8 ms·

Draconian ‘Wi-Fi police' stalk Olympic Games

84 points by srazzaque 14y ago

emeltzer 14y ago
I'm so glad the chances of San Francisco hosting the olympics in the near future are basically 0
- samstave 14y ago
  If they do make it here, I among others will be sure to sponsor wifi and cellular jammers to kill any and all signals. In addition, we would need TV-BE-GONE beacons as well to cause IR sweeps that shut off all TVs in distance. Digital civil-disobedience.
  - joshAg 14y ago
    i like your style. might i suggest finding out how the wifi scanners work, and then creating a bunch of dummy wifi connections with well hidden embedded systems (of course, set them up with a hidden ssid so it doesn't interfere with people actually using wifi)? also, fake ads for fake companies that blatantly use the banned words.
    - duaneb 14y ago
      The biggest problem would probably be power, especially when considering enterprise-level radios.
    - lgeek 14y ago
      > set them up with a hidden ssid so it doesn't interfere with people actually using wifi WiFi APs with hidden ESSIDs still send beacons, but don't include the ESSID. This means that they'll obviously add radio noise.
      - joshAg 14y ago
        Yes, adding noise will be unavoidable, but not broadcasting an ssid means unsuspecting people won't try and connect to these pseudo AP's. To cut down on the interference caused by the added radio noise one could either hardwire all the pseudo ap's to use the same channel, effectively blocking anyone from using it, or have each ap actively scan and switch to the least used channel at a set interval.
petitmiam 14y ago
"The absurdities don't end there. According to Britain's Daily Telegraph, Fish and chip stalls have been advised they are not allowed to serve chips on their own without fish as McDonald's is the official chip maker of the Games." That is absurd. McDonalds sells fries, not chips.
- kenolsen 14y ago
  "French fries", also known as "Pommes frites", are known as "Chips" in UK. Fish and chips is awesome. And yes, McD is being a douche bag here, but the biggest *rse is probably UK itself allowing this to happen.
  - petitmiam 14y ago
    I've only been to the UK once, but I don't remember fries being called "chips" in UK McDonalds. I've always thought of "fries" as those skinny things McDonalds/Hungry Jacks/Burger King sell, while chips are the chunkier version you get at a proper Fish'n'Chip shops or pub. Restaurants here (Australia) generally distinguish between the two.
    - codeka 14y ago
      Well, either way it's deep-fried potato. It does seem really stupid though. Are you going to go to a fish-and-chips shop, ask for "chips but no fish", get told that they're not allowed to sell that, and then say "OK, we'll go to McDonald's instead"? That's never going to happen!
      - einhverfr 14y ago
        "We will give you the fish for free as long as you promise to throw it at the brand police." "Yes but I don't want to assault anyone." "Ok. We are cooking special, non-salted fish for that purpose."
        b0 14y ago
sthkr 14y ago
Sensationalized article with poor research. There's a real reason behind all this: Read here: http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/xjads/something_you_wont_see_on_tv_this_is_the_olympics/c5mz1h3 http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/xjads/something_you_wo...
- ricardobeat 14y ago
  Even with these rules in place, there must be millions of cellphones broadcasting packets in the wi-fi frequency, even if they are not sharing a 3G connection. I understand why you would want to avoid interference for all official event radio and data, but there are already at least 1500 wifi radios around. Not many people use hotspots, would it really matter?
  - wickedchicken 14y ago
    > Those radio frequencies he lists are all in the FM band, way below wi-fi. Sorry to be nitpicky, but you probably meant UHF instead of FM. Either way you're right, and a stronger argument is that hundreds of people operating wifi hotspots would cause interference for the millions of cellphones (ever try to make a call at a music festival? get wifi at a networking conference?).
    - ricardobeat 14y ago
      Yes, I meant VHF/UHF. Deleted that, it's an argument I don't want to be in :) Bad wi-fi at conferences seems to be mostly due to radios with too little processing power, misconfigured radios, positioning and software. There have been successful wi-fi deployments at confs in the thousands. I'm curious about the cellphone, I never had that problem (never made any calls from a packed front-line crowd though). There doesn't seem to be any overlap in mobile frequencies and wi-fi, other than 4G starting at the very edge?
      - 72deluxe 14y ago
