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The Big Hangup At Burning Man Is Cell Phones
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "L. J. Williamson writes in the LA Times that with no running water, no plumbing, and no electrical outlets Burning Man isn't the kind of place to expect full bars on your smartphone and for many of the participants that's a big part of its charm. 'If you want to partake in the true Burning Man experience, you should leave your phone at home,' says Mark Hansen. In past years, the closest cellular towers, designed to serve the nearby towns of Empire (population 206) and Gerlach (population 217), would quickly get overwhelmed each August when Black Rock City (population 50,000 or so) rose from the featureless playa. Although Burning Man attracts a sizable Silicon Valley contingent including tech giants like Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin — the feeling of being 'unplugged' has become an integral part of the Burning Man experience. But another part of the event is an intrepid, DIY ethos, and in that spirit, David Burgess, co-creator of OpenBTS, an open-source cellular network software, brought a homemade in 2008, an 'almost comical' setup that created a working cellular network that routed a few hundred calls over a 48-hour period. In each subsequent year, Burgess has improved the system's reach and expects to have about three-quarters of this year's event covered. Burning Man proved an ideal test bed for development of Burgess' system, which he has since made available for use in other areas without cellular networks. 'People who have a lot of experience in international aid say Burning Man is a very good simulation of a well-organized refugee camp,' says Burgess. 'Because there's no infrastructure, it forces us to contend with a lot of problems that our rural customers have to contend with in very remote places.'"
"The big hangup are"?
What good is it going to "Burning Man" if nobody knows you're there? People can't survive a week without facebook and twitter, that's just being unreasonable. People need validation! And likes! And the fact that it's hard to get cell service just makes you even more special to have gotten your photos out! Imagine the look on your workmates' faces when you call..."Guess where I am!" If this were an underground event, nobody would bother attending. Where's the fun in nobody knowing that you're there?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
If you have tethering you should turn it on, so others can mooch off your service. That way you can lower the cell traffic, and use your cell phone as a hand warmer.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Trust fund rebels can't get a signal on their iStuff.
That happened over 15 years ago.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
at Burning Man, you're a fucking poser and really shouldn't even be there.
Somebody must've talked about Fight Club.
Actually, "The big hangups are cell phones" or "The big hangup is cell phone connectivity"
Nah; it's really "The big hangups are cell +++ATH0#$*(SD^F&*^ --NO CARRIER--
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I always heard that Burning Man was off the hook....
Today's burning man is about as counter-culture as a midnight madness sale at Walmart. The only difference is Walmart doesn't charge admission.
Do these guys have a license to transmit in the cellular bands?
This article is so horribly written that it makes my head hurt.
First off, the Tech Titans that go to Burning Man fly in private jets and stay in "Pay to Play" camps. Not to be a Burning Man snob, they are not getting the Burning Man experience. Also, most of them stay a day or so and then leave.
The OpenBTS network that is setup is a closed private Cell Phone network (This is covered in the FAQ). You have to have a GSM phone, type in special codes to get it to work and there are a number of restrictions to using the network. As the article stated, calling out is limited and calling in very limited. It's great for sending TXT messages, but the coverage is spotty at best.
OpenBTS only supports GSM, not CDMA (Verizon and Sprint), so that means not everyone can use it. Verizon kinda works out there, but TXT is the only thing flowing in or out (With long delays) since there are still too many people out there for the local cell phone infrastructure.
There is wireless at Burning Man, but really only at Center Camp and after about 8:00a, it gets crushed with users. Trust me, no one is checking Facebook or Instagram at Burning Man.
This whole, "OMG, CELL PHONES AT BURNING MAN IS GOING TO RUIN BURNING MAN" is completely over blown. Just about everyone turns off their phones at the gates and leaves them off all week. Burning Man was and still is a completely different world for one week.
Linux O Muerte!
