“We understand that many of our Games Makers will want to use social media to share their exciting experiences at London 2012 with their friends and family,” a spokesman told Reuters. “As is standard in most organizations, we have provided some practical guidelines to give basic advice on interacting in a social media environment with the aim of protecting the interests of our workforce and operation.”
Broadcasting our whereabouts on Foursquare or snapping an Instagram of a celebrity sighting have become second nature for many of us. While athletes are permitted to tweet or post Facebook updates, the London Organizing Committee has made a decision that will limit the citizen discussion of Olympic events.
Additional restrictions prevent Game Makers from making public statements relating to the London games, without prior permission from Olympics spokespeople, or speaking to schools about the events.
This won’t mean much of a change from Beijing 2008, considering that China bans Twitter and Facebook. However, one may argue Olympic volunteers could have provided excellent stories from behind the scenes at the games.
Do you think the Olympics are making a mistake by restricting what volunteers can post to social networks? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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Indian Court to Facebook, Google: Censor Content or We Will Censor You
Justice Suresh Kait warned that if the Internet giants cannot monitor their content, India will follow China’s censorship lead.
“Like China, we will block all such websites,” Kait said Thursday, The Times of India reports.
But if Facebook and Google do tamper with content, it will be the same as if they had written it, according to Indian media outlet NDTV. Once the Internet heavyweights begin to interfere, they become legally responsible for content under the Indian Information Technology Act.
Mukul Rohatgi testified, on behalf of Google India, that the search giant cannot filter “obscene, objectionable and defamatory” content. He argued that neither the domestic branch Google India nor Google Inc., the holding company, are responsible for third parties’ content.
“No human interference is possible, and moreover, it can’t be feasible to check such incidents,” Rohatgi said. “Billions of people across the globe post their articles on the website. Yes, they may be defamatory, obscene, but cannot be checked.”
Do you think the Internet companies should try to devise a way to sort content to appease the Indian court? What do you think the Indian Government accomplishes by blocking Facebook and Google? Let us know in the comments.
BONUS: How the Internet Is Consumed in India
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