The International Olympic Committee recently revealed that mobile hotspots are not allowed at this year's Olympics. While you are permitted to use a your smartphone or tablet inside the venues, personal or private access points, along with 3G hubs and a ton of other items, are not allowed inside. Of course, when this news got around, many people wondered how the IOC planned to stop people from setting up their own WiFi hotspots. The answer is this guy:
Twitter user Sadao Turner posted the picture above along with the caption, "Something you won't see on TV, this is the Olympics WiFi Police. They seek unauthorized WiFi signals and shut them down."
We emailed the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games about the picture and they in turn directed us to the UK telecoms watchdog Ofcom, which is looking after the WiFi at the Games. We asked what would happen to someone caught operating a personal hotspot but we haven't heard back just yet.
The ban on WiFi hotspots likely has to do with efforts to keep interference and overloaded networks to a minimum. Already there has been issues with overcrowded networks interfering with event equipment and preventing commentators from receiving necessary data regarding the events.
Image Credit: @SadaoTurner
