Athletes Can Blog at Olympics - with Restrictions 184
Hugh Pickens writes "The IOC has given athletes the right to blog at the Beijing Games this summer, a first for the Olympics. They're allowed, as long as they follow the many rules it set to protect copyright agreements, confidential information and security. The IOC said blogs by athletes 'should take the form of a diary or journal' and should not contain any interviews with other competitors at the games. They also should not write about other athletes. Still pictures are allowed as long as they do not show Olympic events. Athletes must obtain the consent of their competitors if they wish to photograph them. Also, athletes cannot use their blogs for commercial gain."
So basically... (Score:5, Interesting)
Woohoo, freedom of the press!
Re:So basically... (Score:5, Interesting)
IIRC, "Free Tibet" is not a message that will be welcomed in the Olympic Village or Olympic venues.
BTW - I get a registration link for TFA
http://news.google.com/news?q=ioc+blogging [google.com]
China can't just come in take athletes way to poli (Score:5, Insightful)
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No but they can sure disqualify them in a heartbeat, then how does that work?
Re:China can't just come in take athletes way to p (Score:5, Informative)
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Simple, just imagine a (phone?) conversation between a Chinese Communist Party high official and a minister of one of the countries represented in the olympic committee: "Dear minister, you are certainly aware of the prosperous and very
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Really? And how many guns does the IOC have? 'Cause the Chinese government has *lots*.
They would never do this. They've been fighting tooth and nail to get an Olympics session; in hopes that by having one they can prove to the world they've entered the 21st century, are not North Korea, etc. This is a PR and China-Marketing event. Were they to do what you are insinuating, be most assured it would eventually get out, and in light of China feeling not-so-hunky-dory about their investment in the Dollar, and it's weakening value, it would be eaten up by the media as a means of shutting them up:
Re:China can't just come in take athletes way to p (Score:2)
htt [bbc.co.uk]
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Hitler took "Jews not wanted" signs down for the Olympics and Jesse Owen general treatment in Germany was better than he had previously received in America as he had no problem using public transportation or entering bars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Summer_Olympics [wikipedia.org]
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Before you answer that question, think of where in general most of the stuff in world is manufactured.
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Re:So basically... (Score:5, Interesting)
How much impact do you think Stephen Colbert would have had if he'd said, "the White House correspondent's dinner? But I hate the White House, I'm going to boycott it!" Instead, he took that as an opportunity to criticize the president, to his face, in front of all his staff and in front of the media. And there wasn't a damn thing the president could do.
Not showing up to the Olympics is pointless. You're throwing away years of hard work, and for what? China isn't going to suddenly stop supporting Sudan and Burma, or stop oppressing Tibetans just because a few athletes don't show. Or, you could show up, win a medal, get a moment in the spotlight, and use it to shed light on China's abuses, in China, with the entire world watching (of course, it might be a good time to bring attention to some U.S. human rights abuses as well).
I could be wrong here, but I don't think that the Chinese have the slightest clue what they're in for. The government can't simply crush dissent under the treads of a tank, like they did during Tienanmen, there will be witnesses everywhere, all with wireless laptops, Blackberries, blogs, cell phones, cell phone cameras, digital video recorders... everything will be covered by a dozen cameras and thousands of well-connected witnesses; it's the perfect time to make a statement, and it will be almost impossible for Beijing to stop you or retaliate. In a way, they're a little like our Bubble-Boy president, George W. Bush. He and his advisors inhabit a reality-proof bubble where dissent is not heard, so he was utterly unprepared for the idea that Colbert might use the opportunity to criticize him. Likewise, the Chinese leadership lives in a bubble where open dissent is not permitted, censorship is everywhere, and people will only criticize the government in private. After all those years of living in a heavily censored society, I think the idea that someone might actually stand up and speak out, publicly and in full view of everyone, is just inconceivable to them.
Further restrictions for New Zealanders (Score:5, Informative)
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Yes. They'll be shot afterwards, but they can write what they want.
