Slashdot Mirror
Olympians Banned From Blogging
nodwick writes "CNN reports that in a bid to protect its lucrative media contracts, the IOC is barring competitors, coaches, and support personnel from writing firsthand accounts of their Olympic experience, on the web or in print, for the duration of the Games. Nor are they allowed to ever post photographs or movies that they've taken, including media of themselves, even after the Games are finished. They've threatened to disqualify anyone that violates their restrictions and sue them for monetary damages. Looks like an effort to clamp down on grassroots, word-of-mouth publicity for the Olympics -- good thing they're not having any problems selling tickets anyways, eh?"
Why on earth would you want to prevent these people from telling there stories? I know that some of the challenges they go through to get there and during the games, would be well worth sharing with others. Guess the Games have become about money too now.
The IOC are a non-profit organization so they can't be doing this for evil reasons.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
"....that in a bid to protect its lucrative media contracts, the IOC is barring..."
...and i stopped reading. i'm not going to rant about the legacy of the games or this and that...i'm just going to say: keep 'em, keep the money, keep your coverage, keep the contracts and consider me disgusted.
I would rather get the reports right from the competitors but the reality is that this is not about the people that are actually competing and more about the talking heads of the networks. Unfortunately we will put up with this and just say tsk! tsk!
Stay tuned for new sig...
...the legality of the actions taken. For, who actually owns the Olympic games? How can these rights be changed from country to country? I'm absolutely flustered by it all, especially since I thought that, in the first place, taking photos at an event was entirely legal.
The Political Programmer
Just another in a long list of reasons for me to not waste my time watching the Olympics on TV. I remember when just being at the Olympics was enough to justify a lifelong pursuit of perfection. Nowadays, it's just a ticket to a lucrative advertising career, and you'd better get the gold, because 2nd place won't get you on a Wheaties box.
I'm sure this argument will be echoed by other posters, but I think this "Olympic blackout" policy by the IOC is getting ridiculous.
But I also think that the problem is self-repairing.
As it becomes more and more obvious that the Olympics are becoming NOTHING more than a corporate subsidized media event, the whole thing will revert to non-commercial, non-exclusive, pure competition. (Athletic competition, not commercial.)
Of course, we might have to endure the NBC/Nike Olympic Games! first.
Forbidding the athletes to post their own pictures is insane. I guess since the IOC makes the rules, they can just dis-allow someone from participating for any reason they want...but it's definately insane.
--Welcome to the Realm of the Hawke--
Are Belong To Us
Let's see...you train your whole life to have a shot at this thing, enjoy the moment, and want to share that moment with anyone and everyone using your own words. Sounds like natural progression in technology, eh?
Well, too bad. You've got corporate sponsors -- shoes, clothes, probably even the plane ticket to Athens. Then you've got people who commercialize this event so bad that they won't even let you share your thoughts unless they can make money off of it. You're a commodity, not some olympic hero. You're merchandise to be marketed and sold to a public who admire you. Your honor and glory amount to a feel-good story soundbyte...and that's about it.
So much for the spirit of the olympics. I'd have taken the laurel wreath and the vat of olive oil. Then again I'm not an athlete...and I'm not at all marketable...so a good bottle of olive oil sounds nice.
The cold war is over. The feeling of 'east versus west' is gone. A lot of people don't care anymore. After the blatantly corrupt money-grab of the previous Olympics, even fewer people care. Attempts by the organization to commodify all aspects of the Olympic experience will only accelerate the trend.
For me, the most heartening and yet saddest aspect of this debacle is the recognition of the power of the web to convey stories and images much faster and more efficiently than traditional outlets. I suppose the future is here, I guess I just hoped for something else.
They're only barred from writing for other news organizations, not for personal websites. Blogging isn't banned, according to the article.
Rather, Olympians are prohibited from writing articles and taking photographs for publication by outside news agencies.
This.. doesn't seem nearly so horrid. They can control which credentialed journalists get in, and make sure they've paid their dues and whatnot. The IOC is trying to prevent organizations from skipping past them and hiring on Olympians as insiders.
If I'm interested in a sport, I will want to see the full quality version. Sure, I'd love to read a blog or two, but what I'm really interested in is the event itself and I'll figure a way around M$NBC's stupid internet black out to get it.
If I were an athlete, I'd tell the IOC to shove it just as soon as my event was over and post whatever I wanted my family and friends to see.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
All this will take to reverse is one gold medalist posting a bunch of photos and movies their parents took of them.
It doesn't matter what any court anywhere would say, they would be so pressured by public opinion over the matter that this wouldn't last.
Just imagine if they tried to not let them compete, or take away a medal or something.
Case closed.
Experiment!
What was your question again?
John
The capital of Washington is Olympia, named for the Olympic mountains. The name predates the modern olympic games. There are a lot of stores in Olympia and other parts of Washinton that use "Olympic" in their name...or used to. The IOC sued them for trademark infringement several years ago and most changed their names rather than bankrupt themselves fighting the IOC in court.
I think it's time for the world public to retake control of the IOC, they are completely out of control and destroying the games in their mad pursuit of money.
I wonder if some bozo, say...me...were to start writing a blog about the Olympics as if I'm really there covering it.
Could I get sued even though I'm not there and I'm just making everything I write up?
If I had the time I would...but I'm too busy writing Slashdot comments.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
They don't even want people directing traffic to their site. Check out their policy here Ooops...So much for that rule :)
I'm really roundabout in the way I write things. I mean, nobody would ever figure out I work for Microsoft.