        Try any sporting events in the UK such as horse racing at Cheltenham. It'll be impossible to make any mobile calls due to the number of devices and lack of coverage by the masts. Wireless space is limited too (too many wifi devices) so they can use things like a wireless lan controller (from Cisco, for example) to send disconnect packets to any rogue APs, forcing them to become useless.
tzs 14y ago
Anyone recall the story a while back where a bunch of IETF engineers were attending a meeting, and they offered to fix the hotel's flakey wifi? Part of the fix was getting rid of a lot of hotspots, because when you have too many hotspots in an area they interfere with each other and make performance crappy. Won't the same problem happen if there are too many people trying to run personal hotspots in a given area?
- user49598 14y ago
  Yes, but you don't fix it by shutting them all down and making people pay for something they could provide themselves. You make it free, 'cos it's the Olympics and people need to communicate freely. ps. wasn't my downvote, I think they're useless edit-- well it seems you removed the part of your comment that called out your down-voter and now i seem pedantic
  - freehunter 14y ago
    making people pay for something they could provide themselves They could. At the expense of everyone else around them. You make it free, 'cos it's the Olympics and people need to communicate freely. Go to a club on Thursday night (Thirsty Thursday) and try to have a conversation with your friend. The same thing happens with wifi. Considering the amount of wifi equipment used by the teams at the Olympics, I think it's more pragmatic for the IOC to heavily regulate the spectrum to be sure the coaches can do their job. When it's all said and done, the spirit of the Olympics is about the athletes, not the fans.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
    - user49598 14y ago
      Making everyone pay isn't a solution, it's a business plan. When I go out to a loud club I can still communicate and no one comes around telling me it's against the club rules to try to. The Olympics would be nothing without our ability to communicate about them. IMHO that's one of the biggest failings of NBC this year. They're doing a horrible job of communicating the Olympics. Opening up the communication channels just brings more interest, more coverage and more excitement.
Lockyy 14y ago
I think the best bit is that the international organisation for sporting achievement that is meant to encourage fitness and a drive for excellence has an official chip vendor.
- codeka 14y ago
  Not only that, but McDonalds is the official restaurant of the Olympics. Surely I'm not the only one who sees the irony in that?
  - karolist 14y ago
    There's irony. There's salad, chicken and green tea in McDonnald's as well (they just don't advertise it that much). You can eat that and stay fit.
    - archangel_one 14y ago
      Do they offer any of those things in the free McDonalds provided in the athletes village? They didn't the last time I saw it, but that was a few years ago now when they weren't focusing so much on healthier alternatives.
    - chris_wot 14y ago
      I guess you haven't looked at the fat content of their salads lately then.
geoffpado 14y ago
I wish they'd get these guys at some of the tech conferences I've been to.
alex_h 14y ago
The law granting these powers is the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/12/pdfs/ukpga_20060012_en.pdf http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/12/pdfs/ukpga_20060...
- ciex 14y ago
  Has there been a discussion around this law in the UK? I don't really believe a democratic vote would have signed it off, so I wonder how it is possible to wave through such a thing with no public controversy. What do the people gain from a 'ban on chips'?
  - switch007 14y ago
    This is how "democracy" works: the candidates lie, they get voted in, then you have no say for 4 years. Repeat.
    - philbarr 14y ago
      Exactly, it's hardly like we gave them a mandate to screw everybody in London over.
  - philwise 14y ago
    I think that the UK.gov were forced by the IOC to promise that they would get the law passed before they could submit a O*c bid. Basically they waited until the last minute then it just happened without any consultation.
  - chris_wot 14y ago
    It's an Act of Parliament, and elected representatives passed it. That's most certainly an example of representative democracy. Or rather, the limits of representative democracy.
iamandrus 14y ago
What about Bluetooth tethering? Do they check for that too?
- scraplab 14y ago
  It's all 2.4GHz, so it'll appear on the spectrum analyser.
  - ConstantineXVI 14y ago
    It also wouldn't stand out particularly much from other BT traffic (headsets, keyboards, etc.); so not nearly as obvious as a Wi-Fi base station blasting a beacon constantly. I don't think your average person is even aware that functionality still exists.
