds, while poorer neighborhoods and Staten Island would get slower Links with no advertising.

Network

According to its specifications, the Links' Wi-Fi will cover a radius of 150 feet (46 m) to 400 feet (120 m). The Links' Wi-Fi is capable of running at 1 gigabit per second or 1000 megabits per second, more than 100 times faster than the 8.7 megabit per second speed of the average public Wi-Fi network in the United States. The fast speeds make LinkNYC only gigabit-speed internet service provider in North America. LinkNYC's routers have neither a bandwidth cap nor a time limit for usage, meaning that users can use LinkNYC Wi-Fi for as long as they need to. The free phone calls are also available for unlimited use. The network is only intended for use in public spaces, though this may be subject to change in the future. In the future, the LinkNYC network could also be used to "connect lighting systems, smart meters, traffic networks, connected cameras and other IoT systems," as well as for utility monitoring and for 5G installations.

CityBridge emphasized that it takes security and privacy seriously "and will never sell any personally identifiable information or share with third parties for their own use." Aside from the unsecured network that devices can directly connect to, the Links provide an encrypted network that shields communications from eavesdropping within the network. There are two types of networks: a private (secured WPA/WPA2) network called "LinkNYC Private," which is available to iOS devices with iOS 7 and above; and a public network called "LinkNYC Free Public Wi-Fi," which is available to all devices but is only protected by the device's browser. Private network users will have to accept a network key in order to log onto the LinkNYC Wi-Fi. This would make New York City one of the first American municipalities to have a free, encrypted Wi-Fi network, as well as North America's largest. LinkNYC would also be the fastest citywide ISP in the world, with download and upload speeds between 15 and 32 times faster than on free networks at Starbucks, in LaGuardia Airport, and within New York City hotels.

Originally, the CityBridge consortium was supposed to include Transit Wireless, which maintains the New York City Subway's wireless system. However, as neither company mentioned each other on their respective websites, one communications writer speculated that the deal had either not been implemented yet or had fallen through. Transit Wireless stated that "those details have not been finalized yet," and CityBridge "promised to let [the writer] know when more information is available."

The network is extremely popular, with 450,000 unique users and over 1 million devices connecting to the Links in an average week. The Links had been used a total of more than 21 million times as of September 2016. This had risen to over 576,000 unique users by October 4, with 21,000 phone calls made in the previous week alone. One writer for the Motherboard website observed that the LinkNYC network also helped connect poor communities, as people from these communities come to congregate at the Links. This stems from the fact that the network provides service to all New Yorkers regardless of income, but it especially helps residents who would have otherwise used their smartphones for internet access using 3G and 4G. The New York City Bureau of Policy and Research published a report in 2015 that stated that one-fourth of residents do not have home broadband internet access, including 32 percent of unemployed residents. The LinkNYC network is seen as only somewhat mitigating this internet inequality, as many poor neighborhoods, like some in the Bronx, will get relatively few Links. LinkNYC is seen as an example of smart city infrastructure in New York City, as it is a technologically advanced system that helps enable technological connectivity.

Tracking

The deployment of the Links and the method, process, eventual selection, and ownership of entities involved in the project has come under scrutiny by privacy advocates, who express concerns about the terms of service, the financial model, and the collection of end users' data. These concerns are aggravated by the involvement of Sidewalk Labs, which belongs to Google's holding company, Alphabet Inc. Google already has the ability to track the majority of all website visits, and LinkNYC could be used to track people's movements. Nick Pinto of the Village Voice, a Lower Manhattan newspaper, wrote:

Google is in the business of taking as much information as it can get away with, from as many sources as possible, until someone steps in to stop it. ... But LinkNYC marks a radical step even for Google. It is an effort to establish a permanent presence across our city, block by block, and to extend its online model to the physical landscape we humans occupy on a daily basis. The company then intends to clone that system and start selling it around the world, government by government, to as many as will buy.