On the contrary, it seems like Burning Man is uninviting to anyone who doesn't have a real job. Who else can afford tickets? My sense is that a lot of burners are professionals the other 51 weeks of the year. Burning Man is a huge release from all the conformity they deal with the rest of the year. They get one week out of the year to feel cool, so they make it as extreme as possible.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
And so as it becomes yuppified and "me too!" and too popular, there will be a sub-sub-culture for the folks that really know what is going on and why they should be there.
Many of us who have been going for a long time have stepped away as the event changed. It isn't the same as it was, so we've decided to walk away from the event.
I'm not saying it isn't fun, or I'm too cool for it, but it no longer appeals to me.
My Facebook feed has slowed by 50%, so I still seem to have a bunch of friends who are going - but I'm getting photos and updates from the desert. That part I don't understand; I loved being off the grid for a week or three.
I've never attended and I'm not in that "demographic", but some of my friends are. The word I've always heard is that it's now overrun with cops, curiosity-seeking yuppies, and even the organizers have taken the revenue-generating route.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Really... a 911 dispatcher would be completely at a loss as to what to do if they got a call from Burning Man,
Modern cellphones that have GPS receivers transmit GPS coordinates when calling 911. This has been the law for quite some time now.
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BMO
I know you know you better than I know you but have you ever considered that the event changed less than you have? There's a lot of things I liked even 10 years ago and when I try to revisit them I think they suck. More and more I've come to the realization that what has changed really isn't that much worse and what I like that hasn't changed just doesn't appeal to me anymore. I've never been to burning man but I've done other counter culture events and I can see how much I've changed in them.
Burning Man doesn't rely on the 911 system for any of its EMS issues. There are two large aid stations that are staffed by professional doctors, nurses, paramedics, etc. (people who are certified to be able to provide Basic Life Support services at a minimum), which are open 24/7 while the event is taking place, and before and after for all of the people who volunteer their time to construct and deconstruct the city.
On top of that, there is a fully functional Advanced Life Support facility (called Rampart) that is established in the center of the city and is meant to handle the very serious cases, of which there are of course a few every year. They have the ability to radio for air transport to Reno (the nearest large city with a real hospital) at a moment's notice. Rampart is airlock-sealed to keep the pervasive dust out and provide an environment that is as sterile as can be expected.
Emergency services are taken very, very seriously at Burning Man, and they have a history that goes back a long, long way.
When you're in the middle of nowhere, you aren't covered by anyone's 911 service. If the dispatcher didn't know about Burning Man, they might call out search & rescue I guess.
First of all, I don't know anywhere in North America where you aren't covered by some sort of government agency that provides emergency services. The Burning Man festival in particular has the attention of the local sheriff's office as well as area medical clinics and even hospitals that are... well at least "nearby" so far as any real emergency services are concerned. Some parts of North America might require a couple hour response and the dispatcher might just say "live with it" in some cases, but if a real life threatening emergency happened even in the remote Yellowstone wilderness or northern Alaska, you had better believe that somebody can get to you sooner or later.
Furthermore, the festival itself has its own security and medical corps (mostly volunteer) who are there to help out and can resolve most emergencies. It is utter bullshit to say that those who would receive such a call (and it is covered by the OpenBTS guys who do respond to 911 calls made on the system... they have made provisions just for that situation) would have no clue where to send those emergency services. I also promise that the local dispatchers who are there for the other 51 weeks of the year know exactly where the Burning Man festival is located at, and even know the major areas of the festival.
911 made on the OpenBTS systems goes to volunteers who dispatch the appropriate response, usually with the festival security guys. 911 made on the commercial services goes to the sheriff's office, who then usually contacts the festival security as well to coordinate a response. When you get 30,000 people together anywhere, the local law enforcement damn well knows what is going on and how to get there, especially for an annual event like this, even if it is what you might call "in the middle of nowhere". "That is not in my area" would not be said at all, ever.
The OpenBTS blog goes into some details about their system, although it will take some reading.