Zenst 14y ago
Worth noting O2 are offering free wifi about London during the games and Virgin media are offering free wifi on parts of the tube train system as well. BT are just being arses, but history has a way of repeating itself, so no supprise there.
iuguy 14y ago
I wonder if these things pick up bluetooth PANs? I think there's a great opportunity to subvert the wifi rule by setting up bluetooth hotspots.
mmariani 14y ago
Every time I see the expression "olympic spirit" I don't think anymore in selfless athletes doing their best to compete in the name of their country. What I see is a draconian institution doing its best to protect a $US45 billion brand by treating proud citizens as consumers. What a shame!
yaix 14y ago
The Olympics were a good idea, but now they have become just ridiculous. The last time I watched the Olympics was about 8 years ago. I rather go to a local sports event that is actually about the sports competition.
- squidi 14y ago
  It is a legitimate point that there are lots of controversial commercial issues at the Olympics (e.g. petitmiam's fish and chips comment), but that should not detract from admiring the motivation and efforts of the elite athletes competing. They train their wholes live and push themselves through mental and physical barriers.
  - franze 14y ago
    >They train their wholes live and push themselves through mental and physical barriers. ... only to participate in a "big brother meets capitalism" like event. i have respect for the athletes, but everyone who participate in the olympics supports the near criminal IOC.
    - squidi 14y ago
      Should a top diplomat not work for a government because they are corrupt too? Or a talented young footballer in the favelas of Sao Paulo not dream of winning the World Cup and earning a good wage because FIFA is corrupt also?[1] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA#Allegations_of_corruption_and_legislative_interference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA#Allegations_of_corruption_...
    - rprasad 14y ago
      Using that logic, no hacker should ever work with Apple, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Airbnb, Craiglist... Athletes don't care about the management of the IOC. They compete in the Olympics to compete against the best. They aren't going to give up their dream of challenging the luminaries in their sport just because a few IOC members take a few bribes, any more than you would stop working with Apple b/c their contract labor policies drive a handful of workers to suicide.
briandear 14y ago
This is just horseshit. London has gone off the deep end into absurdity. I wish Anonymous would teach these people a lesson.
- sbuk 14y ago
  Erm, this has more to do with the IOC than 'London'.
  - briandear 14y ago
    Very true, but the IOC regulating what a private pub advertises outside of Olympic venues couldn't happen without the government going along for the ride. "We'll let you host the Olympics provided you restrict the mention by your citizens of any non sponsor products for the duration." Inside venues, the IOC calls te shots, but restricting beers a pub can mention? That goes a little far. I wonder if a pub called "The Gold Bass Ale Shoppe" would just be closed down altogether.
- dhughes 14y ago
  I wish normal everyday non-anonymous citizens would.
alan_cx 14y ago
OK, lets get rid of the corporate sponsors, and charge £1000 per ticket instead. No, let tax payers in the host country pay more for the event, because as every Brit knows, we are not paying enough as a country, are we? Or lets sell exclusive rights, and then renege on the exclusivity part. How do people think this all gets paid for? Already the games cost the UK more than double the original estimates. Business subsidises the games, to get exclusivity. Not only that, inside that actual games they have zero presence. So of course they will protect what little they bought. And yes, it is little. Look at the corporate graffiti over ever other sports events, like the football world cup. There is none what so ever with in the Olympic events themselves. I read here many people being reasonable about facebook and craigs list protecting their assets, but the Olympics cant? How is that? Who can afford the complete costs of the event with out the money of the corporations? Must it be a "socialist" paid for by taxes Olympics alone? Is that what people are saying. Olympic spirit? Well, that costs money. Choice people, take the corporate money, or your government and the fans pay. Choose. But if you want the corporate subsidy, don't complain about it afterwards. Or should the Olympics be play out in a field in the middle of nowhere so that no one can watch it at all? The only other way this works is if the UN pays for it, or something equally stupid. It simple: its a very, very expensive event which happens every 4 years. It needs corporate money to fund it, or no country, other than a super power, can afford it. It has to be exclusive, or there is nothing what so ever in it for the sponsors with out that exclusivity. That exclusivity has to be protected, or no deal. Do I like that? No. Do I like the fact that most of the big sponsors are not British? No. But guys, lets be real, the money has to come form somewhere.