In March 2016, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the New York City office of the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote a letter to Mayor de Blasio outlining their privacy concerns. In the letter, representatives for the NYCLU wrote that CityBridge could be retaining too much information about LinkNYC users. They also stated that the privacy policy was vague and needed to be clarified. They recommended that the privacy policy be rewritten so that it expressly mentions whether the Links' environmental sensors or cameras are being used by any NYPD or city systems.

In an unrelated incident, Titan, one of the members of CityBridge, was accused of embedding Bluetooth radio transmitters in their phones, which could be used to track phone users' movements without their consent. These beacons were later found to have been permitted by the DOITT, but "without any public notice, consultation, or approval," so they were removed in October 2014. Despite the removal of the transmitters, Titan is proposing putting similar tracking devices on Links, but if the company decides to go through with the plan, it has to notify the public in advance.

Other privacy issues

According to LinkNYC, it does not monitor its kiosks' Wi-Fi, nor does it give information to third parties. However, data will be given to law enforcement officials in situations where LinkNYC is legally obliged. Its privacy policy states that it can collect personally identifiable information (PII) from users to give to "service providers, and sub-contractors to the extent reasonably necessary to enable us provide the Services; a third party that acquires CityBridge or a majority of its assets [if CityBridge was acquired by that third party]; a third party with whom we must legally share information about you; you, upon your request; [and] other third parties with your express consent to do so." Non-personally identifiable information can be shared with service providers and advertisers. The privacy policy also states that "in the event that we receive a request from a governmental entity to provide it with your Personally [sic] Information, we will take reasonable attempts to notify you of such request, to the extent possible."

There are also concerns that despite the WPA/WPA2 encryption, hackers may still be able to steal other users' data, especially since the LinkNYC Wi-Fi network has millions of users. To reduce the risk of data theft, LinkNYC is deploying a better encryption system for devices that have Hotspot 2.0. Another concern is that hackers could affect the tablet itself by redirecting it to a malware site when users put in PII, or adding a keystroke logging program to the tablets. To protect against this, CityBridge places in "a series of filters and proxies" that prevents malware from being installed; ends a session when a tablet is detected communicating with a command-and-control server; and resets the entire kiosk after 15 seconds of inactivity. The USB ports have been configured so that they can only be used to charge devices. However, the USB ports are still susceptible to physical tampering with skimmers, which may lead to a user's device getting a malware infection while charging; this is prevented by the more than 30 anti-vandalism sensors on each Link.

Yet another concern is that a person may carry out a spoofing attack by renaming their personal Wi-Fi network to "LinkNYC." This is potentially dangerous since many electronic devices tend to automatically connect to networks with a given name, but do not differentiate between the different networks. One reporter for The Verge suggested that to circumvent this, a person could turn off their mobile device's Wi-Fi while in the vicinity of a kiosk, or "forget" the LinkNYC network altogether.

Browser access and content filtering

In the summer of 2016, a content filter was set up on the Links to restrict navigation to certain websites, such as pornography sites and other sites with not safe for work (NSFW) content. This was described as a problem especially among the homeless, and at least one video showed a homeless man watching pornography on a LinkNYC tablet. This problem has supposedly been ongoing since at least January 2016. Despite the existence of the filter, Link users still found a way to bypass these filters. The filters, which consisted of Google SafeSearch as well as a web blocker that was based on the web blockers of many schools, were intentionally lax to begin with because LinkNYC feared that stricter filters that blocked certain keywords would alienate customers. Other challenges included the fact that "stimulating" user-generated content can be found on popular, relatively interactive websites like Tumblr and YouTube; it is hard to block NSFW content on these sites, because that would entail blocking the entire website when only a small portion hosts NSFW content. In addition, it was hard, if not impossible, for LinkNYC to block new websites with NSFW content, as such websites are constantly being created.

