6/3/23 - At the Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations committee meeting on March 8th 2023, Council President Pro Tem Monica Montgomery Steppe asked what exemption from the City’s surveillance ordinance the kiosks fit into. Staff referred this question to the Deputy City Attorney present, who said questions about surveillance are deferred to the Mayor’s office, or something like that. To which, Montgomery Steppe says “That’s a new one.”
Staffer Christina Bibler then claimed the questions would be answered before it came to full council, including in a staff report, but to our knowledge, these questions have never been answered. View the full video (skip to 1:05:45).  For a transcript of the exchange, click Read more. 

By Pamela Wilson. Excerpted from Times of San Diego. Read the full version online at timesofsandiego.com.
​Mayor Todd Gloria was a councilmember in 2013 when the Land Use and Housing Committee rejected a developer’s bid to demolish sign limits by draping downtown with nearly 100 building wraps and other ad media, including kiosks like those now envisioned. Now the Mayor has abandoned his past defense of our city’s distinct character, using his power under the strong mayor system to sidestep transparent review of this drastic zoning exception. Four no votes at the June 6 council meeting are required to prevent San Diego from becoming just another ad-blighted city.

Rumors are rampant at City Hall that the ad screens are just the tip of the iceberg. Next will be a wholesale dismantlement of sign limits — so expect wraps, digital billboards, and other visual litter in the near future. This explains why unprecedented exceptions to sign limits are proposed for the paltry sum of about $600,000 in total revenue per year for the general fund.  There is no plausible motive other than to incrementally erode our sign limits by auctioning our field of vision to the highest bidder.
Doing so will brand our elected council as less progressive than appointed Port Commissioners, who in 2018 rejected similar ad kiosks along our waterfront by the same vendor, IKE Smart City. Debate on those kiosks lasted for a year and included a robust discussion of the data-gathering technology contained in these devices.  But this year, the info-capturing capabilities of interactive signs have been obfuscated in staff reports and minimized in ad agency testimony — and not even explained in the agreement the council will vote on.

It’s a stunning turnabout that councilmembers who claim to be most concerned about remedying the city’s entrenched patterns of inequality and addressing climate change are embracing an industry that stands for the opposite. The internet is replete with critiques of the advertising business as one that targets poor communities, promotes unhealthy consumerism and over-consumption, spews visual pollution, and accelerates climate change.  No elected official can claim to be progressive while backing this regressive policy reversal."
Excerpted from Time of San Diego. Read the full version online at timesofsandiego.com.

In the April 20th Planning Commission meeting, Chairperson William Hofman voiced his common-sense reasoning for voting against the digital kiosks: "I am afraid of the risk from people who may want to challenge our sign ordinance or try to do similar things.
I am not going to support the motion. To me as a planning commissioner … my job is to look at the design, the needs, of not only the downtown area but also the entire city. And I just don’t see the need. I really don’t see the need. I believe that this will not be a substitute for cell phones. Cell phones are far more convenient, you don’t have to walk two blocks to look at it, and a cell phone can do everything that these kiosks will do. I definitely got online because I wanted to see what they looked like. It wasn’t clear in our staff report, really, the visual. These are eight feet tall. There’s digital advertising, which I don’t think is necessary …
It’s not easy for me to ever go against a city sponsored project, I don’t think I ever have …
I just feel overall, for the citizens, that it’s not necessary. And it’ll bring visual clutter downtown, that I believe will cause safety problems. People are going to use it, for sure, but I just think when it gets back to the basics, people are going to use their cell phones. … And I’m concerned about the extra visual clutter I don’t think downtown needs…" View the full video (skip to 2:21:30).  Join us in opposing the digital kiosks - make your voice heard at the June 6th City Council meeting. ​

Cellphone charging is one of the purported benefits of digital kiosks, however, this is not a benefit and can, indeed, be public hazard. From California Coast Credit Union: 

Juice jacking is in the news again. It has been around since 2021, but the FBI and FCC are raising awareness again. “Juice jacking” is where bad actors use public chargers to infect smartphones and other devices with malware. This mostly happens in airports, hotels, and shopping centers, so avoid charging your mobile device there.
Tips to help you avoid becoming a juice jacking victim:

• Avoid using a public USB charging station. Use an AC power outlet instead.
• Bring AC, car chargers, and your own USB cables with you when traveling.
• Carry a portable charger or external battery.
• Consider carrying a charging-only cable, which prevents data from sending or receiving while charging, from a trusted supplier.
• If you plug your device into a USB port and a prompt appears asking you to select "share data" or “charge only,” always select “charge only.”
• Keep your software updated. Software updates are likely to have current security protection, patches, and bug fixes.
• If you receive a prompt on your phone asking if you trust the device it is plugged into, that device may be attempting to transfer data from your phone. Decline the request.
• Use two-factor authentication or biometric log-ins when available.

If you suspect that you might have been a victim of juice jacking, check your device for any signs of unusual behavior, such as unexpected pop-ups, notifications, or apps that you didn’t install, and report this to your phone provider. As always, we recommend that you report any incidents of juice jacking to the authorities to help prevent others from becoming victims. 
Sources:

1. FCC
2. U.S. Army Cyber Command 
3. AGIO