Cities across the country are installing "free" spying Smart City Kiosks (Updated)
image credit: Startland News
Two years ago, I wrote an article warning NYC residents that City Bridge was installing spying Smart City Kiosks (SCK) throughout the city.
The SCK's came equipped with cameras, microphones and sensors that created the largest urban spying system in the country.
SCK's collect lot's of personal information, like a person's MAC address, IP address, browser type and version and their destination IP address to name a few.
Updated 10/4:
LinkNYC uses design firm to convince public that open source data is safe
GovTech revealed that LinkNYC is using design firm Reboot.org to convince the public that open source data is safe.
"This September, however, users of the more than 1,700 active LinkNYC kiosks throughout the city might have noticed something new on the screens: brightly colored blue and yellow features, almost like testimonials for open data. These testimonials are simple, featuring the faces of real people, their job titles or affiliations, and a quick list of what they accomplished with open data as well as the data sets they used."
"To date, New York City has published more than 2,000 data sets, with an ongoing release of more. This has led to more than a million users accessing New York City open data, many of whom create projects like the ones described above."
Who is behind SCK's?
Two years ago it was revealed that Google acquired Control Group, which is CityBridge's parent corporation.
"Control Group and Titan Outdoor are both behind an effort called LinkNYC, the Wi-Fi hotspots will offer charging stations for cell phones and free calls to anywhere in the US."
Why is the mainstream media silent about Google's involvement with SCK's?
Google and Qualcom have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to fuel SCKs' expansion.
Qualcomm's 410 SnapDragon processor and Vision Intelligence Platform are designed with one thing in mind, Smart City surveillance.
How have SCK's grown?
Fast forward two years and companies like CityPost are offering cities free SCK's.
"Among other terrific benefits, we are particularly thrilled to bring free Wi-Fi hotspots to downtown, as well as improved wayfinding, and enhanced safety and security," LDP Executive Director Rebecca Matheny said in the release. (To learn more about spying kiosks click here & here.)
Why everyone should be concerned about free SCK's.
Louisville Downtown Partnership Executive Director Rebecca Matheny said, “There are a lot of things we’ve wanted to have in our downtown that this great product brings in one place. They are Wi-Fi hotspots that are camera-enabled, have great wayfinding, and are a terrific help identifying restaurants, directions and all kinds of metro resources. We hope to eventually have 100-150 within all of downtown, so we will be rolling them out fast and furious.”
Free SCK's are spying on users
Kiosk Industry.org has a created an updated list of places and things that SCK's are collecting.
August
US Army
Mecklenburg
Northern Colorado
Ontario
July
Virgina , Newport News – Smart City Initiative
San Diego Initiative for Next Generation Transportation Plan — Meeting Slides
16:9 Podcast with Gordon Feller & real potential
Coral Gables, Florida two outdoor kiosks
Austin TX Smart City Kiosks project
Kansas City Comprehensive Smart City Partnership with Kansas City, Missouri. The City seeks to partner with a firm to provide a fully integrated suite of sensors, networks, and data and analytics platforms that will result in the City becoming the first true Smart City in the world. Due Date: Extended to August 7, 2pm.
May
March
Atlanta RFP — Separate Smart City request (3/2/2018)
St. Louis V3 — St. Louis smart city request
Detroit Smart City request
Deadline for Charlotte extended. Charlotte-kiosks-12210601
Pittsburgh Convention Center Digital Signage Project — participants sign in Pittsburg-Addendum 1 – Pre-proposal sign in sheet _
Pittsburgh Convention Center Digital Signage Project — Pittsburgh-FINAL Signage Design RFP 12.28.2017
LA County digital signage [Samsung] LA-RFB-IS-18200469_Specifications-Final
MA-Transit-BD-18-1206-40000-42502-21371_Applied-Wayfinding-Due-Diligence-Posting-1
There are at least eight companies that are responsible for installing SCK's in cities across the country. They are, CIVIQ Smartscapes, IKE Smart City, Smart City Media, SmartLINK, Soofa , Verizon and LG-MRI. (For a complete list of Request For Proposal SCK Projects click here.)
SCK's are part of the Smart City surveillance network
image credit: Kiosk Industry
As you can see from the diagram, SCK's are part of a giant web of Smart City surveillance devices.
If you still have any doubts about SCk's being part of a Smart City surveillance network, checkout the diagram below.
image credit VTARA Energy Group
Soon, nowhere will be safe from Big Brother's spying eyes.