Olympics Ban on Personal Hotspots

http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/25/no-wi-fi-please-were-british-olympics-will-ban-personal-hotspots/

by stevewillows • 14 years ago

46 66 14 years ago

mootothemax5• 14 years ago

From the London 2012 site:

Personal/private wireless access points and 3G hubs (smart devices such as Android phones, iPhone and tablets are permitted inside venues, but must not be used as wireless access points to connect multiple devices)

http://www.london2012.com/mm/Document/Documents/General/01/2...

They also seem to be following airline rules and have banned liquids over 100ml, amongst the other usual suspects.

I've no idea how they intend to enforce the ban against personal hotspots, nor why they'd bother in the first place. It's hardly enforceable, is it?

Edit: Interesting comment by ajerman on the engadget story, does this sound plausible?

I would have to assume it's less to be oppressive and more to just minimize excessive airwave congestion in the area. If a few hundred people are running a mobile hotspot, you're going to have quite a bit of traffic on the ole wifi frequencies.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/25/london-bans-mobile-hotspo...

gaius• 14 years ago

Presumably it's because Samsung is their Official Mobile Phone Sponsor.

The liquids thing is because Coke is their Official Carbonated Beverage Sponsor.

mootothemax5• 14 years ago

Presumably it's because Samsung is their Official Mobile Phone Sponsor.

Right - but what does that have to do with banning personal hotspots? The guidelines clearly say you can bring your phone along.

The liquids thing is because Coke is their Official Carbonated Beverage Sponsor.

There's nothing in there saying you can't bring 100ml of Pepsi ;-)

jerf2• 14 years ago

I'm guessing there will be for-pay wireless access hotspots installed. No inside info beyond what you see, just running on the theory that every dime is being squeezed out of the spectators and extrapolating from there.

mootothemax5• 14 years ago

There's nothing banning 3G access, just the ability to use your phone as personal hotspot. Kinda pointless banning it if 3G isn't available in the first place.

cjrp2• 14 years ago

Yep, BT is providing Openzone hotspots, which you can purchase access to: http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/news/bt-deploys-public-wi-...

DanWaterworth3• 14 years ago

The way the Olympics is being organized is making me ashamed of my country.

vecinu• 14 years ago

Why? Please elaborate.

excuse-me9• 14 years ago

Start with laws rewriting copyright to make it a CRIMINAL offence to use: the name of the country's capital city together with either the numeric value of this year, or the name of the season between spring and autumn.

Spending $Bn of taxpayers money on 'infrastructure' that is going to be used for 2weeks and then given away for next to nothing to friends/supporters afterwards. And at the same time cutting funding to schools and community sports.

Using the army as cheap labour when the company given the contract for security decided it was going to be profitable enough and walked away

All this so a bizarrely coiffured lunatic and his oily friends in Westminster can appear on global TV

b03• 14 years ago

I'll give you some ideas why it's an absolute fucking disgrace:

* Rapier missile launchers installed on residential flats.

* Dispersal Zone around Olympics which has kerfew, 42,000 strong mostly private police force and all legal rights suspended for residents and visitors.

* Armed drones patrolling the air around the site.

* Armed troops on site and the surrounding area.

* They built on Leyton Marshes which is common land.

* Warships have been stationed on the Thames.

* Transport disruption due to Olympic traffic lanes added and service alterations over the entire transport network (resulting in a 3 mile walk to take my disabled daughter to her physiotherapist - fun eh?)

* The fact that we have bankrupt hospital trusts which could have been bailed out several times over for that amount of money.

* The fact that NHS maternity and surgical services are turning people away and warning of serious disruption during the event.

* The fact that the Olympic village was promised for social housing. Out of 11,000 residences, 675 are going to it.

* There are branding police and official products which must be purchsed on site. You can't even take a flask of water with you incase they can't make money out of you.

* The fact that the political elite asked for the event despite polls taken at the time suggesting that the general opinion is that we didn't want it.

* The fact that "we're going to benefit from it", but there are no tangible benefits which are provable and every Olympic city has gone down the pan after the Olympics.

Ultimately, everything we expect and pay huge amounts for in tax is suspended for our political and corporate overlords. It's a militarisation exercise.

Pretty picture: http://www.terratag.com/Files/52189/Img/06/APOCOLYMPICS_DETA...

(product link for it: http://www.terratag.com/PBSCProduct.asp?ItmID=8759948)

delinka• 14 years ago

Is it your country or the Internatinal Olympic Committee (or whatever their official name is)? When they came to my town, I was very disappointed at the commerciality of it all, but all insisted upon by the Official International Olympic Organization.

DanWaterworth3• 14 years ago

It doesn't matter who is master-minding it, the fact people who are there ostensibly to represent the population are going along with it is the problem.

mrgoldenbrown• 14 years ago

The IOC can insist, but it is the UK that is caving in to all the demands, so it is legitimate to put the blame on the UK.

drivingmenuts• 14 years ago

It's not just the UK. The Olympics has their heads buried so far up corporate backsides, they're operating with a 20th century mentality.