In September 2016, the borough president of the Bronx, Rubén Díaz Jr., called on city leaders to take stricter action, saying that "after learning about the inappropriate and over-extended usage of Links throughout the city, in particular in Manhattan, it is time to make adjustments that will allow all of our city residents to use this service safely and comfortably." City Councilman Corey Johnson said that some police officials had called for several Links in Chelsea to be removed because homeless men were watching NSFW content on these Links while children were nearby. Barbara A. Blair, president of the Garment District Alliance, stated that "people are congregating around these Links to the point where they’re bringing furniture and building little encampments clustered around them. It’s created this really unfortunate and actually deplorable condition."

A related problem arising from the tablets' browser access was that even though the tablets were intended for people to use it for a short period of time, the Links began being "monopolized" almost as soon as they were unveiled. Some people would use the Links for hours at a time. Particularly, homeless New Yorkers would sometimes loiter around the Links, using newspaper dispensers and milk crates as "makeshift furniture" on which they could sit while using the Links. The New York Post characterized the Links as having become "living rooms for vagrants." As a result, LinkNYC staff were working on a way to help ensure that Links would not be monopolized by one or two people. Proposals for solutions included putting time limits on how long the tablets could be used by any one person.

A few days after Díaz's and Johnson's statements, the web browsers of the tablets embedded into the Links were disabled indefinitely due to concerns of illicit activities such as drug deals and NSFW website browsing. LinkNYC cited "lewd acts" as the reason for shutting off the tables' browsing capabilities. One Murray Hill resident reported that a homeless man "enthusiastically hump[ed]" a Link in her neighborhood while watching pornography. Some people stated that the Links could also be used for other illicit activities, as these kiosks can be hubs for loitering and illicit phone calls. One Hell's Kitchen bar owner cited concerns about the users of a Link located right outside his bar, including a homeless man who a patron complained was a "creeper" watching animal pornography, as well as several people who made drug deals using the Link's phone capabilities while families were nearby.

Despite the tablets being disabled, the 9-1-1 capabilities, maps, and phone calls would still be usable, and people can still use LinkNYC Wi-Fi from their own devices. The disabling of the LinkNYC tablets' browsers had stoked fears about further restrictions on the Links. The Independent, a British newspaper, surveyed some homeless New Yorkers and found that while most of these homeless citizens used the kiosks for legitimate reasons (usually not to browse NSFW content), many of the interviewees were scared that LinkNYC may eventually charge money to use the internet via the Links, or that the kiosks may be demolished altogether. The Guardian, another British newspaper, came to a similar conclusion; one of the LinkNYC users they interviewed said that the Links are "very helpful, but of course bad people messed it up for everyone.” In a press release, LinkNYC refuted fears that service would be paywalled or eliminated, though it did state that several improvements, including dimming the kiosks and lowering maximum volumes, were being implemented to reduce the kiosks' effect on the surrounding communities.

Since the disabling of the tablets' browsing capabilities, reports of loitering near kiosks has decreased by more than 80%. The tablets' use, as a whole, has increased 12%, with more unique users accessing maps, phone calls, and 3-1-1.

Wider deployment

Intersection, in collaboration with British telecommunications company BT and British advertising agency Primesight, is also planning to install up to 850 Links in the United Kingdom, including in London, beginning in 2017. The LinkUK kiosks, as they will be called, are similar to the LinkNYC kiosks in New York City. These Links will replace some of London's iconic telephone booths due to these booths' age. The first hundred Links would be installed in the borough of Camden. The Links will have tablets, but they will lack web browsing capabilities due to the problems that LinkNYC faced in enabling the tablet browsers.

In early 2016, Intersection announced that it could install about 100 Links in a mid-sized city in the United States, provided that it wins the United States Department of Transportation's Smart City Challenge. Approximately 25 of that city's blocks will get the Links, which will be integrated with Sidewalk Labs' transportation data-analysis initiative, Flow. In summer 2016, the city of Columbus, Ohio, was announced as the winner of the Smart City Challenge. Intersection has proposed installing Links in four Columbus neighborhoods.