Re:So basically... (Score:5, Interesting)
You may blog at the Olympics, as long as you don't write anything that anyone wants to read.
Think of it as an opportunity (Score:2)
Simply implement a language in English, using all of the right buzzwords that are politically correct, even award-winning, pro-regime statements.
Then, once the blog post has departed China, run it through a filter, to determine what the poster really meant.
Ideal Summer of Code project.
Couple of existing examples of this:
No Commercial Gain (Score:5, Interesting)
Never mind that the modern Olympics has become rife with corporate sponsorship and bribery allegations. Just as long as the people who are supposed to count in all this - the athletes - don't make any money! Blech.
The thing that really gets me, though, is that althletes are not allowed to make political statements in the stadium - a stadium which is a political statement in itself: 'Hey guys! China's really quite nice! Never mind us raping Tibet, killing our own people and all that - look: Shiny Olympics! We're part of the civilized world! See!'
Re:No Commercial Gain (Score:5, Informative)
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It has no problem signing exclusivity deals for its own commercial gain.
I don't see this ban on athletes' blogs as so much as having to do with pressure from China (I mean, why would China care whether athletes are blogging about the athletic side of the Olympics?), as having to do with pressure from the media corporations that spend oodles of money to have exclusive rights to broadcast Olympic events in their respective markets. The fact that it is
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If my ideas intrigue you and you'd like to subscribe to my newsletter, I have a modest proposal which may fix this problem...
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I think your mistaken in who is supposed to count in all this. It is the countries participating, not the athletes. Sure, in the individual countries, they count, they are national heroes because they are going to defend the good name of the country. But let's not forget the purpose of the Olymp
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Their infringement on athletes' rights is a scandal on its own!
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The IOC is a Non Governmental Organization whose purpose is to organize the Olympic games, etc. etc. etc.
The fact is that they are a quite corrupt bunch of managers who love money more than their own mother (if they ever had one).
Sad but true
Copyright?!?!?! (Score:2)
Or is this a security issue? If it is, then they need to get over it. This is getting ridiculous.
Re:Copyright?!?!?! (Score:5, Informative)
It's also trademarked to Hell and back.
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Oh, so this is the American's fault?
Olympic Oxymoron (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess they forgot to add the clause, "except when in China".
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Re:Olympic Oxymoron (Score:5, Insightful)
However I'd like to add that to make ethical progress (as a species), we have to bring in those we disagree with (e.g. the ones who are really wrong). Bring them in and push for incremental change. It's messy and boring, but it's the best way to do it. If we require china to play by all the rules at once, they're unlikely to participate -- no progress made. If we ease them, then we can start a process which (hopefully) will get us somewhere.
Messy, boring, and deeply unsatisfactory, yes. But it often works, and I personally can't think of a better solution that would work as well.
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what's the point (Score:2)
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Boycot (Score:3, Insightful)
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Dear Diary (Score:4, Funny)
The group went to a sporting event today, kind of exciting.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll hear some music I like
Goodnight
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What would happen? (Score:5, Interesting)
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In the good old times... (Score:5, Interesting)
Today, the commercial spirit is so strong they have to carefully delimit anything that's published, pictures or words, about the event. Blogs must be carefully examined, lest there's something in there that might diminish the profits of the advertisers...
As they used to say when the Olympics were performed in the interests of sport alone, "O Tempora, O Mores!"
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I can just picture those blogs now
When I got up, I had a cool refreshing *Pepsi* while I put on my Ultra-Performance *Nike* shoes and my *Fruit of the Loom* running uniform.
Make it one paragraph to describe every little thing and then have your blog run like 10 pages a day so that you can maximize your advertising revenue.
That sounds like the Olympics of today!
Re:In the good old times... (Score:5, Informative)
Yes they were, when Avery Brundage was running the show. He also kicked the Jews off the US team in Berlin, and fought to keep the female events "decorative"...he'd be right at home in China.
rj
Re:In the good old times... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner. Apparently he fathered one or more children by one of his slaves. This can be labelled as rape, since the slave, willing or not, wasn't in a position to say "no".