Time to shut the whole thing down and come up with something relevant.

excuse-me9• 14 years ago

I think you mean 12th Century.

Elected leaders of major democratic nations bending over to do what the divinely appointed leaders of a bunch of steroid cases say

mnicole2• 14 years ago

Agreed. I love the idea of the Olympics, but the majority of these athletes seem to have to rely on sponsorships to make a living despite their rigorous, continued training. Sometimes sponsorships by companies whose products are more harmful than healthy. Sometimes this only amounts to a few thousand a year.

After banning employees from promoting the event through status updates, Instagram posts and effectively killing all other advertising with the "it's again the TOS to link to us unless you're spinning us in a positive light" thing they just pulled a few weeks ago, I'm over the entire thing before it even began.

bryanlarsen• 14 years ago

Does the free wifi zone cover the olympics? That would somewhat mitigate the impact of this ban, but I imagine that the free wifi is pretty limited.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/25/3185756/o2-free-wifi-londo...

biafra• 14 years ago

The reasoning behind this may be less evil than you think. At the Chaos Communication Congress the CCC provides wireless internet access for free and bans personal hotspots because they interfere with the provided wifi infrastructure.

fredley• 14 years ago

The wireless hotspots provided for the Olympics are not free: £5.99 for 90 minutes.

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2180518/bt-covers-olympic-par...

packetslave• 14 years ago

This. Yes, it's heavy-handed, but I would not be surprised to learn that the underlying goal is "keep the official wifi network from falling over from the 2.4ghz duty cycle hitting 100% across all channels due to N000 personal hotspots."

EiZei• 14 years ago

Also from The Verge: "BT has 1,500 paid hotspots at Olympic sites, with prices starting from £5.99 ($9.28) for 90 minutes us"

excuse-me9• 14 years ago

With a title like that the lawyers will be onto you.

You should use the official euphemism: "Steroid Event 0x7DC"

jgrahamc• 14 years ago

No, Londinium MMXII: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/17/london-2...

user495982• 14 years ago

The Olympics may be the single most overly commercialized event in human history. It is far and above more about brand exposure, corporate profit, and sex in the Olympic village than about athletics, sportsmanship or nations putting aside their differences.

I for one will not be watching, and 2 months after when everybody forgets everything that happened other than Michael Phelps rippin' a bong, not a soul will care.

SageRaven• 14 years ago

The last event I watched was in '96. Then I became aware of the IOC behaving like the RIAA/MPAA asshats by restricting the 'net (blogging, photos, domain names, etc.).

I've been living in SLC since that time, and my family totally boycotted the 2002 winter games.

Screw the Olympics, the IOC, the sponsors, and even the athletes who make such a juggernaut possible to begin with.

iamadesigner• 14 years ago

I hate people like you. People who feel the need to be so negative when others are trying to look on the bright side.

The olympics may be commercialized but they also featured amazing sports like swimming, running, gymnastics, weight lifting--- these sports aren't normally featured on TV and for 2 weeks, we get treated to the best these sports have to offer.

And people like you just have to ruin it with your 2 cents.

sp3323• 14 years ago

Can't tell if you're being sarcastic. The only reason the Olympics are so trashy is because the event itself is so awesome that people will wade through piles of trash to get to it.

dredmorbius• 14 years ago

As someone who's known Olympians and Olympic hopefuls (I was never quite at that level), I can appreciate the athletes. A bit.

I do feel for many of the lesser-known/followed events, and competitors from developing nations.

But the whole notion of amateur athletics was binned a long, long time ago.

I last followed the games in the late 1980s. Since then it's been a long downward spiral so far as I'm concerned.

user495982• 14 years ago

Really, you hate people like me? Hate? I made an informed decision, and you hate me? You hate me for my opinions? On the Olympics? You really think I'm ruining the Olympics with my opinions? This is over the top.

The Olympics is disgustingly over commercialized, over sexualized, abusive to the communities it takes place in, a force contra free market and free speech and you hate me for my opinions? If a little entertainment is all it takes to get you to turn a blind eye then thats fine, but how can you hate me for not doing the same?

hnriot3• 14 years ago

England has a long history of go ing two fingers to authority, so I don't see this ban being anything more than administrative. A nation of rebels will treat this, any other insane rules with the disdain they deserve. The Olympic games belong to the people, not any authority.

nsns• 14 years ago

On a positive note... this event is the biggest ever evidence for the disruptive, liberating, power of the net, and the profound way new forms of news gathering and dissemination threaten the established players. Their efforts have become so elaborate, they seem like a house of cards. By the next Olympiad we'll hopefully witness a complete collapse of traditional broadcasting rights sale and enforcement.

rdtsc• 14 years ago

Now that they've banned them, they will probably see an unusual high usage of them.

And then they'll justify buying some expensive jamming or detecting equipment because, you know, there is a ton of wifi hotspots around now.

Olympics Ban on Personal Hotspots

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