PSA
I don’t charge my phone from any public or transportation (e.g. airplane) USB port. Why? Many of them are bidirectional and your phone can be invaded and read. Therefore, if I am out and about and I really need some power (rare) I use one of these. It blocks transfer of data and allows only power.
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That doesn’t solve the issue of whether or not the current is “clean” (steady and good for your phone – v. “dirty”).
An interesting tweet. It is in Italian.
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since Sat., 25 Nov. 2006:
Good advice, Father!
I also never use public wi-fi or “password-protected” common wi-fi’s such as hotels and other entities provide. I have a hotspot on my mobile that I use for wi-fi when traveling.
Even more common than this “juice-jacking” is a malfunctioning port. USB is a standard whose requirements are often more honored in the breach than the observance. When you see a “USB charging outlet” or a “USB extension cable” or other weird things, they are likely to not actually be USB-compliant, but simply USB-shaped and USB-compatible.
USB-A is an easy standard to adopt, and the connectors of a USB-A port are large enough to see without magnification, if you peer in there with a flashlight. The only thing that holds a cable in the port is friction, sort of like your AC outlets at home, and sometimes there are little bumps to aid this tension, but once a port or cable becomes loose, give up. And a public USB charger, with many inexperienced users throughout the days and months, will be easily damaged by those who just shove it in there and then wiggle them around to try and get a connection.
So, you can often expect some debris introduced, and bent connectors, and the metal shell will be damaged eventually.
USB-C is far more delicate. The connectors are comparatively tiny. The friction is, again, the only force on our side here, and there is less of it. The USB-C connector is “reversible”, at least until the connectors begin to misbehave. USB-C also relies on those data lines to provide the “rapid charging” service. So, when you defeat the “juice-jackers” you also defeat the protocol negotiation that brings you the most efficient charging.
Now I’m beginning to see Qi chargers embedded in the table at coffeehouses and hotel lounges. I suppose that a Qi charger could be paired with a very convenient NFC interface that charges your mobile wallet for the inefficient trickle of electrons that will charge your device by 2% while you have lunch. Is this why the Heliades mourn even today?
I always avoid these in normal circumstances ; but in times when I’m on foot pilgrimage, I pretty much have no choice.
Having said that — if you’re connecting to a phone network and/or your ISP, you’re completely exposed anyway. So this advice isn’t really that helpful.
You could I guess have not even a dumbphone ; and have only a wired landline, and unplug it from the wall before any private conversation, and never use the internet ?
Seems like that might be a little self-defeating …
An alternate solution is to use your own phone’s charger that you plug into an A/C receptacle. Of course, there are no A/C receptacles on airplanes but there are some in airports.