- ktizo 14y ago
  There is sponsorship and then there is instituting a ban on selling chips and using personal wifi. One does not need to follow from the other. This level of exclusivity is not something that should even be on the table to purchase, as aspects of daily life such as the choice of food in London and the permission for people who live there to use their own legal devices for the purpose for which they were designed, is not the government's property to sell unless we regard ourselves as nothing better than serfs.
  - 14y ago
Tichy 14y ago
I hope they forbid everybody to talk about it or refer to it, except for some obscure TV network nobody watches anymore. Then maybe in a couple of years, nobody will care for the Olympics anymore, because nobody will ever have heard of them.
mikerice 14y ago
Why does this bother anyone? They're trying to stop interference with the vast amount of wireless communication tools they have to use from refereeing to planning etc.
- PakG1 14y ago
  I was a venue technology manager for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. I can't speak for everything regarding how wireless communication tools were used, but anything that was scoring-related, application-related, or PC-related had to run on hard network lines. Wifi was deemed too risky for ensuring connectivity, even on non-Games-critical systems and processes. We had only a couple of exceptions (example: every venue had an Athlete's Lounge, and every Athlete's Lounge had wifi for the athletes). I could be wrong, but I don't believe wifi was allowed for any operations-related purposes. We literally dug trenches in concrete and in mountainsides to lay fibre and copper, rather than rely on wifi, even where there were concentrated temporary buildings or trailers at outdoor venues. The only valid uses for wireless that I recall were radios for security and general Games operations (security and general operations had different spectrum, if I recall, with the general operations being further separated into different bandings, depending on the type of operations), plus mobile phones. I'm sure there were various other wireless communication tools. For example, in rare cases where there was no way to get coax somewhere for TV screens (i.e. like the top of a mountain), we installed satellite dishes instead, after making sure that line of sight was OK. But although I can't think of much else, I'm sure there were plenty. I regularly spoke with the Games spectrum manager about setting up his infrastructure requirements, as they were going to set up operations at each venue for monitoring the airwaves and detecting rogue signals, or overreaching signals. It wasn't simply some man walking around with some device. It was pretty heavy-duty equipment. But to be clear, things like referring and planning, I can't imagine relying on wireless communication tools all that much, if at all. Especially timing and scoring. The timing and scoring requirements were the most mission-critical stuff. I've never been treated like shit as much as the Omega guys treated me because we weren't finished their photo-finish stuff by the time they arrived, though we were of course ready by opening day. edit: OK, if I recall, the broadcasters may have wanted spectrum for their own uses. And the press tents definitely all had wireless for the journalists and photographers also. But nothing else crosses my mind. Here's another example how important it was to have the hard lines. We dug trenches all the way up Whistler Creekside to lay down the fibre and timing cables for the alpine skiing course. This way, photographers could take photos of the racers, jack into the fibre via some mobile sheltered switches (they were on modified sleds) we set up on the course, and the photos would arrive down at the bottom for editing and collating before the racers reached the bottom. That way as soon as a result was announced, any newspaper/sports/etc website could put up their article with photo almost instantaneously after the racer finished. That would not have been possible with wireless. edit2: Sorry, reading this, I realize it's not very well written. Points all over the place, nothing in order. Sorry, guess I'll just leave it as it is.

