Enrique Galvis
Dr. Amy, Psy.D.The “free” WiFi at the mall won’t let me connect unless I give them my:
- email
- home address
- phone number
- full name
- date of birth
- gender
- annual household income
This isn’t feeling so free to me…
syn@dramypsyd here's the thing
they're not gonna check (except maybe the email but you should have a separate one for this sort of thing)
they're not gonna check (except maybe the email but you should have a separate one for this sort of thing)
madopal@syn @dramypsyd I've seen plenty of them now trying to text a confirmation code.
Ethan@whitenight12 @syn @dramypsyd Most of the workshare places are doing that now. I've tried the fake # and can't use it.
Billy SmithOne friend who is running their own mailserver creates a new email address for every service that they sign up for. :D
The address is formatted <ServiceName>Spam @ <HisDomain>. com.
It's digital version of the plumber's blue dye, used for tracing leaks. :D
Sqaaakoi 
@syn @dramypsyd I've never had "Free WiFi" try to confirm my email as they usually can't let you check your email to confirm without giving you full internet access. As a result, I often just shove in a bunch of jibberish with an @ and .arpa tld (so it will never actually do anything) and it usually Just Works
(pro tip: do this online too for certain things, if it sounds like marketing email collection bogus, it will almost certainly work)
WWSchoof 📯@dramypsyd it requires an email address, …. - not yours 😉
StefanSounds like privacy by design...
The Turtle@dramypsyd they have no way to verify any of that! This is your chance to... SCREW UP THEIR DATA!
tessarakt@the_turtle @dramypsyd that's felony contempt of business model
Ben Pfaff@dramypsyd I remember trying to get WiFi with a form like that once. It required me to verify my email, though, which I couldn't because I didn't have WiFi.
Lando@dramypsyd that’s a huge no from me. Best case, they’re selling all of that information to advertisers. At worst, that’s not the mall’s WiFi.
SiliconFarmer@Lando @dramypsyd
Upvoting this responce.
Do not use this wifi.
Jo - pièce de résistance@dramypsyd it’s like the ‘free’ gift links on newspapers now…they want your email etc. first.
Nope. Fuck off.
bit 🏳️🌈 (he/him)@dramypsyd
I frequently register as Margaret Thatcher or another random bad person
I frequently register as Margaret Thatcher or another random bad person
BrettMozilla, Proton, and Apple all offer email obfuscation services to generate one off emails for any reason.
I actually moved to use one off emails for all online accounts once I started paying for Proton.
Lenora@dramypsyd I avoid all wifi considered free. Hackers love it
Talya (she/her) 🏳️⚧️✡️@dramypsyd
I've seen a few of those, and luckily they usually don't bother to check if the info is real. which means I can slap a nonexistent email, a 1/1/1970 and random data for the rest.
doesn't make this behaviour by the provider less shit. just makes it, for me, a tiny bit more fun.
I've seen a few of those, and luckily they usually don't bother to check if the info is real. which means I can slap a nonexistent email, a 1/1/1970 and random data for the rest.
doesn't make this behaviour by the provider less shit. just makes it, for me, a tiny bit more fun.
lifts7 South End of the World Dr, No 319
Ohtori, 99999
(555)555-5537
Takatsuki Shiori
02/02/1981
Whatever hurts Juri more
$57,000
Degas … like Vegas
James Holden@degaslikevegas @dramypsyd Same at the mall near us! I registered as “Mr Excessive Datacollection” and some months later got “Welcome back, Excessive!”.
🐜@dramypsyd u could give rm fake datas
bouriquet@dramypsyd It’s not much different than Google or Facebook collecting all of your personal data. It’s just more up-front and obvious.
They all have the same motivations: greed.
They all have the same motivations: greed.
Jay@dramypsyd New rule: any personally identifying information that my doctor’s office would use to confirm my identity is information that I will be fiercely territorial about.
“Buying a cake, huh? Someone got a birthday coming up?”
“Not if that fucking check bounces again.”
“…what?”
“Nothing. Paper, please.”
Bot4Sale@dramypsyd Hello Ms. Nunya Business ([email protected]) born 1900-01-01 and resident of 1 Some Street, Beverly Hills 90210 earning $150Million+ per annum
Raymond RussellIt's at times like that I am glad I have a cheap unlimited data plan (In the UK) that allows me to tether.
listless- [email protected]
- 123 Main St NY, NY, 12345
- (217) 555-1212
- 01/01/1924
- Undecided
- $100,000,000,000
sidb@dramypsyd There’s an airport WiFi I use whose first question is your age. Put a number under 18, and it immediately lets you in without any other questions because of child data protection laws.
