This archive report was first published on 7 December 2019.
On November 22, 2019, a public hearing was held about New York's proposed consumer privacy bill. During the hearing, Assemblywoman Linda B. Rosenthal questioned Michael Pastor, general counsel of the city's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, about the LinkNYC kiosks. Pastor revealed that the city had not conducted a privacy audit of CityBridge, the company behind the kiosks, but promised to do so.
Assemblywoman Rosenthal expressed surprise at the lack of a privacy audit, stating, 'They had come there to say how important New Yorkers' privacy and security was, but this could be a hole in that safety net.'
Experts have also raised concerns about the transparency and auditing of the LinkNYC model. Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology expert for the New York Civil Liberties Union, noted that 'the public has a right to know more about the scale of data collection and how it will be used or shared once in the company's hands.'
Some critics argue that the city is complicit in the data collection, with Schuyler Duveen, a programmer and member of Rethink Link, calling it a 'Faustian bargain' if New Yorkers are 'paying with their data' for free services.
Despite the concerns, the LinkNYC kiosks continue to be rolled out across the city, with many still littered with trash and unusable payphones remaining in place.
