Olympic blogging gets greenish light
February 19, 2008
Sportsmen will be allowed to blog during the 2008 Summer Olympic games, to be held in China, as the International Olympic Committee overrules its earlier ban, Sam Bayam comments on a Citizen Media Law Project blog. Yet, the guidelines are restrictive, he writes.
“Most notably, athletes will not be permitted to report on the overall competition,” Bayam writes, “or relay information from third parties; instead, the guidelines require that they focus on their own personal experiences. This is because, in the IOC’s view, blogging is ‘a legitimate form of personal expression and not a form of journalism’”
Mine Your Own Business lists eight restrictions on Olympic blogging. “Doesn’t leave much to write about, does it?” the poster, Mike Buckley, wonders. “Here’s the strange part. You would think that this restrictive list came from the Communist Chinese Government. But it doesn’t. These are the rules of the International Olympic Committee. Go figure,” the website reads.
Picture: Flickr
China’s great firewall 2007 stats
February 12, 2008
Somebody Think of the Children website reveals statistics about China’s Internet banning toll. According to the site, 44,000 websites were shut down by Chinese authorities in 2007.
Chinese regulations require that all websites and bloggers receive approval of the government to register. The website quotes Daily Tech “200,000 sites were registered last year and 14,000 were refused approval. Independent sources say the real number of rejected applicants is much higher.”
Businesses expected to work around China’s recent online video restrictions
January 31, 2008
China – the world’s next to largest online population – gives a faster spin to country’s restrictions of Internet content, starting on Thursday, Associated Press reports. The authorities have ruled against non-state-owned video services in country’s cyberspace, which is in line with China’s restrictions on media ownership.
“The rules are aimed at expanding a Chinese censorship system that tries to block Internet use to spread dissent while promoting it for business and education,” the story reads.
Critics wonder about the fate of user-generated video content. “It seems to be that political content is the foremost concern,” said Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China Ltd., a research firm in Beijing, quoted by AP.
Yet, private companies are expected to find a work around. Kaiser Kuo estimates on his DigitalWatch Ogilvy blog a continuation of operations, without having Chinese businesses crossing legal limits. “There’s definitely precedent for operating in a regulatory gray area until things sort themselves out, and as long as no one crosses major lines – pornography, politically sensitive content – my instincts tell me that none of these regulatory bodies are going to sink a major video sharing or P2P player, as ominous as this bit about limiting online video […] sounds,” the blogger writes.
Picture: Flickr
Families of Chinese Dissidents Speak Out Against Yahoo
November 11, 2007
The families of two Chinese dissidents said they hoped a congressional hearing into Yahoo’s Inc.’s role in the men’s imprisonment will help spur action for their release. Source
Photo: Parzival / Flickr