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'Wi-Fi Police' Stalk Olympic Games
schwit1 writes with news from London that Olympic venues are being patrolled by so-called "Wi-Fi police," who seek out and shut down unauthorized access points and hotspots. BT is the "official communications services provider" for the Games, so access points other than the ones they set up or approve have been disallowed. A picture tweeted from the Olympics shows a gentleman carrying a portable direction antenna that can localize sources of transmission and interference.
"One possible aim of shutting down such WiFi access points is to cut down on interference with essential wireless communications being used by those refereeing, reporting on and working at the sporting events. ... The news of the WiFi crackdown has angered many of those following the Games online, who were already upset at Olympic authorities' attempts to limit the use of social networking tools at the Games at certain times. The London Olympics had been billed as the first 'social media Games,' but organizers have been accused of bungling the effort to seamlessly integrate popular technologies like Twitter and Facebook into the event."
If I were in the area, I'd be tempted to set up a few of the old linksys routers that cut out now and then in strange places (just powered, not networked).
Make it a little more challenging for them to find the real "WiFi Offenders"
They're trying to cut down on interference, with the large volume of people at these things, is this not reasonable?
Anyone not eating official McDonalds food--prepare for an ass whipping!
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This post brought to you by Carl's, Jr. Fuck you, I'm eating!
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
BT offers paid hotspots, through BT WiFi (£5.99 for 90 minutes, £9.99 for 24 hours, £26.99 for five days), except for BT home customers and customers of mobile carriers which have sharing agreements with BT (O2 and Tesco Mobile). For anyone else, vouchers can be bought from kiosks at Olympic parks, BT told GigaOM.
"We want more money."
Actually, a good portion of human activity can be explained by that simple phrase. In this case, it's about enforcing rules guaranteeing BT certain amounts of money.
I am officially gone from
Every single online stream for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, for instace, i snow a endless loop saying "During the London 2012 Olympics, we are unable to bring you regular ABC programming in your location. This is due to the Olympic Broadcast Agreement."
Try any of the streams at http://www.abc.net.au/radio/listenlive.htm#directlinks All blocked if you're outside Australia.
Assholes. Not just sport. EVERYTHING from Australia's main broadcaster is off the air for weeks because of the fucking Olympics.
You have to wonder when the hell they will just sell naming rights and be done with it.
These "wi-fi police" are clearly infringing on the exclusive intellectual property rights of the Metropolitan Police Service, The Official Police Force of the Olympic Games®.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
What we need are a few people to run the 'fakeap' program to create thousands of "access points" for them to chase :-).
Soon after, Coe backpedalled so rapidly that if he was seated backwards on a bike he'd win a gold medal in cycling.
My web domain.
They didn't ban personal portable EMP devices. Stand next to the guy with the silly antenna and press the button. Bang...no more detecting, mister!
Ezekiel 23:20
So, uhh, I'm a bit confused how anyone would provision outside internet access to their WiFi hotspot in the olympic park? The only answer which comes to mind is phones with built-in WiFi hotspots - but in Britain, if you're getting your phone data connection from BT (which you've paid for), why would they be able to stop you from using it?
It is, after all, a BT wifi hotspot which they have been paid for.
As someone else pointed out - you are free to use Wifi [em]outside the Olympic Park[/em] which is private property. You are only allowed on the grounds according to the rules by which they setup and you agree to when you purchase a ticket? Don't like the rules - then you become a trespasser and they eject you from the Park.
It sucks, but it would seem to be quite legal. They aren't regulating wireless spectrum, per se, they are regulating access to their property.
1. by working hard and providing attractive product: ok
2. by embedding yourself as an oligopolisitc rent seeking parasite on the political landscape: not ok *
* but by #2 cloaking itself falsely as a capitalist force like #1, and spreading propaganda to that effect, riling up fools who believe that nonsense, such as with healthcare insurance, we can remain embedded in the body politic, and siphon off cash in a noncapitalistic way, all the while protected by idiots who think they are championing capitalism
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
19. Spectator Policy
* 19.1
* Personal property
* 19.1.1
* There will be no storage available at the Venues, save for limited space afforded to children’s buggies, prams and wheelchairs.