84 points by srazzaque 14y ago

emeltzer 14y ago

I'm so glad the chances of San Francisco hosting the olympics in the near future are basically 0

samstave 14y ago
If they do make it here, I among others will be sure to sponsor wifi and cellular jammers to kill any and all signals. In addition, we would need TV-BE-GONE beacons as well to cause IR sweeps that shut off all TVs in distance. Digital civil-disobedience.
- joshAg 14y ago
  i like your style. might i suggest finding out how the wifi scanners work, and then creating a bunch of dummy wifi connections with well hidden embedded systems (of course, set them up with a hidden ssid so it doesn't interfere with people actually using wifi)? also, fake ads for fake companies that blatantly use the banned words.
  - duaneb 14y ago
    The biggest problem would probably be power, especially when considering enterprise-level radios.
  - lgeek 14y ago
    > set them up with a hidden ssid so it doesn't interfere with people actually using wifi WiFi APs with hidden ESSIDs still send beacons, but don't include the ESSID. This means that they'll obviously add radio noise.
    - joshAg 14y ago
      Yes, adding noise will be unavoidable, but not broadcasting an ssid means unsuspecting people won't try and connect to these pseudo AP's. To cut down on the interference caused by the added radio noise one could either hardwire all the pseudo ap's to use the same channel, effectively blocking anyone from using it, or have each ap actively scan and switch to the least used channel at a set interval.

petitmiam 14y ago

"The absurdities don't end there. According to Britain's Daily Telegraph, Fish and chip stalls have been advised they are not allowed to serve chips on their own without fish as McDonald's is the official chip maker of the Games." That is absurd. McDonalds sells fries, not chips.

kenolsen 14y ago
"French fries", also known as "Pommes frites", are known as "Chips" in UK. Fish and chips is awesome. And yes, McD is being a douche bag here, but the biggest *rse is probably UK itself allowing this to happen.
- petitmiam 14y ago
  I've only been to the UK once, but I don't remember fries being called "chips" in UK McDonalds. I've always thought of "fries" as those skinny things McDonalds/Hungry Jacks/Burger King sell, while chips are the chunkier version you get at a proper Fish'n'Chip shops or pub. Restaurants here (Australia) generally distinguish between the two.
  - codeka 14y ago
    Well, either way it's deep-fried potato. It does seem really stupid though. Are you going to go to a fish-and-chips shop, ask for "chips but no fish", get told that they're not allowed to sell that, and then say "OK, we'll go to McDonald's instead"? That's never going to happen!
    - einhverfr 14y ago
      "We will give you the fish for free as long as you promise to throw it at the brand police." "Yes but I don't want to assault anyone." "Ok. We are cooking special, non-salted fish for that purpose."
      - b0 14y ago

sthkr 14y ago

Sensationalized article with poor research. There's a real reason behind all this: Read here: http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/xjads/something_you_wont_see_on_tv_this_is_the_olympics/c5mz1h3 http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/xjads/something_you_wo...

ricardobeat 14y ago
Even with these rules in place, there must be millions of cellphones broadcasting packets in the wi-fi frequency, even if they are not sharing a 3G connection. I understand why you would want to avoid interference for all official event radio and data, but there are already at least 1500 wifi radios around. Not many people use hotspots, would it really matter?
- wickedchicken 14y ago
  > Those radio frequencies he lists are all in the FM band, way below wi-fi. Sorry to be nitpicky, but you probably meant UHF instead of FM. Either way you're right, and a stronger argument is that hundreds of people operating wifi hotspots would cause interference for the millions of cellphones (ever try to make a call at a music festival? get wifi at a networking conference?).
  - ricardobeat 14y ago
    Yes, I meant VHF/UHF. Deleted that, it's an argument I don't want to be in :) Bad wi-fi at conferences seems to be mostly due to radios with too little processing power, misconfigured radios, positioning and software. There have been successful wi-fi deployments at confs in the thousands. I'm curious about the cellphone, I never had that problem (never made any calls from a packed front-line crowd though). There doesn't seem to be any overlap in mobile frequencies and wi-fi, other than 4G starting at the very edge?
    - 72deluxe 14y ago
      Try any sporting events in the UK such as horse racing at Cheltenham. It'll be impossible to make any mobile calls due to the number of devices and lack of coverage by the masts. Wireless space is limited too (too many wifi devices) so they can use things like a wireless lan controller (from Cisco, for example) to send disconnect packets to any rogue APs, forcing them to become useless.

