India is using its free public Wi-Fi to watch porn while waiting for the train [Update]

Facebook and Google both launched their own initiatives to bring free public Wi-Fi in India, but it seems people are not using it quite as the tech giants intended – they’re watching porn instead.

The Economic Times reports that according to data collected at one of the country’s busiest train stations, users mostly took advantage of the free Wi-Fi to browse porn.

The data was gathered by internet provider RailTel which offers free internet in 23 train stations in India as part of its partnership with Google.

“More than any other railway station in the country, where free Wi-Fi service was launched, the Patna railway station is on the top in the country for using internet search,” said a RailTel spokesperson, “particularly for porn sites.”

The 💜 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

RailTel additionally collected data from a few other locations, but hasn’t shared in detail what users were searching for.

India isn’t the only country to have its users abuse its free Wi-Fi to browse X-rated content in public.

New York’s own free internet initiative was also recently plagued by a barrage porn-watching maniacs. On another occasion, popular food franchise McDonald’s was also forced to block access to pornographic websites, following reports that customers were watching porn while gorging on burgers.

Update: RailTel has since downplayed the authenticity of the data report in question, claiming that, as an internet provider, it “does not keep watch over the web sites being browsed by the users.”

Still, one can’t help but wonder what that really means…

via CNET