Worth a try on this one, in case it also works that way.
Quinn9282 🖥️🌙✌️@dramypsyd Honestly, "free" Wi-Fi is sort of useless to me nowadays since cellular data plans are a ton more flexible than they were even just 10 years ago. Granted, I'm not a traveler or stay at many places for long periods of time (which it might matter more in that case), but it's not a major concern for me the vast majority of the time.
dylan 
@dramypsyd @nixCraft Fortunately, I have never run across a public wifi that actually verifies ownership of email addresses. Probably too hard, because you need internet to check your email.
@dylanchapell @dramypsyd @nixCraft 15 years ago, I couldn't pay for WiFi on Cyprus at the airport, because it wouldn't let me connect to the bank's VerifiedByVisa page.
Ash_Crow@dylanchapell @dramypsyd @nixCraft I have seen some. They generally just allow a 5 or 10 minute access window until you have verified your email... But 1. they generally just accept http(s) so you can't actually open your email if you use Thunderbird and 2. they generally don't block Yopmail, so they get their own name at yopmail dot com as email.
@dramypsyd Complained to the data protection supervisory authority already?
Rolando A. 
@dramypsyd same here in México "Bus free wifi"
Dirk Blank 
🇩🇪Do not use the "free" WiFi!
Browse with Firefox. Install the AddOn "MateTranslate"
Browse to and translate the following pages:
https://netzpolitik.org/digitale-selbstverteidigung/
https://digitalcourage.de/digitale-selbstverteidigung
But I am sure you will find webpages in your native language with the same content.
Last but not least.
Elect and force the government to implement
Digital Market Act
Digital Service Act
General Data Protection Regulation
AI Act
Have a nice weekend!
gary@dramypsyd set up a free evil twin and harvest your own data - it isn't illegal but check your local bylaws #free as in neurotic free
DefiantSquirrel (he/him/his)
Whiskers 🇦🇺@dramypsyd It’s a curse. But I find there are often restaurants, banks, etc who are also offering wifi and no sign up required. Shop around the list of networks available - or just use 4G 👍
Jargoggles@dramypsyd
Oh fun, they want everyone to play Mad Libs with them. That's a cute idea.
Oh fun, they want everyone to play Mad Libs with them. That's a cute idea.
HowToPhil@dramypsyd On linux
"rig -m" or "rig -f" and you get a thing like this
Van Mcdonald
905 Stonehedge Blvd
Addison, IL 60101
(708) xxx-xxxx
Pull the rest of the info out your butt. Use a mac address changer... for a little extra flavor
felis_catus_domesticus
SpaceLifeFormBut, profit for them as they sell your PII.
J.H.NoyesMaybe they were running out of form space. /s
Lloyd Lemons@dramypsyd Nope. That's not free.
@dramypsyd haha ya hard pass and for email when they force me to put one I try [email protected] first to see if it requires some kind of verification but the ones I have used the most at airports don't seam to require any, but ya if that fails I would use an alias address...
9pfs@dramypsyd Did you consider trying blind cross-site scripting and/or SQL injection attacks, just in case?
Dumbledope@dramypsyd
One caveat about lying on forms:
I once entered the previous day's date for my D.O.B. as in "Do you think I was born yesterday?"
I was immediately banned for life for being too young to access the site.
Phil Thane ✅@dramypsyd
You could lie? I have a couple of Gmail addresses in plausible but false names that I hand out to entities I don't trust.
@lisamelton
You could lie? I have a couple of Gmail addresses in plausible but false names that I hand out to entities I don't trust.
@lisamelton
Steve Oh 🇺🇸💙✊🟰🗽🇺🇦@dramypsyd Hmm 🤔 I wonder if the form allows you to lie?
bananas_pizza@dramypsyd use alias email and lie to everything there to make it useless for them 👍
christmas skibidi tomato 
@dramypsyd i just give it my data (phone number + id number + email) and I get da free wifi at the mall. I'm not stingy
Fishy@dramypsyd EWWW. Blood type? Cheek Swab? Tax Returns? SSN?