tzs 14y ago

Anyone recall the story a while back where a bunch of IETF engineers were attending a meeting, and they offered to fix the hotel's flakey wifi? Part of the fix was getting rid of a lot of hotspots, because when you have too many hotspots in an area they interfere with each other and make performance crappy. Won't the same problem happen if there are too many people trying to run personal hotspots in a given area?

user49598 14y ago
Yes, but you don't fix it by shutting them all down and making people pay for something they could provide themselves. You make it free, 'cos it's the Olympics and people need to communicate freely. ps. wasn't my downvote, I think they're useless edit-- well it seems you removed the part of your comment that called out your down-voter and now i seem pedantic
- freehunter 14y ago
  making people pay for something they could provide themselves They could. At the expense of everyone else around them. You make it free, 'cos it's the Olympics and people need to communicate freely. Go to a club on Thursday night (Thirsty Thursday) and try to have a conversation with your friend. The same thing happens with wifi. Considering the amount of wifi equipment used by the teams at the Olympics, I think it's more pragmatic for the IOC to heavily regulate the spectrum to be sure the coaches can do their job. When it's all said and done, the spirit of the Olympics is about the athletes, not the fans.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - user49598 14y ago
    Making everyone pay isn't a solution, it's a business plan. When I go out to a loud club I can still communicate and no one comes around telling me it's against the club rules to try to. The Olympics would be nothing without our ability to communicate about them. IMHO that's one of the biggest failings of NBC this year. They're doing a horrible job of communicating the Olympics. Opening up the communication channels just brings more interest, more coverage and more excitement.

Lockyy 14y ago

I think the best bit is that the international organisation for sporting achievement that is meant to encourage fitness and a drive for excellence has an official chip vendor.

codeka 14y ago
Not only that, but McDonalds is the official restaurant of the Olympics. Surely I'm not the only one who sees the irony in that?
- karolist 14y ago
  There's irony. There's salad, chicken and green tea in McDonnald's as well (they just don't advertise it that much). You can eat that and stay fit.
  - archangel_one 14y ago
    Do they offer any of those things in the free McDonalds provided in the athletes village? They didn't the last time I saw it, but that was a few years ago now when they weren't focusing so much on healthier alternatives.
  - chris_wot 14y ago
    I guess you haven't looked at the fat content of their salads lately then.

geoffpado 14y ago

I wish they'd get these guys at some of the tech conferences I've been to.

alex_h 14y ago

The law granting these powers is the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/12/pdfs/ukpga_20060012_en.pdf http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/12/pdfs/ukpga_20060...

ciex 14y ago
Has there been a discussion around this law in the UK? I don't really believe a democratic vote would have signed it off, so I wonder how it is possible to wave through such a thing with no public controversy. What do the people gain from a 'ban on chips'?
- switch007 14y ago
  This is how "democracy" works: the candidates lie, they get voted in, then you have no say for 4 years. Repeat.
  - philbarr 14y ago
    Exactly, it's hardly like we gave them a mandate to screw everybody in London over.
- philwise 14y ago
  I think that the UK.gov were forced by the IOC to promise that they would get the law passed before they could submit a O*c bid. Basically they waited until the last minute then it just happened without any consultation.
- chris_wot 14y ago
  It's an Act of Parliament, and elected representatives passed it. That's most certainly an example of representative democracy. Or rather, the limits of representative democracy.

iamandrus 14y ago

What about Bluetooth tethering? Do they check for that too?

scraplab 14y ago
It's all 2.4GHz, so it'll appear on the spectrum analyser.
- ConstantineXVI 14y ago
  It also wouldn't stand out particularly much from other BT traffic (headsets, keyboards, etc.); so not nearly as obvious as a Wi-Fi base station blasting a beacon constantly. I don't think your average person is even aware that functionality still exists.

