Case Studies

Safe WiFi

by Mark Rowe

In south Wales, Newport City Council’s free public WiFi has become the first in Wales to be awarded a UK government-initiated certification that its network is safe for children and young people.

Public WiFi has been available across council buildings since 2015 and around the city centre since 2016 to about 6,000 users each month – with 500 new or repeat users a day. Newport’s WiFi networks are provided by Pinacl, a North Wales based ICT systems installer, which has worked on the in-building network – Newport Community Cloud – plus the concession-based network across the city centre.

Both networks were built with the minimum safe filtering standards in place and this new certification by Friendly WiFi, which is thought to be the only scheme of its kind in the world, has now given the official stamp of approval – and parents peace of mind. Venues displaying the ‘Friendly WiFi’ symbol have WiFi filters which deny access to webpages known by the Internet Watch Foundation to host indecent images and advertisements, or links to such content. Nearly 2,250 under-18s have logged in to the city centre WiFi since it went live in 2015 and more than 3,000 youngsters have used Newport Community Cloud. Pictured left to right are Mark Lowe, Strategic Director at Pinacl; and Jo Evans Digital Project Officer at Newport City Council.

Councillor David Mayer, Cabinet Member for Community and Resource at Newport City Council, said: “We are immensely pleased our residents and visitors can access reliable public WiFi within our city centre and beyond. Our new Friendly WiFi certification means families can rest assured that we have safe and secure filtering in place which gives us all confidence as we go about our daily lives.

“This is especially important now, as you only have to look around and see how much of a smartphone nation we’ve become. We’re proud to have taken this step and look forward to even more people benefitting from this service.”

Other UK towns and districts, such as York and Taunton Deane, have also been awarded the symbol.

Mark Lowe, Strategic Director for Pinacl, said: “We are delighted that our WiFi solutions in Newport have been recognised by Friendly WiFi. We pride ourselves on delivering secure wireless solutions with robust content filtering in place and this certification helps to reassure the public that their children are safe online.”

Director of Friendly WiFi Bev Smith said: “By displaying the Friendly WiFi symbol, organisations provide a great deal of reassurance to people that the public WiFi that is being accessed is filtered and safe.

“This is particularly important in areas where there are high levels of young people and children – especially as their use of smart, mobile technology increases. Newport City Council has been absolutely focused on achieving this standard for its residents and visitors and working with Pinacl they have achieved the best service possible for all.”

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