Safer Internet Day: safe Internet starts with safe access

Call publicroam: If you offer wifi in public spaces, make sure everyone and especially young people can connect securely.

Safer Internet Day, held every year on the 2nd Tuesday of February, underscores the importance of ensuring that everyone – especially young people – can use the Internet safely. The focus is often rightly on content: what do you see online, what content is age and developmentally appropriate, and how do we protect children from harmful or inappropriate information.

The Internet now plays a crucial role in our society. It is not just a tool, but increasingly a fundamental need – and for many people even a precondition for full participation. This is precisely why legislation and awareness around online safety is growing internationally, with a special focus on children and young people.

At the same time, one aspect of digital security deserves more attention: the way we connect to the Internet in public places

Open networks are vulnerable

Before a person can surf, stream or communicate, he or she must first connect. And that very thing – especially among young people – often happens in public places such as train stations, sports clubs, libraries and other public locations. Open Wi-Fi networks are widely used there.

Those open networks are vulnerable in practice. Without proper security, data can be intercepted or a malicious party can impersonate a trusted network. Users do not notice this, but surf unnoticed through a network that cannot be trusted. On insecure networks, third parties can watch users’ data traffic and collect information about their online activities. In some cases, you can also be redirected to a fake login page, which intercepts login information undetected.

In short, the gateways we took for granted for years – via open public Wi-Fi – are inadequate in a digital society where so much personal and sensitive information travels over the Internet.

Make sure people do connect safely

Fortunately, awareness is growing that digital security is not only about content, but also about access. We see organizations such as NS, municipalities, museums and port companies making increasingly conscious choices for more secure forms of public connectivity. This is not a luxury, but a necessary step.

That’s why Publicroam is calling on Safer Internet Day to consider not only what happens online, but also how we go online. Safe internet starts with safe access. By consciously investing in that, we create a digital environment where young people – and everyone – can connect freely, safely and without worry.

About publicroam

Publicroam is a Dutch tech start-up from Zeist, founded in 2018 with the goal of letting everyone connect to public wifi networks safely, free and privacy-friendly. By now, you can do so in nearly 1,750 locations throughout the Netherlands at venues including NS, the Concertgebouw, Veiligheidsregio Groningen, and dozens of municipalities and libraries. More than 550,000 people have an account and this number is growing rapidly. This makes Publicroam the largest secure Wi-Fi roaming network in the Netherlands.

Contact

For more information, contact us at info@publicroam.net