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