Slashdot Mirror
Posting Photos of Olympics Could Land You In Court
hypnosec writes "With London's summer 2012 games due to take place in the very near future, you'd think that organizers would make more of an effort and persuade people to show more of an interest — yet it appears the complete opposite has happened, with strict guidelines banning athletes from posting photos of themselves on Twitter with products that aren't official Olympics sponsors, as well as prohibiting videos or photos to be taken from the athlete's village. Oh and just for good measure, fans could find themselves barred from sharing videos and photos on Facebook and YouTube of themselves delighting in said Olympics action."
reason not to watch the Olympics
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
and goodwill...
Thank you for hosting the Olympics, now please cower in fear of the copyright police.
I appreciate the Olympics, but I'm not giving up my rights just because my country is hosting them.
No thanks.
"Helping to keep you two steps ahead of the Thought Police!"
fuck the olympics. It's become exactly what it isn't supposed to be: a corporate circle-jerk to exploit potential for advertising revenue. The athletes come second, if they are lucky.
...was bullshit. That can't be right. Then I RTFA. Holy shit! Way to go London - bring that Orwellian dream to life!
!@#$ you. No Really. !@#$ you.
An event dedicated to showcasing the heights of human athleticism, and you've turned it into a cheap money making operation for yourself. You Suck. I will not be watching the olympics.
Are they completely ignorant of the ubiquity of cameras today? Forget the fact that most of those cameras are attached to something that can easily upload images to the world at large.
This deserves a flash-mob style constant bombardment of images from the Olympics being uploaded during the games. Even if we get bored to tears of the sheer volume of Olympics photos uploaded, just overwhelm them with the obviousness of their own stupidity.
Can we all just agree it's 1999 again, and have a "do over"?
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
London 2012 is going to be a farcical affair for start to finish. London traffic is already heavily congested without a major event taking place. With London 2012, its going to be nearly impossible to get around the Capital without getting stuck, stuck, stuck everywhere. Then, there's going to be a ridiculous amount of security all over the Olympics. Thousands of policemen. Helicopters in the sky. Boats out on the Thames. B-sniffing dogs. Biometric (face-recognizing) CCTV cameras anywhere. Then there's the hullaballoo about taking pictures. London 2012 security has been harrassing anyone who takes pictures of Olympics facilities, even from a far distance away (like a Kilometer or Mile), and from public land. Now there's this whole nonsense about only official Olympic sponsors being able to reference the 2012 Olympics, Olympic athletes being banned from tweeting or commenting about the competitions, people watching the Olympics not being allowed to share pictures or videos online. The whole thing is a big, stinking mess before it has even started. Good luck, London. With organizers like these, you'll need it.
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
They occasionally try to sue business with "Olympic" in their name. It has happened several times here in Washington State, where we have a large chunk of the state called the "Olympic Peninsula", and thus a lot of businesses with "Olympic" in their name. A few years ago they tried to tell some dry cleaner out in Port Angeles (in the Olympic Peninsula) that they could not call themselves the "Olympic Cleaners".
Fuck 'em.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
What sounds completely insane to me is that UK actually had to create special new laws regarding copyright etc in the context of the Olympics for the benefit of IOC here. Do countries really value their sovereignty so little?
What has Banksy to say about it? http://thequotesproject.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/brandalism.jpg
People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disapear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you're not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on tv making your girlfriend feel inadequate.
They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it.
They are the advertisers and they are laughing at you.
You, however are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.
Fuck that.
Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours.
It's yours yo take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rocj someone just threw at your head.
Your owe the companies nothing. //Banksy
Less then nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Some of your coworkers disagree.
Your honesty is appreciated, but a simple google search reveals a new baggage handler theft ring busted at some airport every few months. So yes, it does happen, and has happened to both me and a friend. It is why I will never check bags again and always carry-on, and in turn directly leads to TSA rage because they take stuff out of my bag and throw it away and berate me for not paying attention to the size of my toiletries.
It's in TFA:
"Britain already has a range of legal protections for brands and copyright holders, but the Olympic Games demand their own rules. Since the Sydney Games in 2000, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has required bidding governments to commit to introducing bespoke legislation to offer a further layer of legal sanction.
In 2006, accordingly, parliament passed the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act, which, together with the Olympic Symbol (Protection) Act of 1995, offers a special level of protection to the Games and their sponsors over and above that already promised by existing copyright or contract law. A breach of these acts will not only give rise to a civil grievance, but is a criminal offence."
So far as I can see from a brief glipse at the law in question, it basically amounts to giving police powers to directly enforce whatever rules IOC comes up to. This, in particular, looks like it allows the police to arrest you on the spot if you're wearing a T-shirt with a wrong logo or anything like that.