Phoronix: fix first comment is article copy
[gofetch.git] / test / expected / SLASHDOT / 0102641672
CommitLineData
299a08f3
NR
1 ICELANDERS SEEK TO KEEP REMOTE NORDIC PENINSULA DIGITAL-FREE \r
2 (APNEWS.COM) \r
3\r
4 Thursday September 06, 2018 @11:30PM (BeauHD)\r
5 from the no-cellphones-allowed dept.\r
6\r
7 o News link: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/18/09/06/235254/icelanders-seek-to-keep-remote-nordic-peninsula-digital-free\r
8 o Source link: https://www.apnews.com/71cdfb7b1c2245069a6f681f8b8f906f/Wired-Icelanders-seek-to-keep-remote-peninsula-digital-free\r
9\r
10\r
11 Hikers, park rangers, and summer residents of Iceland's\r
12 northernmost peninsula are seeking to keep the area free from\r
13 internet service, worrying that all that comes with it "will\r
14 destroy a way of life that depends on the absence of [email,\r
15 news, and social media]," reports the Associated Press. "The\r
16 area has long resisted cell towers, but commercial initiatives\r
17 could take the decision out of Icelanders' hands and push\r
18 Hornstrandir across the digital divide." From the report:\r
19 Despite or because of its remoteness, Iceland ranks first on a\r
20 U.N. index comparing nations by information technology use,\r
21 with roughly 98 percent of the population using the internet.\r
22 Among adults, 93 percent report having Facebook accounts and\r
23 two-thirds are Snapchat users, according to pollster MMR. Many\r
24 people who live in northwestern Iceland or visit as outdoor\r
25 enthusiasts want Hornstrandir's 570 square kilometers (220\r
26 square miles), which accounts for 0.6 percent of Iceland's\r
27 land mass, to be declared a "digital-free zone." The idea\r
28 hasn't coalesced into a petition or formal campaign, so what\r
29 it would require or prohibit hasn't been fleshed out. The last\r
30 full-time resident of the rugged area moved away in 1952 -- it\r
31 never was an easy place to farm -- but many descendants have\r
32 turned family farmsteads into summer getaways. Northwest\r
33 Iceland's representative, Halla Signy Kristjansdottir, is in\r
34 favor of adding cell towers for the safety of sailors and\r
35 travelers in the area. "I don't see anything romantic about\r
36 lying on the ground with a broken thigh bone and no cellphone\r
37 signal," Kristjansdottir said in an interview.\r
38\r
39\r
40 ** Yeah it's real annoying (Score:3, Insightful)\r
41 (by Crashmarik ( 635988 ))\r
42\r
43 \r
44 You're out in the wilderness and somebody's WiFi is screwing up\r
45 the colors of the forest and making everything look strange,\r
46 while the cell towers are driving the wildlife nuts. / sarcasm\r
47 I'd love to hear these people justify how this in anyway\r
48 diminishes them.\r
49\r
50 ** Because people no longer have self discipline? (Score:3)\r
51 (by thesupraman ( 179040 ))\r
52\r
53 \r
54 Because they CAN get Farcebook, I guess they Must get\r
55 Farcebook.\r
56 I mean, you would think they could just choose to turn off\r
57 their devices, not bring a charger, whatever.\r
58 Although knowing people from such areas, I suspect it is more\r
59 about giving one big finger to 'thems city folks' (even if\r
60 most of these people live in the cit\y most of the time).\r
61 Anyway, good on them for caring, but good luck in keeping\r
62 such things out. The safety point is also quite valid.\r
63\r
64 ** Re: (Score:3, Interesting)\r
65 (by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ))\r
66\r
67 \r
68 > I mean, you would think they could just choose to turn off\r
69 > their devices\r
70 They don't want to just stop using Facebook, they want\r
71 their NEIGHBORS to stop using it too.\r
72 This isn't about self-control. It is about controlling\r
73 others, which is a near universal human desire.\r
74\r
75\r
76 ** Re: (Score:3)\r
77 (by e3m4n ( 947977 ))\r
78\r
79 \r