Damn.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
The IOC. They get countries and commercial interests to spend billions because there's a boatload of money to be made by hosting and covering the games. The Olympics have ALWAYS been a private interest. Ownership of the games has for over a hundred years been controlled by the IOC. The atheletes are members who have agreed to abide by every whim of the IOC in return for being allowed to participate. There's NOTHING surprising or new here.
He's right, they can't stop the athletes from taking pictures of themselves.
It also states on the actual story on CNN, unlike the Slashdot story, that An exception is if an athlete has a personal Web site that they did not set up specifically for the Games.
and
they may not post journals or online diaries, blogs in Internet parlance, until the Games end August 29
So yes, they can post blogs and pictures of themselves AFTER the games are over. The asshat that posted the story here on Slashdot got the story wrong trying to inflame people here.
When in doubt, RTFA
These professors, programmers and athletes get a small share of the value they create. Most of the value goes to those who have cleverly extended the "container" and claim the individual's achievement in the name of the container.
It is an error to attribute the individual's achievement to the container in which he works.
RTFA.
"An exception is if an athlete has a personal Web site that they did not set up specifically for the Games."
/usr/bin/grep -i -E meaning life.txt
Given this piece of utter cluelessness:
Hyperlink Policy
ATHENS 2004 Organising Commitee for the Olympic Games -Website Hyperlink Policy
For your protection and ours we have established a procedure for parties wishing to introduce a link to the ATHENS 2004 website on their site. By introducing a link to the ATHENS 2004 official Website on your site you are agreeing to comply with the ATHENS 2004 Website General Terms and Conditions. In order to place a link embedded in copy interested parties should:
a) Use the term ATHENS 2004 only, and no other term as the text referent
b) Not associate the link with any image, esp. the ATHENS 2004 Emblem (see paragraph below)
c) Send a request letter to the Internet Department stating:
* Short description of site
* Reason for linking
* Unique URL containing the link (if no unique URL than just the main URL)
* Publishing period
* Contact point (e-mail address)
Once the request has been mailed, interested parties can proceed to include the link and will only receive a response if ATHENS 2004 does not accept the link. All requests should be sent to:
The Internet Department
Iolkou 8 and Filikis Eterias str.
GR-142 34 N. Ionia, Athens
Tel: +30 210 2004 000
Fax: +30 210 2004 800
e-mail: (All information submitted using this e-mail address is governed by the ATHENS 2004 Privacy Policy)
terms@athens2004.gr
ATH0 Bitcoin: 1DnwFLXczVZV8kLJbMYoheUrpqHesjxrSi
I haven't seen anything other than swimming, gymnastics, or beach volleyball.
Then you're not just a troll, but one without a television. Let's see what's been shown today that ISN'T one of your hated sports...
I believe NBC said they would cover something like 3 hours in EVERY SPORT. From what I've been taping this week, I have to agree. I've seen rafting, some sort of weird round-ball-with-hands, fencing, five more listed above, and all the other "hated" sports. Just because you're too lazy to look doesn't mean it's not there.
specific Olympian and the media's quest to make the rest of us idolize him
Ready? People like heroes. It's cool to see. Even if he didn't medal, the fact that he's racing 18 times is pretty darn impressive. The fact that he's winning... what, does it piss you off that someone's doing well? If it annoys you that much, hit mute and just watch and enjoy the games. Even if you hate him, guess what? You're getting more swimming, which more people are watching.
Wah.
I saw his cocky little smile showing that he wanted MONEY.
And? What's wrong with that? More power to him. What is with the communist screed on slashdot over certain things?
why not make rules banning professionals from competing
I'll agree with you there. That was the whole point of bringing the Dream Team over the first time - you want pro, we'll bring pro. I'll agree with what Costas said... "Unfortunately, marketing won."
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
I live in Washington State (USA). Here we have the state capital of Olympia, Olympic mountain range, and not to mention America's finest piss water, Olympia Beer. A few years back, the Olympic Committee sued several businesses in Olympia and around the Olympic mountains for using "Olympia" in their name. I can only suspect that Miller Brewing, which owns Olympia Beer, paid them off, but the rest went to court and more or less lost.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
us CEOs are so samrt. Now watch this drive.
I was watching the US women's soccer match against Australia the other morning, and the stands were quite honestly emptier than any stands I've ever seen for any sporting event, ever. The Whitbread across the ocean yacht race had more spectators. Mile 143 of the Iditarod had more spectators.
There were no spectators on the far side of the stadium from the cameras. There were no spectators in the stands at either end zone. Not figuratively; literally: zero. And while I know that there must have been some spectators on the near side, because I heard one or two "USA!" cheers and, I think, an "Aussie Aussie Aussie!" cheer (also, the announcers mentioned that some of the players had family in attendance), they were invisible to the high stadium camera.
Presumably, they were all clustered low, near the center line or behind the benches; but with the exception of one suspiciously close-cropped shot of a couple of cheering fans used as B-roll footage on a return from commercial, there was no visual evidence that anyone was in attendance.
Now, I understand that women's socccer is not exactly as popular in Greece as it is in America, or even, say, Germany or Mexico; but I live in Atlanta and, you know, we sold out Archery -- not exactly a sport designed for thrilling live audiences -- in 1996. We sold out Field Hockey. We sold out the Modern Pentathlon. We sold out Team Handball, fer chrissakes, and it's hard to imagine a more obscure or unpopular sport in America (my wife and I went to it, too, and it was great fun to watch).
As I said to King Kaufman at Salon.com, "2004 in Athens marks the first Olympics to ever be boycotted by its host country."