Company demonstrates the shocking danger of public Wi-Fi networks
There’s nothing we love more than finding a free, open Wi-Fi hotspot when we’re waiting around at the airport or shopping centre, but one company has proven just how dangerous these public networks can be.
Purple, a Manchester-based Wi-Fi hotspot company, ran a little experiment this week, including a “Community Service Clause” in its terms of service agreement, binding 22,000 people into a signed contract agreeing to complete 1,000 of menial labour simply to gain access to the “free” network.
The chores unwittingly agreed to by the Wi-Fi users included:
- Removing animal waste from local parks
- Giving hugs to stray cats and dogs
- Manually clearing sewer blockages
- Cleaning portable toilets at local events
- Removing chewing gum from the streets
- Painting snail shells – just to make them a little prettier!
It’s not entirely clear if the company would be legally allowed to enforce the clause, but Purple explained it wouldn’t try – their aim was only to encourage people to read the terms of service before logging in to open Wi-Fi networks. After all, you never know what you might have just signed up to.
There was even a prize on offer for anyone who spotted the sneaky added clause – but only one person (0.000045 per cent of the total number of users) managed to do it.
“Wi-Fi users need to read terms when they sign up to access a network,” Purple CEO Gavin Wheeldon said in a statement. “What are they agreeing to, how much data are they sharing, and what license are they giving to providers? Our experiment shows it’s all too easy to tick a box and consent to something unfair.”