This City's Free WiFi Plan Backfired When Homeless People Used It To Watch Porn

Homeless people have been abusing New York City's free WiFi to watch porn.

High-speed internet was rolled out in Times Square earlier this year in the form of Android-run tablets in old phone booths.

But, it didn't take long for people to figure out no one bothered to block the Web's gnarly side.

The fun didn't last too long, however.

City officials locked on to the sleaze, and the company in charge, LinkNYC, recently put a filter on the tablets to block access to porn.

Homeless man Hakeem, 44, told the New York Post,

I was watching porn on one of them things on, like, Saturday. Then on, like, Monday or Tuesday, all of a sudden I couldn't. Once word got around, it stopped. It sucks, man. It was great.

He added,

There were kids who were skipping school and just coming over here to watch porn. The cops had to come and break them up.

Ruth Fasoldt, LinkNYC Community Affairs Manager, said,

Link tablets use a highly regarded, professional-grade content monitoring system used by thousands of businesses, schools and libraries across the country that is constantly being updated and adjusted as new websites pop up every day.

The most-abused kiosks were reportedly along Eighth Avenue in the West 30s.

Citations: Homeless men and school boys 'have been watching PORN on free internet-connected tablets in Times Square' (Daily Mail), Horny homeless men use Times Square Wi-Fi to watch porn (New York Post)