Olympics Ban on Personal Hotspots | Hacker News Reader

Olympics Ban on Personal Hotspots

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46 pointsstevewillows66 comments

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...

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.

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

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.

I expect paid Wifi hotspots, not 3G hotspots. In addition to them being offended you aren't paying them for Wifi, the phones will also potentially interfere with their paid Wifi.

The 3G coverage is bound to be horrible because there will be so many people forcing people to use their overpriced hotspots.

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

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

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 ;-)

But once you're done drinking your tiny amount of Pepsi, if you get thirsty you'll have to buy Coke.

But once you're done drinking your tiny amount of Pepsi, if you get thirsty you'll have to buy Coke.

Not true, here's the sample menu from London 2012 that illustrates what will typically be available at venues inside the olympic park:

Bottled water – £1.60

Fairtrade tea – from £2.00

Fairtrade coffee – from £2.60

500ml bottle of Coca-Cola – £2.30

330ml bottle of Heineken – £4.20

London 2012 red wine 18.7cl – £4.80

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

Definitely overpriced, but Coke isn't the only option.

£2.30 a bottle??? What the fuck are Coke thinking? Paying all that money to sponsor the games and then absolutely shafting anyone who actually buys your drink. Everyone will be walking away saying "Fuck me, that coke was expensive." - I can't believe that's the message they're wanting to leave behind.

I have a flat in London, but I'm staying away for the whole of the Olympics. I'm ashamed of the whole thing. "At this unprecedented time of War, Crisis and Recession. Your Dear Government offer you to enjoy the International Games. But you must Be Cautious at all times. Our Security Services and Army will try to ensure that you are not killed while watching the shot-put."

I don't see why this is surprising? All big events have outrageous prices. Compared to some gigs I've been to they even seem somewhat reasonable. There are much worse things brought about by the Olympics being here than the prices charged to those in the event itself.

Will you be renting your flat for the duration of the games? In Vancouver they tried to regulate that too.

This definitely reinforces the point. You're not allowed to bring your own drinks in, if you want to drink anything you must buy an overpriced drink from one of 3 or 4 sponsors.

This definitely reinforces the point. You're not allowed to bring your own drinks in, if you want to drink anything you must buy an overpriced drink from one of 3 or 4 sponsors.

Well, that's a different argument from the one that coke is your only option ;)

Can't say that I like these sponsorship deals enforcing things like this though. Going to a festival? Flat Carlsberg it is!

  > that coke is your only option

For instance, The Coca-Cola Company owns several bottled water brands. No one said that "Coke the drink" was the only thing available.

"Dasani - London tapwater with added toxic levels of Benzene"

Admittedly the tag line needs some work, but with a good enough Logo it will sell.

Fairtrade tea – from £2.00 Fairtrade coffee – from £2.60

Rather expensive for a cup of hot water. Does that price include a teaspoon of fairtrade sugar and a dash of fairtrade milk or cream?

Then again, its not very fairtrade for coffee farmers/producers to get 60p more for their product than tea farmers/producers. Wonder how much of that excess markup the farmers actually end up seeing.

$3.56 coke must be mighty special.

That's typical London pricing.

Paris is much worse. The same 500ml bottle will cost you $5.33 at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

I don't get why any sports enthusiast would ever drink a drink that's just corn syrup, even if it were free.

UK Coke (and large parts of the non-US world) is cane sugar based rather than corn syrup.

It's not good for you, but it tastes a whole lot better.

McDonalds is the official fast food sponsor of Londinium MMXII !

I read they will have the worlds largest McDonalds there.

I guess money is money, doesn't matter where it comes from, it's sad but the games have gone downhill ever since they stopped letting lions in the stadium, in my opinion.

Well I will feel very disappointed if we don't see all the athletes eating there every day

The Heineken's cheaper than in a pub in Dublin!

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

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.

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.

The idea behind the Olympics games is that you wouldn't win huge prizes or gain a lot of money, because you are an amateur who is naturally gifted with skill in your sport. It shouldn't be rigorous, continued training, it shouldn't be for the glory of the nation, it shouldn't define an athlete.

The Olympic games is no different from Christmas: there were good intentions when it was started, but it has devolved into commercialism and a bastardization of what the original spirit was.

Ideally, yes. I'm not saying that we should award physical capability with hoards of cash as an incentive (although in sports entertainment we do), but to have a shot at being on the podium at these levels, competing against people that are doping, you need multiple coaches, nutritionists and physicians to ensure your health and safety and that doesn't come cheap on top of general living and travel expenses.

That's the argument I'm getting at. If it takes money to get into the Olympics, the Games have already been lost.

The original spirit was a few Greek men running around naked to show that they were racially superior to all other peoples.

The rest of the Olympic 'traditions' were invented at the 1936 games for not-dissimilar reasons.

Crass commercialisation is probably the "nice side" of the olympics.

> the majority of these athletes seem to have to rely on sponsorships to make a living despite their rigorous, continued training.

The way I see it, an overwhelming majority of sports showcased at the Olympics are not watched or cared about at all outside of the Olympics. Who's going to be following the hurdles in three weeks time? Not enough people for a hurdler to make a living I suspect.

Most athletes have day jobs outside of the Olympics training season. For most Olympic athletes, especially those outside of marquee sports like swimming or gymnastics, the only sponsorhip money they will ever see if the money they get during the 3-4 months of Olympic hysteria. These sponsorships are not usually in the six figures.

They take on sponsorships while training so that they can afford to take breaks from their normal jobs to train (though a few employers, such as the HomeDepot, actively recruit Olympians and provide generous training allowances).

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

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.

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.

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.

Why? Please elaborate.

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)

My favourite is the promise that people in the surrounding areas will benefit from all of the funding, new developments, etc. BS. The "area" will benefit (gentrification leading to more expensive rent/housing), effectively pricing out the existing residents.

As the parent commenter and a previous resident (of Leyton), you've nailed it there. Our landlord upped our rent from 1000GBP a month to 1400GPB a month the moment it was announced.

CISCO got the contract for most of the network infrastructure based on the kit being donated to education afterwards.

Apparently it will be donated to $$$$ CISCO certification courses run at CISCO training centers. And of course training == education

So they get paid £££ to install the kit, then they get a tax right-off to donate it to themselves and then they get to charge people £££ to use it to become CISCO certified engineers!

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

You missed the truly abysmal logos and mascots.

Which are worse even than they look on first glance. Colourize them right and they look like Simpsons characters. http://media.nowpublic.net/images//00/f/00f893c2ac7430de95e1...

If children wish to draw "one-eyed trouser snakes" or Lisa Simpson performing an intimate act, on their school books that's fine.

I just don't think that consenting adults should be exposed to this sort of thing - especially not splashed over every wall

I've never heard the one-eyed trouser snake one before - I nearly spat my (non-Olympic-overlord approved) water in my ThinkPad :-)

They are by far the worst mascots ever.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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...

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."

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.

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"

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...

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.

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.

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

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

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

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