Zenst 14y ago

Worth noting O2 are offering free wifi about London during the games and Virgin media are offering free wifi on parts of the tube train system as well. BT are just being arses, but history has a way of repeating itself, so no supprise there.

iuguy 14y ago

I wonder if these things pick up bluetooth PANs? I think there's a great opportunity to subvert the wifi rule by setting up bluetooth hotspots.

mmariani 14y ago

Every time I see the expression "olympic spirit" I don't think anymore in selfless athletes doing their best to compete in the name of their country. What I see is a draconian institution doing its best to protect a $US45 billion brand by treating proud citizens as consumers. What a shame!

yaix 14y ago

The Olympics were a good idea, but now they have become just ridiculous. The last time I watched the Olympics was about 8 years ago. I rather go to a local sports event that is actually about the sports competition.

squidi 14y ago
It is a legitimate point that there are lots of controversial commercial issues at the Olympics (e.g. petitmiam's fish and chips comment), but that should not detract from admiring the motivation and efforts of the elite athletes competing. They train their wholes live and push themselves through mental and physical barriers.
- franze 14y ago
  >They train their wholes live and push themselves through mental and physical barriers. ... only to participate in a "big brother meets capitalism" like event. i have respect for the athletes, but everyone who participate in the olympics supports the near criminal IOC.
  - squidi 14y ago
    Should a top diplomat not work for a government because they are corrupt too? Or a talented young footballer in the favelas of Sao Paulo not dream of winning the World Cup and earning a good wage because FIFA is corrupt also?[1] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA#Allegations_of_corruption_and_legislative_interference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA#Allegations_of_corruption_...
  - rprasad 14y ago
    Using that logic, no hacker should ever work with Apple, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Airbnb, Craiglist... Athletes don't care about the management of the IOC. They compete in the Olympics to compete against the best. They aren't going to give up their dream of challenging the luminaries in their sport just because a few IOC members take a few bribes, any more than you would stop working with Apple b/c their contract labor policies drive a handful of workers to suicide.

briandear 14y ago

This is just horseshit. London has gone off the deep end into absurdity. I wish Anonymous would teach these people a lesson.

sbuk 14y ago
Erm, this has more to do with the IOC than 'London'.
- briandear 14y ago
  Very true, but the IOC regulating what a private pub advertises outside of Olympic venues couldn't happen without the government going along for the ride. "We'll let you host the Olympics provided you restrict the mention by your citizens of any non sponsor products for the duration." Inside venues, the IOC calls te shots, but restricting beers a pub can mention? That goes a little far. I wonder if a pub called "The Gold Bass Ale Shoppe" would just be closed down altogether.
dhughes 14y ago
I wish normal everyday non-anonymous citizens would.

alan_cx 14y ago

OK, lets get rid of the corporate sponsors, and charge £1000 per ticket instead. No, let tax payers in the host country pay more for the event, because as every Brit knows, we are not paying enough as a country, are we? Or lets sell exclusive rights, and then renege on the exclusivity part. How do people think this all gets paid for? Already the games cost the UK more than double the original estimates. Business subsidises the games, to get exclusivity. Not only that, inside that actual games they have zero presence. So of course they will protect what little they bought. And yes, it is little. Look at the corporate graffiti over ever other sports events, like the football world cup. There is none what so ever with in the Olympic events themselves. I read here many people being reasonable about facebook and craigs list protecting their assets, but the Olympics cant? How is that? Who can afford the complete costs of the event with out the money of the corporations? Must it be a "socialist" paid for by taxes Olympics alone? Is that what people are saying. Olympic spirit? Well, that costs money. Choice people, take the corporate money, or your government and the fans pay. Choose. But if you want the corporate subsidy, don't complain about it afterwards. Or should the Olympics be play out in a field in the middle of nowhere so that no one can watch it at all? The only other way this works is if the UN pays for it, or something equally stupid. It simple: its a very, very expensive event which happens every 4 years. It needs corporate money to fund it, or no country, other than a super power, can afford it. It has to be exclusive, or there is nothing what so ever in it for the sponsors with out that exclusivity. That exclusivity has to be protected, or no deal. Do I like that? No. Do I like the fact that most of the big sponsors are not British? No. But guys, lets be real, the money has to come form somewhere.