A man can have the right idea about something, yet be a total son of a bitch about something else.
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Not all slaves were treated the same ways. Not all slaves were beaten. Not all slaves were worked in the fields. And it specifically do
How the IOC killed the Olympics (Score:5, Insightful)
The pre-Disney ABC coverage of the Olympics and their Wild World of Sports was the best coverage of the Olympics and no one is ever going to be that good again. Especially with the ironfisted control by the IOC. So fuck you, International Olympics Committee.
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I don't mind the IOC packaging the athlete's work and making money from it, but I strongly object to the way the athletes themselves are treated like crap.
Enough is Enough (Score:2)
Even aside from the absurd profiteering, human rights violations, etc, when will people grow up and realize that we aren't monkeys anymore? Like a few weeks back when they told the guy with the prosthetic limb that he could not compete. Why is it alright for someone to dedicate their life
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Of course this has zero to do with the Olympics, but this fellow was banned from competing in certain competitions because the technical innovation of his mechanical leg gave him an unfair advantage over those who did not have such a leg. If such a thing was allowed, where would it stop
Re:Enough is Enough (Score:4, Insightful)
If we go by your thinking, why can't athletes use those motorized, piston-powered leg attachments that make you run faster? I feel bad for the guy, but he does have an advantage.
I am a runner myself and running is my life, so I can see where they are coming from.
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Olympic sport is supposed to be about human pure ability/endurance, not technical innovation.
It's all such horseshit anyway, who really cares what they do? It's such an outdated concept, watching people pointlessly competing for no other reason than to compete. And who really cares if they take steroids or have technological enhancements? Any athlete at the Olympic level is benefiting from decades of technological, biological and medical progress in training techniques, even if they don't use any steroids or other banned enhancements. So it's hypocritical to rule out certain technical innovations
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Just because you don't like to compete or watch others compete, doesn't mean that no one else does. It's not outdated and I hope it never is. Humans and animals are made to compete, it's just the way it is. People love sports and will always love sports. I'm a runner that also loves sports. I couldn't imagine life without competition, it's what I live for.
Tweaking your body by nut
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Why do people game, there is no reason to do it other than to compete and have fun.
Usually with the emphasis on "fun". Gamers who game just to compete are a pretty sad bunch.
Just because you don't like to compete or watch others compete, doesn't mean that no one else does. It's not outdated and I hope it never is.
Just because I enjoy it, doesn't mean that I can't have my opinion. And it is outdated. Modern humans have no need to prove how strong they are to each other - we have machines that do the physical work for us now.
Tweaking your body by nutrition and medicine is making your body more efficient. Adding a mechanical assist is giving the body an advantage it couldn't have naturally, no matter how much you do.
How are they any different? Using medicine and modern training gives the body advantages it would never have naturally. Exactly like the artificial limb. And if dietary supplements and medicines are
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Yeah, I get really confused by things like this. On one hand there is a replacement for a body part that is passive, still requiring human power to actuate, and then there's this internal combustion engine. I'm so confused by the difference that I once, on a ra
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I see a future where the para-Olympics is where all the records will be set...
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Olympics is fer humans, not no filthy cyborgs with them space germs!
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The Olympics will be welcome when there's no special copyright protection. When they pay for the space they use, as any other event would, not with tax money.
Personally, I don't think an event counts as 'Olympic' unless it's in Greece, and you perform naked. I'd like to see a challenge to the name from a Greek group trying to hold an authentic Olympic event.
Copyright? Olympics? (Score:3, Insightful)
I certainly won't be paying any attention to the Olympics, now. I'll be paying more attention to my cats in competition to see which one can get the little red dot that flies around every so often.
The world is Copyright crazy (Score:2)
The world has become more pro IP rights, extending them and including rights on things that shouldn't be copyrighted in the first place.
