Vancouver Critical Mass
Breaking News: Olympic Censorship of Vancouver Media Coop
Update: VMC has re-posted the video which was censored from Youtube [details below] on blip.tv here. I was right, there is nothing from this video that belongs to the IOC... their reason for censoring youtube is likely the Carrie Serwetnyk's interview.
Original Posting:
Wow, I just ambled over to the VMC page this afternoon to checkout the latest news and what did I find:
The same for the youtube:
What is going on here? Judging by the screenshot of this censored video,
it looks like it features Carrie Serwetnyk, who was diverted from her torch bearing run on commercial drive Friday. But the earlier VMC video:
is still up on the VMC video list.
So what is going on? What is the "copyright" violation? These videos are produced by VMC then broadcast via youtube. I would really like to see what is in that video and what the IOC claims they own even when it is just a video of protest made in Vancouver with the Olympics as the backdrop.
While researching this I found a few interesting articles about the IOC's heavy handed approach to information control: Covering competing logos, Antagonistic to Independent Media, they also got Amy Goodman stopped at the border afraid she would talk about the Olympics. They've copyrighted the numbers 2010 and our national anthem - so maybe the video just has people singing O Canada in it?
I do also know they have -- in my view -- abused the laws in Canada to protect their trademarks and official exclusive merchandise. Because the Olympics are a publicly funded entity here, VANOC has somehow been able to claim crown protection over their sport event logos. This crown trademark law is designed to prevent people illegally copying the logo from the police, fire or ambulance - that sort of thing. It is for those special cases only. But somehow the Olympics got their logo in with the same protection as if copying the olympic logo (or having had it up for years before the games) is akin to fraudulently pretending to be an ambulance!
Given the IOC track record, I must assume this recent video takedown is equally spurious -- that is until I can see the video and judge for myself. Fortunately this is video created by the VMC and only posted on youtube so presumably they will find another way to post this desperately needed dissenting dialogue video.
Shame on the IOC then for this recent suppression of disagreement. How do they get away with this? Will we continue to let them?
The mural by Jesse Corcoran is just so apt for the situation both with the artwork itself and how it was taken down.
----
PS The IOC is also trying to bully the British Media to stop them reporting on the negative stories about the Olympics!
Original Posting:
Wow, I just ambled over to the VMC page this afternoon to checkout the latest news and what did I find:
The same for the youtube:
What is going on here? Judging by the screenshot of this censored video,
it looks like it features Carrie Serwetnyk, who was diverted from her torch bearing run on commercial drive Friday. But the earlier VMC video:is still up on the VMC video list.
So what is going on? What is the "copyright" violation? These videos are produced by VMC then broadcast via youtube. I would really like to see what is in that video and what the IOC claims they own even when it is just a video of protest made in Vancouver with the Olympics as the backdrop.
While researching this I found a few interesting articles about the IOC's heavy handed approach to information control: Covering competing logos, Antagonistic to Independent Media, they also got Amy Goodman stopped at the border afraid she would talk about the Olympics. They've copyrighted the numbers 2010 and our national anthem - so maybe the video just has people singing O Canada in it?
I do also know they have -- in my view -- abused the laws in Canada to protect their trademarks and official exclusive merchandise. Because the Olympics are a publicly funded entity here, VANOC has somehow been able to claim crown protection over their sport event logos. This crown trademark law is designed to prevent people illegally copying the logo from the police, fire or ambulance - that sort of thing. It is for those special cases only. But somehow the Olympics got their logo in with the same protection as if copying the olympic logo (or having had it up for years before the games) is akin to fraudulently pretending to be an ambulance!
Given the IOC track record, I must assume this recent video takedown is equally spurious -- that is until I can see the video and judge for myself. Fortunately this is video created by the VMC and only posted on youtube so presumably they will find another way to post this desperately needed dissenting dialogue video.
Shame on the IOC then for this recent suppression of disagreement. How do they get away with this? Will we continue to let them?
The mural by Jesse Corcoran is just so apt for the situation both with the artwork itself and how it was taken down.
----
PS The IOC is also trying to bully the British Media to stop them reporting on the negative stories about the Olympics!
Labels: censorship, IOC, olympics, stupid media
posted by Rusl Bicycle @ 2/15/2010 02:23:00 pm
6 Comments:
At 3:35 pm, February 15, 2010,
Rusl Bicycle said…
Wow, now those copyright IOC notice pages have disappeared - so quickly the record of the censorship is even erased too. Good thing I took screenshots!
At 5:32 pm, February 15, 2010,
TQuid said…
I've seen the earlier video and it is, straight up, news reporting. Absolutely no copyright content, and if there were any, it would fall under fair comment.
Just typical IOC thuggery.
At 11:44 am, February 17, 2010,
Anonymous said…
As a Canadian I believe we need to be vigilant to the censorship of the IOC and other governing bodies. Our children should learn to recognize these infringements and we as parents sometimes need to show them that this is wrong. ‘O Canada we stand on guard for thee‘. There is a reason why we as Canadians take this oath as we award our athletes for their excellence and their service to themselves and their country. Today one of my daughters YouTube videos was censored by the IOC. I invite you to check out this over-the-top censorship at http://blog.virtualwhistler.com/?p=322
At 1:39 pm, February 17, 2010,
Rusl Bicycle said…
The mediacoop mentions a drupal flash video plugin that might help combat IOC censorship:
http://twitter.com/mcantelon/status/9158961601
At 4:20 pm, February 25, 2010,
Anonymous said…
I don't agree with the olympics and having to pay for them but it is gonna to help our city if we just let them do there own thing and then once they are done there will be changes they are building tons of new buildings for the homeless yes they could have been built before the olympics but you know we live in bc and sometimes the weather is way to fucking shitty to do anything you guys just need to suck it up and let it go eventually this city will be back to normal and as for the homelss they could have a shower and try looking for a job instead of drinking mouthwash like come on it is not our job to clean them up they have to make the chocie for themselves
At 2:46 am, February 26, 2010,
Rusl Bicycle said…
Anonymous, that is a pretty disrespectful and prejudicial thing to say about homeless people. There are rich people who live in homes who drink mouthwash who really should make the choice to stop being such a drain on society. The social welfare cost that would mean luxury for homeless people would be a drop in the bucket compared to the Olympic budget. Also, there is no reason to believe that the city will be better off or get back to normal after the Olympics --- except promises from those who have made so many empty promises. I'd like to share your optimism but it is irrational. And you don't back up your contradictory arguments. Really, what are these new affordable housing that will be built after the Oympics. Please enlighten us. But isn't it odd that such a thing will happen after? When we are up to our ears in debt and there is no longer any global eye turned on the city to make anyone want to make it look impressive? I doubt very much that any of that will be delivered and that is doubt based on the evidence. We're going to be paying for this 2 week party for the next 30 years - just like all the other Olympic host cities (except Calgary, but their finances were hidden by the vast oil wealth) Lastly, did you hear the IOC is reporting windfall profit for itself? And we get the debt.
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