ktizo 14y ago
There is sponsorship and then there is instituting a ban on selling chips and using personal wifi. One does not need to follow from the other. This level of exclusivity is not something that should even be on the table to purchase, as aspects of daily life such as the choice of food in London and the permission for people who live there to use their own legal devices for the purpose for which they were designed, is not the government's property to sell unless we regard ourselves as nothing better than serfs.
- 14y ago

Tichy 14y ago

I hope they forbid everybody to talk about it or refer to it, except for some obscure TV network nobody watches anymore. Then maybe in a couple of years, nobody will care for the Olympics anymore, because nobody will ever have heard of them.

mikerice 14y ago

Why does this bother anyone? They're trying to stop interference with the vast amount of wireless communication tools they have to use from refereeing to planning etc.

PakG1 14y ago
I was a venue technology manager for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. I can't speak for everything regarding how wireless communication tools were used, but anything that was scoring-related, application-related, or PC-related had to run on hard network lines. Wifi was deemed too risky for ensuring connectivity, even on non-Games-critical systems and processes. We had only a couple of exceptions (example: every venue had an Athlete's Lounge, and every Athlete's Lounge had wifi for the athletes). I could be wrong, but I don't believe wifi was allowed for any operations-related purposes. We literally dug trenches in concrete and in mountainsides to lay fibre and copper, rather than rely on wifi, even where there were concentrated temporary buildings or trailers at outdoor venues. The only valid uses for wireless that I recall were radios for security and general Games operations (security and general operations had different spectrum, if I recall, with the general operations being further separated into different bandings, depending on the type of operations), plus mobile phones. I'm sure there were various other wireless communication tools. For example, in rare cases where there was no way to get coax somewhere for TV screens (i.e. like the top of a mountain), we installed satellite dishes instead, after making sure that line of sight was OK. But although I can't think of much else, I'm sure there were plenty. I regularly spoke with the Games spectrum manager about setting up his infrastructure requirements, as they were going to set up operations at each venue for monitoring the airwaves and detecting rogue signals, or overreaching signals. It wasn't simply some man walking around with some device. It was pretty heavy-duty equipment. But to be clear, things like referring and planning, I can't imagine relying on wireless communication tools all that much, if at all. Especially timing and scoring. The timing and scoring requirements were the most mission-critical stuff. I've never been treated like shit as much as the Omega guys treated me because we weren't finished their photo-finish stuff by the time they arrived, though we were of course ready by opening day. edit: OK, if I recall, the broadcasters may have wanted spectrum for their own uses. And the press tents definitely all had wireless for the journalists and photographers also. But nothing else crosses my mind. Here's another example how important it was to have the hard lines. We dug trenches all the way up Whistler Creekside to lay down the fibre and timing cables for the alpine skiing course. This way, photographers could take photos of the racers, jack into the fibre via some mobile sheltered switches (they were on modified sleds) we set up on the course, and the photos would arrive down at the bottom for editing and collating before the racers reached the bottom. That way as soon as a result was announced, any newspaper/sports/etc website could put up their article with photo almost instantaneously after the racer finished. That would not have been possible with wireless. edit2: Sorry, reading this, I realize it's not very well written. Points all over the place, nothing in order. Sorry, guess I'll just leave it as it is.