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Comment by sph | Hacker News Reader

To me public Wi-Fi is pretty much a honeypot. Most people I know don't rely on it, especially with widespread 4G and mobile phones, so the only people using it are shady figures for whom open and public Wi-Fi is just another step in their OpSec.

I figure if you connect to an open Wi-fi and then to a VPN endpoint, you're put on some government list.

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But what would they put on that government list exactly? Your mac address?

At least iPhones use a randomized MAC address for WiFi to prevent tracking.

At places like Starbucks I wonder what all they do behind the scenes to make sure the network is secure. Like if I go into a mom and pop coffee shop and ask for the WiFi password, that's one thing. But with starbucks all having a standardized wifi infra in their stores, I wonder what sorts of things are happening behind the scenes to make sure everything stays secure. If consumers are worried about WiFi at these places, I bet Starbucks IT obsesses over it.

Many people do rely on it, they don't probably even know what a password does vs an open network.

If people around you tend to have a profile like HN users yes they of course know what they're dealing with.

Bur for the rest of the non-techie 99% of the world, public Wi-Fi is perfectly fine.

Perfectly fine for what? I live in Europe, everybody has Internet at home, and if they're out, they have 4G on their phone.

When would one need the coffee shop wifi, especially non-techies that go there just to have a coffee, not to work? Honest question.

The vast vast majority of Europeans don’t have unlimited data plans with unlimited tethering. Not sure why you would think they do.

Reception can be pretty spotty in many areas as well, so even if you do have unlimited data and tethering, you might benefit from a public wifi.

Everyone who goes to a coffee shop with their work laptop is probably connecting to a VPN over open WiFi.

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