80 exactly. I just posted a more descriptive explanation of\r
81 that very thing a thread above this one. Sometimes it's\r
82 easier to buy a vacation that makes the choice for you,\r
83 than having to, repeatedly, make the same choice\r
84 throughout the entire vacation. Picking a destination that\r
85 has no access means you can re-focus on other forms of\r
86 entertainment. Its easy to fall back into habits. By\r
87 picking a spot with no access, you are not fighting\r
88 temptation, and i dare say withdrawal, the entire time.\r
89 The price of vacati\r
90\r
91\r
92\r
93 ** Re:Yeah it's real annoying (Score:5, Informative)\r
94 (by Rei ( 128717 ))\r
95\r
96 \r
97 Forest? *snicker*. Here's the joke everyone over the age of 8\r
98 here knows:\r
99 Q: What do you do if you get lost in an Icelandic forest?\r
100 A: Stand up.\r
101 I've actually not been to Hornstrandir; it's been on my TODO\r
102 list for a long, long time, but I've lacked one of the\r
103 obligatory "round tuits". So it's actually surprising to hear\r
104 that there's not internet access (via cell towers) there,\r
105 because in general even the most remote places here have cell\r
106 access. When Bárðarbunga erupted, deep in the highlands, the\r
107 eruption was livestreamed. And there's a lot more people in\r
108 Vestfirðir then in the highlands!\r
109 This would of course be more about visitors than residents,\r
110 given that there's no permanent residents in Hornstrandir.\r
111 And in some ways I can sympathize. For example, there's\r
112 always a lot of opposition to improving the highland roads\r
113 because we don't want to have more cars driving through and\r
114 tons of people flooding in, and driving really fast on some\r
115 paved road would totally change the experience of going into\r
116 the highlands... it would just turn into a set of "sites to\r
117 see" rather than a journey. The effect of the isolation on\r
118 you can really be profound. You feel like a person exploring\r
119 Mars - so tiny in an endless empty expanse, completely devoid\r
120 of any signs of human civilization except the\r
121 half-bulldozed-out "road" you take, the endless travel\r
122 punctured by rushes of adrenaline as you try to ford a river\r
123 or trying to avoid ruining your car crossing a lava field.\r
124 And people who know that experience generally don't want to\r
125 see it altered. So I imagine it's the same thing for\r
126 Hornstrandir. The difference being, as previously mentioned,\r
127 in much of the highlands there's cell coverage. At least as\r
128 far as I know, when I go out I'm not checking Facebook all\r
129 the time. ;) But I don't recall any meaningful loss of\r
130 coverage events.\r
131 ED: Just checked [1]a map [wp.com] from my cell provider.\r
132 Looks like most of Hornstrandir is indeed marked in white (no\r
133 coverage), while most of the highlands is light blue (2G) or\r
134 in some places blue (3G) - even a good chunk of Vatnajökull\r
135 (largest glacier in Europe).\r
136 \r
137 \r
138 \r
139 \r
140 [1]\r
141 https://i2.wp.com/www.icelandnorthernlightshq.com/wp-content/-\r
142 uploads/2015/06/Screen-Shot-2015-06-27-at-09.57.16.png?ssl=1\r
143\r
144\r
145 ** Re: (Score:3)\r
146 (by e3m4n ( 947977 ))\r
147\r
148 \r
149 Actually this intrigues me. I go on cruises for the same\r
150 getaway. Sure one can declare a weekend of no devices or\r
151 technology, but theres always something that comes up that\r
152 eventually screws that up. I go on cruises with the family\r
153 and we do not buy the internet package. The fact that its\r
154 ridiculously expensive helps 'cut the cord' when on vacation.\r
155 The most online time the kids ever experience is when we pull\r
156 into a port and visit a place that has 'free wifi'; giving\r
157 them 30-60 min of checking their email\r
158\r
159\r
160 ** Re: (Score:3)\r
