Links, the multipurpose digital depots expected to replace thousands of New York City payphones, got a spate of what could be called bad publicity this week. Numerous sources recycled claims by the New York City Liberties Union that the devices amount to a massive spying network. The claims appear to have no merit, but substance seldom gets in the way of a good clickbait headline.
Whatever the case it seems not to have scared folks from making use of the Links. I pass by the Third Avenue Links once a week. They are exactly on my way to and from a routine destination of mine. In weeks past I noticed only a handful of people using these devices. Yesterday, in a relatively short span of time, I spotted 8 people using Links on Third Avenue between 57th and 42nd Streets. That’s way more people than I saw using traditional payphones (I did see one such individual).
Yesterday I noticed something I would not have expected: People were using these devices for long periods of time. At about 3:20pm I spotted this man blasting music from a Link’s web browser at Third Avenue and 54th Street. He was dancing to the beat, singing, and apparently enjoying himself quite a bit. On my way back, over an hour later (at about 4:40pm) he was still there, dancing to the music playing loudly from a Link. This picture does not quite communicate how he was drawing a lot of attention to himself and to his music.
Similarly I spotted someone who appeared to be using a Link’s built-in web browser. He was probably listening to music as well but he wore headphones. Whatever he was doing he did it quite intently. I spotted him first around 4pm. About 40 minutes he was still standing there.
These two sightings would seem to go against CityBridge’s assumption that Links would be used transactionally, for brief lookups of information or directions. I noticed the above mentioned loiterers but did not give specific attention to how much time other individuals spent with these devices or what they used them for. Some appeared to be futzing with the devices out of curiosity while others seemed to be looking for specific data. I happened to notice that one gentleman, waiting for a bus, used a nearby Link to access the “MTA Bus Time” web site. I only noticed this because the web browser stayed open for minute or so after he stepped away from the Link and I approached it.
Wouldn’t it be clever if data from that Bus Time web site was piped in to one of those giant 55″ advertising screens? Hmmm. It might be impossible to monetize, since it is not exactly advertising, but that points to something else I noticed yesterday: There were a lot of Public Service Announcements and “Hello, World!” greetings but not a lot of advertising. Surely that will change.
Whatever the case I think that hyperlocal content, such as bus or subway arrival times specific to your location, makes too much sense not to implement, and so it will probably never happen.
I was unable to get a photo of this woman as she stood poised at a near-perfect 45° angle, poking her fingers at the LED screen. In the context of a busy city street it would have illustrated just how conspicuous people can be when using these things. I did get this shot just as she expressed frustration with the Link, and gave up on it. I heard her mutter something like “Doesn’t work!”
It turns out her frustration was not without reason. The Link didn’t work, and even if it had she was attempting to reach ‘YPUTUBE.COM”. I’m glad to see I am not the only one who has trouble with the Link’s on-screen keyboard.
The YPUTUBE.COM domain name, incidentally, is actually owned by Google but does not redirect to YOUTUBE.COM as one might expect from a typo-squat domain.
Another intriguing discovery involves the CallerID information sent out by certain of these Links. In an earlier piece I noted that each Link was assigned a unique phone number in the (646) area code. Now it appears that multiple Links activated since last week have been assigned the same number: (212) 477-3063.
Why does it matter? If these devices are used to call 911 then emergency dispatchers should be expected to have data that matches Links to their exact locations. If 911 sees the same CallerID as I did then they might be unable to determine where the call originated. And for that matter they might have trouble obtaining location information from the caller, since call quality on Links has been uniformly atrocious.
Here are the rest of the Linksters I spotted yesterday. Despite overblown privacy concerns people really are using these things. If you want to try one yourself it’s looking like you might have to wait in line, just like the old days of the payphone hog. Speaking of which, here is the one payphone customer I spotted yesterday:
This individual may or may not have been using the Link’s free Wi-Fi. Given his proximity to the device it seems likely that he was. The other folks pictured below are clearly engaged in some activity with these devices.
