After a Twitter picture seemed to confirm the presence of Wi-Fi police at the London 2012 Olympics, further investigation found that the picture caught something entirely different and that the Wi-Fi police are just a myth.
Last week, we reported on some of the Olympic Games rules, which included such fun as a ban on the use of personal Wi-Fi hubs. This was followed by coverage of the following tweet, which appeared to capture an official in the process of sniffing for hotspots.
Something you won't see on TV, this is the Olympics Wi-Fi Police. They seek unauthorized wifi signals & shut them down. twitter.com/SadaoTurner/st…
— Sadao Turner Esq. (@SadaoTurner) August 1, 2012
It seemed safe enough to believe, too, so the tweet wasn't really called into question.
Thankfully, Stuart Miles at Pocket-lint went a little farther than the rest, contacting Games officials to find out what the reality of the situation was.
"This has nothing to do with Wi-Fi," a LOCOG spokesperson told Pocket-lint. "The engineer pictured is monitoring radio frequencies to ensure there is no interference to the [broadcast] airwaves during the Olympic and Paralympic Games."
On checking with UK broadcast regulators, Ofcom, Pocket-lint received further confirmation that the engineer had nothing to do with policing Wi-Fi.
So, rest easy. Your Wi-Fi may be banned, but it isn't being sniffed and snuffed out. Keep calm and carry on.
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