Service Outage and Public Wireless

There was a service outage yesterday at two of our branch libraries--Standish and Oscoda--due to a break in the fiber optic line that Merit uses to connect to the Internet. This was repaired and the branches reconnected by 4:45 P.M. EST.

Meanwhile, I finally received some feedback from a patron (in person) about our public wireless system. She, and at least four others, could not get on-line. After walking her through the sign-up process (which you'd think would be simple), I wrote step-by-step instructions that should make things more clear. This document is currently available at East Tawas Library; simply ask the librarian for the instructions. The same document will be made available on the Technology wiki.

I also want to remind people who plan to use our service that we are not responsible for the security of your personal data. This is a publicly accessible service. It is not recommended for online banking or other transactions where personal information, including credit card and social security numbers, are transmitted.

The same is true of any hotspot; especially ones that are free, totally open and unmonitored. This is one of the reasons why we opted to maintain a hotspot system that allows a measure of accountability. One kind of attack is creating a fake hotspots that can steal personal information. I suggest you read this article at PC World and remember, use at your own risk.