London Installing Largest Free Wifi Network

aesoteric writes "London's Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea districts will be delivered the largest free wi-fi zone in Europe. The plan is to provide the service in time for the 2012 London Olympics, which start in late July, to allow visitors and residents to get more out of their stay."

All the better to watch you with, my dear

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm guessing it won't be anonymous.

Re:All the better to watch you with, my dear

[AHuxley]

They get your MAC, browsing habits, voice print and face - for free.

What is this obsession with false security?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, a MAC address?

Hahahah.

Like a Mac Address cannot be spoofed, cannot be varied, cannot be transferred through exchangeable USB WiFi sticks, or even through a hot spot that bridges to the MuWiFi.

And the existing providers?

[jginspace]

People who've invested their own time, money and effort into providing (and charging for) Wifi must be just thrilled that the council have given a private operator rights to erect equipment in public spaces right next to their premises that effectively kicks their product out of the market. Is the need for public Wifi that pressing that the council are being diverted from their normal duties like, you know, sweeping the streets?

Olympics

[Anonymous Coward]

"in time for the London Olympics"... which takes place in the east of London, in Stratford, far from any of these boroughs.

Re:Predictions of the future!

[andrewbaldwin]

Shame you posted AC - and shame I haven't any mod points because this is a pretty good post and a fair reflection on the attitudes of many.

You've missed a few nuances:
The Daily Mail somehow contriving to blame "the fiasco" [ie any deviation from perfect performance] on the BBC, the EU, Muslims...

Rupert Murdoch's mates "hacking" the service (ie just exploiting human fallibility and poor security practices but glamorising it beyond belief)

The Slashdot meme of surveillance cameras everywhere - and how they'd use the bandwidth

The sanctimonious posing by Boris Johnson and cronies about how they're "investing for London" and the "Olympic legacy" -- followed by the quiet dismantling and removing of the service later.

I'm sure there are other suggestions - but your post was particularly good.

Re:Olympics

[trigpoint]

"in time for the London Olympics"... which takes place in the east of London, in Stratford, far from any of these boroughs.

Most of Londons hotels and resturants are in this area and this is where tourists will spend most of their time and money when not watching the events. Local businesses in East London will see very little tourist money.

Re:VOIP instead of roaming

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you sure that your endorsement is not a result of being able to slip your referral code into the order URL? Clear your cookies and click here to order without giving kickbacks to spammers. [giffgaff.com] Mod spammer parent down.

No such thing as free

[DaMattster]

The advertiser supported model was tried during the dot-com era and largely failed. Since there really is no such thing as free, I am guessing O2 is going to collect browsing habbits and information to resell to marketing companies in addition to advertisements. O2 might actually make more money by combining reselling user data and advertiser supported services.