Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Wired on Defeating the Olympics Censorship

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the future-of-internet-broadcasting dept.

An anonymous reader writes "As discussed on Slashdot recently, Internet footage of Olympics events are being censored for US citizens. Wired.com is covering the issue in a recent story, discussing ways of defeating these measures. Duane Wessels, developer of the Squid caching proxy, and Len Sassaman, Mixmaster anonymity software author, are interviewed. Are they correct? Is geolocation content censorship impossible?"

7 of 417 comments (clear)

  1. what ought to be done to your media by xutopia · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Up north of you the Olympics are on public TV, down south of you is the same thing. Wait a second only in the US is this known of. Now isn't it sad to see that people are all up in arms because the Olympics aren't coming through but don't give a damn when it's news you're not getting? I guess what they don't know doesn't hurt them.

    1. Re:what ought to be done to your media by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Can you just think how boring the coverage would be if the USA sent PBS as our national TV representives at the games? Since what NBC is doing is being made available to other nations' media outlets through a content sharing relationship, a lower quality USA feed would effect a lot of smaller nations' TV outlets.

      NBC plays a big role in the internal "world feeds" that those smaller networks need in order to do anything at all.

  2. Olympics is a facist event by t_allardyce · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Never mind about that, what about this!!
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/35 65616.st m

    The Olympics have officially sold out (probably years ago but hey) you are not allowed into watch any of the games if you are wearing clothing thats clearly showing logos of a non-sponsering company. All non-sponsership adverts were pulled from bill-boards for miles around the grounds and you arnt allowed to eat anything other than mcdonalds or drink any water (consider the heat) thats not official Olympic water (read overpriced water).

    Couldnt care less about the Olympics its nothing more than an advertising platform or a test-ground for new drugs. But damn its making someone a shit load of cash and i wanna be that someone..

    --
    This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
  3. getting the message across to NBC by rtphokie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    the best way to make NBC understand that they their coverage style isn't appreciated is to tell them:

    nbcolympicsfeedback@nbcuni.com

    They've got the monopoly so they will get the ratings regardless so the message to send them is that you'd love to watch more but find the overemphasis of successful americans and inane chatter of Costas and Couric to much to take.

  4. Not only in the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I want to correct one thing. In these articles, it is always stated that the Olympics are being censored for US citizens. Nothing is further from the truth!

    In Belgium, the national station has only the rights to broadcast 6 hours live per day, because they could not pay more. Furthermore, they don't have the rights to put video reports about the Olympics on their news and sports site, not even for Belgian citizens.

  5. Oh, for non-biased reporting... by bitslinger_42 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    While I guess I can understand NBC's position: they've paid enormously for this, so they should be able to try and make some of the money back. There's not very many people who would be up at 4 in the morning to watch a swim meet, but there's a bunch who'll watch the same thing in the evening. Trying to sell ads for $1 million per second at 04:00 would be a disaster.

    What really annoys me, though, is being forced to listen to such blatantly political commentary. What am I talking about, you ask? During the opening ceremony, those morons doing the commentary for NBC made every attempt to point out the places where Islamic groups were "causing" strife. They couldn't seem to resist talking about the problems in the Sudan caused by the Muslims. They also made every effort to talk up how much the US has helped our little brown brothers we liberated in Afghanistan and Iraq, and had the gall to complain about the torture used by the Iraqi training program! I guess torture is OK in the name of national defense but not in the name of national pride.

    For all the high-falootin' ideals that the Olympics supposedly stand for, it makes me want to puke every time I hear the American media make some snide comment so they can use the forum to propegate a political agenda.

  6. Re:Much Ado Over ... by Gallowglass · · Score: 4, Interesting
    You wrote:

    "It takes a special kind of person to deride an international event based on the ideals of self improvement, national pride, and respect for other countries."

    I believe the parent post was primarily about the coverage by the American TV corporations. The bit about the torch was an aside. (And I agree with your opinion on that.)

    The problem with showing only events where The Glorious US wins is that it panders to a rather degoutant idea: that America Rules All.

    Nor is Olympic coverage the only example of this refusal to let Americans see that any other nation might be an equal. American movies are notorious for changing history so that The Heroic Americans Rescue the World (All By Themselves.)

    From a review of the movie "U-571" by Dr. Timothy P. Mulligan, archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration, specializing in captured German and related World War II records:

    That Mostow (director) falls so short in historical accuracy is not entirely his fault. In choosing a naval topic that conforms to Hollywood war film conventions, he is obligated to depict a handful of Americans battling overwhelming odds but inevitably victorious against a cruel, implacable yet flawed enemy. The real elements that fashioned victory close cooperation among the Allies, and the systematic development of their combined human and natural resources to produce an irresistible material and technological superiority do not translate well in cinematic terms, and more importantly do not reflect American popular culture's archetypes and self-images. [my emphasis] In replicating these conventions and populating his crew with familiar stereotypes (e.g., the young officer too close to his men, the salty chief petty officer who educates his superior), U-571 has achieved success, reigning for two weeks as the No. 1 film in the United States.

    This paradoxical blend of bad history and mass appeal may concern today's historical profession, but future historians may well be indebted to Mostow for his snapshot of American values and attitudes toward World War II at the turn of the millennium. If not, they will at least be in his debt for a good laugh and a renewed appreciation of Das Boot.

    I don't slag this meme becuase it doesn't give others proper credit. That's a moral question, and I'm always rather queasy about imposing my morality on ohters. However, is it an ethical position? Does it give proper credits to people you call friends and allies? Do you expect them to love and admire you when you slight them thus?

    This attitude, I would also argue, is septic in that it deludes the American population into thinking that they are omnipotent, and that no one could ever be better or stronger or more clever than an American.

    The ancient Greeks called this hubris, and they said that the gods punish it.