161 (by GumphMaster ( 772693 ))\r
162\r
163 \r
164 > You're out in the wilderness and somebody's ...\r
165 bloody mobile phone is playing something loosely called\r
166 "music" over the shittiest, tinny piezoelectric "speaker" you\r
167 ever heard. I have personally experienced this scenario while\r
168 walking the Milford Track (NZ) and in Torres del Payne\r
169 (Chile). I can only imagine how much worse it would be _with_\r
170 coverage: Youtube videos turned up to 11, incessant need to\r
171 share the latest "news" from home, inattentive walking in\r
172 dangerous places etc. If your region's livelihood depends on\r
173 people coming to experience wil\r
174\r
175\r
176 ** Satellite Internet (Score:2)\r
177 (by crow ( 16139 ))\r
178\r
179 \r
180 We may only be a few years away from Starlink or something\r
181 similar providing practical high-bandwidth Internet service\r
182 globally. So they may hold back the tide a bit longer, but the\r
183 reality is that modern communications will become a fact of life\r
184 everywhere for anyone that wants it. Yes, that will mean some\r
185 significant changes to the lifestyles of the people living\r
186 there, and yes, it won't all be for the better, but I don't see\r
187 the point of fighting it now.\r
188\r
189 ** Re: (Score:2)\r
190 (by rossdee ( 243626 ))\r
191\r
192 \r
193 How far north are we talking about? Satellite coverage is\r
194 always going to be a problem at the poles\r
195\r
196 ** Re:Satellite Internet (Score:4, Informative)\r
197 (by quenda ( 644621 ))\r
198\r
199 \r
200 > Satellite coverage is always going to be a problem at the\r
201 > poles\r
202 No, that applies to geosynchronous broadcast satellites,\r
203 but not to LEO constellations such as Starlink or\r
204 Irridium.\r
205\r
206\r
207 ** Re: (Score:3)\r
208 (by crow ( 16139 ))\r
209\r
210 \r
211 Good point. A quick look at Google Maps suggests around 66\r
212 degrees north. I'm not the best a geography, and I had\r
213 thought Iceland was a bit further south. I didn't realize\r
214 it was north of the southern tip of Greenland. That could\r
215 well be outside the range of satellite Internet, depending\r
216 on the orbits involved. I have no idea what the plans are.\r
217\r
218 ** Re: (Score:3)\r
219 (by Mashiki ( 184564 ))\r
220\r
221 \r
222 Seem to remember there was active satellite links in\r
223 Resolute, Nvt.(74deg/N), so I don't think that's a\r
224 problem. The real problem was the astronomical cost of\r
225 those links, short of a stationary polar orbit\r
226 satellite there is no real way to keep it cheap. So\r
227 they've been building fiber as a replacement since\r
228 2012ish for the far north remote communities at least\r
229 here in Canada. I think Resolute was finished in\r
230 2016ish or so.\r
231\r
232\r
233\r
234\r
235 ** Fuck yes. (Score:3)\r
236 (by DogDude ( 805747 ))\r
237\r
238 \r
239 Fuck yes, I fucking love Icelanders. I'm so sick of seeing\r
240 smartphone zombies everywhere. The addicts and the stupid will\r
241 be addicted and stupid anywhere there's an Internet connection.\r
242 What a wonderful, thoughtful, human decision to make. Wonderful\r
243 idea.\r
244\r
245 ** Re: (Score:2)\r
246 (by Gojira Shipi-Taro ( 465802 ))\r
247\r
248 \r
249 I don't see it as thoughtful or "human" at all. Simply\r
250 reactionary.\r
251 As long as EVERYONE in that area agrees, fine.\r
252\r
253\r
254 ** safety, use a friggin' PLB (Score:1)\r
255 (by Anonymous Coward)\r
256\r
257 \r
258 I spend a lot of time in the woods of British Columbia, Canada.\r
259 There is no celphone coverage in probably 95% of our\r
260 woods/wilderness. I don't ask for cel towers, I carry a Personal\r
261 Locator Beacon (PLB) for safety. If it is that important to\r
262 someone to be connected, let them use satellite. We don't need\r
263 more cel coverage for narcisists.\r
264\r
265\r