A San Francisco library is turning off Wi-Fi at night to keep people without housing from using it

In San Francisco’s District 8, a public library has been shutting down Wi-Fi outside business hours for nearly a year. The measure, quietly implemented in mid-2022, was made at the request of neighbors and the office of city supervisor Rafael Mandelman. It’s an attempt to keep city dwellers who are currently unhoused away from the area by locking down access to one of the library’s most valuable public services.

A local activist known as HDizz revealed details behind the move last month, tweeting public records of a July 2022 email exchange between local residents and the city supervisor’s office. In the emails, residents complained about open drug use and sidewalks blocked by residents who are unhoused. One relayed a secondhand story...

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