* 19.1.2
* LOCOG has the exclusive right to determine what objects may be brought into a Venue by a Ticket Holder. LOCOG will not store confiscated and/or unauthorised material at a Venue and a Ticket Holder will have no right for the item to be returned.
* 19.2
* Prohibited and restricted items
* 19.2.1
* Ticket Holders are prohibited from transporting into a Venue any firearm, ammunition, dangerous weapon or object, explosive, chemicals or incendiary device. Any Ticket Holder who is found to be in possession of any of the above items will have the items seized, shall be removed from a Venue and may be subject to arrest and/or prosecution by the relevant authorities.
* 19.2.2
* No objects that may cause damage to Persons and/or property, or cause disturbance to the regular and orderly execution of a Session (as determined by LOCOG in its sole discretion), may be brought into a Venue.
* 19.2.3
* The following is a non-exhaustive list of restricted items which may not be taken into a Venue (LOCOG reserves the right to amend this list, generally, or in respect of any Venue or Session): food (save for baby food), alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages (save for baby milk and other valid medical reasons), liquids in containers of greater than 100ml in size, needles (save as required for valid medical reasons), animals (save for assistance or guide dogs), weapons (including knives), illegal drugs, other illegal substances, fireworks, firecrackers, poles, flagpoles, sticks, large photographic equipment (including tripods), bats, large umbrellas and other blunt instruments, motorcycles, bicycles, roller-skates, skateboards, or other types of skates, electronic transmitting equipment, flags of countries not participating in the Games, large flags or banners, horns, whistles, drums, rattles, musical instruments, lasers or any other devices that in the opinion of LOCOG may disturb a Session, objects bearing trademarks or other kinds of promotional signs or messages (such as hats, T-shirts, bags, etc) which LOCOG believes are for promotional purposes, counterfeit products, balls, rackets, frisbees or similar objects, large quantities of coins, lighters, advertising or promotional material of any kind, printed matter bearing religious, political or offensive content or content contrary to public order and/or morality, bottles or containers made of glass or other material, flasks, thermoses, refrigerators, large objects such as suitcases or bags, and in general any material that LOCOG may deem dangerous or that may cause damage or disruption to a Session.
* 19.3
* Forbidden behaviour
* 19.3.1
* Any behaviour by a Ticket Holder that, in LOCOG’s view, creates a dangerous situation, puts at risk an individual’s personal security, is against public order, interferes in any way with the orderly execution of a Session or disrupts the enjoyment of a Session is forbidden and may result in a refusal of admission to or removal from the Venue without refund.
* 19.3.2
* The following is an illustrative list of prohibited and restricted behaviour within any Venue: fighting, public drunkenness, smoking, gambling, unauthorised money collection, any activity related to marketing or advertising (including, for the av
I think it's even worse than religion. At least the goal of religious organization (ideally, without the greed and corruption) is about people as a group trying to find a spiritual part of themselves. We could argue whether such a part exists or not, but sports organizations really aren't about anything positive for the individual, only idolatry towards freaks of nature, those within the top 0.1% of humans with such levels of athletic ability made possible by genetics, and distracting people from doing things like work or caring about politics and their future or education or gaining skills or even taking a moment to be introspective.
More Twoson than Cupertino
And no wonder that the businesses in London complains of the lack of customers when the restrictions for the olympic venues are hard enough to make you feel like a suspect.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Then the laws of the UK or England must differ from the laws of the United States with respect to whether or not federal unlicensed spectrum regulations trump state trespassing laws. See previous Slashdot stores about FCC rulings: 1 2
Drown the area in hotspots named "Burger King", "Pepsi" and similar using directional antennas.
That would cause some amusement.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Somehow, we managed to have games without all that corporate bullshit up until late 80's or so. And not all of them were held in Berlin, Moscow or Beijing.