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This isn't anything specific to China. In fact, as I read TFA, this is *less* restrictive than previous Olympics - it says, "a first for the Olympics', ie they'd previously not allowed such a thing at all (did blogs exist in any meaningful way 4 years ago?).
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Trademark law, or something else, maybe. Or maybe it is just a reporter who doesn't care to make his article factually correct.
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It seems like they blame China for everything these days...
Link to non-registration (Score:3, Informative)
Here is the link to the article without registration.
Disinterest in the Olympics (Score:4, Insightful)
China shouldn't have been selected (Score:3, Interesting)
Furthermore.... did you know that the air in most venues is too polluted to hold ANY outdoors competitions, let alone marathons?
So why was China selected, and the other candidates dropped?
Money and power? Naaaahh... never!
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Oh the irony.. one country that is famous for its human rights abuses, lack of freedom, lack of free speech, invasive surveillance of its people, aggressive unwarranted invasions of other countries is now forbidding its athletes from criticizing China -- a more liberal country.
I'm (slightly) joking. At least today I am, ask me in a few mon
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False. I am living in China and I know about it.
I doubt 'the people' even knew he was anything to do with the Olympics, if they'd even heard of him at all. He *is* fairly well known, but he's not as important as people seem to think. I've read a few people on
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I don't suppose they mention any of the people on
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if they signed (individually) a paper that they will not say anything against the regime?
That is not what the "paper" said. Indeed the "paper" is a contract all UK Olympic athletes have had to sign for the last 20 odd years, and all it is is a reaffirmation of some of the rules they are all bound by anyway. The purpose of it is to ensure the athletes are fully aware of the rules so they cannot plead ignorance if they break them, as they have signed a contract. In the case of the extra text that was added to the contract for the 2008 games, it was simply a reaffirmation of the rule that poli
Boycott the Olympics (Score:2, Flamebait)
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Just to add insult to injury the hill record for the Olympic ski jump in Vancouver is held by a US Woman ski jumper.
Check out http://www.wsj2010.com/ [wsj2010.com] for more information.
The Rules (Score:5, Funny)
You don't talk about the Olympics.
Choice: Don't Go, or Put Up and Shut Up (Score:2, Insightful)
If the athletes actually feel strongly about issues relating to China, then they can choose not to go. Sure, you'll lose out on marketing deals and fame and
Many arguments say the best way to bring China into the modern world is to integrate them despite their flaws, to expose their peoples to alternative viewpoints. If they are correct, then the Olympics will overall be a good thing despite any c
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There fixed that for you
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Preventing Undercover Reporters? (Score:2)
The Olympics is about money (Score:4, Insightful)
I shall not be watching - so don't count my eyes when you work out what the TV rights will cost.
Not a terrible policy hut not great either. (Score:3, Insightful)
I see their point. They don't want their athletes using the event to springboard a journalism career. This does involve interfering with their freedom of speech though. What if they want to tell everyone about the games in a more dispassionate way? Why shouldn't they?
They also should not write about other athletes.
Privacy? A bit heavy handed.
Still pictures are allowed as long as they do not show Olympic events.
Seems the IOC has become a corporate enterprise. It used to be all about promoting sports for its own sake. It's a shame that things have gone this way.
Athletes must obtain the consent of their competitors if they wish to photograph them. Also, athletes cannot use their blogs for commercial gain."
Both of these are laudable. The first is about the privacy of the other athletes. The second is about keeping to the amateur spirit of the games.
I am so waiting for the implosion (Score:2)
Thus Continues the Spiral (Score:3, Interesting)
Really, the original intention of the Olympics has been completely sand-blasted away. The IOC not allowing the very people who are making the whole pageant possible to talk/blog about what the experience is like? It's the absurd cherry on top of one giant whopping sundae of hypocrisy.
I will probably be shouted down by those who can't wait to wave the patriotic flag of country X at the games, but I say down with the Olympics, down with the IOC, and down with commercialized professional sports, for that matter.
Wake me up if the world ever gets back to sports that are about community and excellence and human achievement. Until then, there are many better things to do.
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