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The day I stopped auto-connecting to public WiFi in airports
It was 6 months ago during a layover in Atlanta. I always jumped on the free airport WiFi, no VPN, nothing. Then I noticed my phone suddenly showed a second network called "Delta_Free_WiFi" right next to the official one. Both required no password. I asked the gate agent which one was real and she said only one was legit. That moment hit me hard. How many times had I picked a fake network without thinking? Probably dozens. Has anyone else ever caught a clone network in the wild like that?
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the_jason25d ago
...and that's exactly why I stopped using public WiFi at airports altogether, but not for the reason you'd think. I was flying out of Newark a few years ago and my phone kept pinging me with two different Starbucks networks, both with full bars. I picked one, tried to log into my email, and it asked for my full credit card number as "verification." That was the moment my brain woke up. I've since started using my phone's hotspot for everything, even if it kills my data plan. The worst part is watching people sit there scrolling on fake networks, with that stupid "free WiFi" icon glowing on their screens. We're all just one tap away from handing over our whole digital lives.
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