The Olympic Games are supposed to be about international brotherhood and friendly competition, but NBC apparently doesn't want its competition to get too chummy.
NBC, which has the exclusive rights to televise events from the games in Beijing, has made great strides over the years in bringing more content to viewers. For the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, the network set up NBCOlympics.com, but alas it offered little more than photos and schedules intended to drive Web surfers to their TVs.
In 2004, the network discovered high definition, which was nice--unless you weren't too keen on waiting an extra hour for the opening ceremonies to be broadcast, or had no interest in watching the same footage of a diving competition for days on end.
In 2006, NBC seemed to discover the Internet, offering live Internet streaming of the gold medal hockey game at the Turin Winter Olympics.
So it seemed the entertainment giant had finally gotten its act together: in addition to the 1,400 hours of TV coverage, the network plans to enlist the Internet to offer 3,000 hours of on-demand highlights, blogging, analysis, and even fantasy league gaming.
However, the Internet will still be taking a backseat to the TV. NBC will not make televised events available online until after they are seen on TV, Perkins Miller, senior vice president for digital media at NBC Sports, told the Associated Press .
And NBC, which ponied up $3.5 billion to the International Olympics Committee for the rights to televise the games, isn't making friends with other Web sites. NBCOlympics.com is the only site where you will see video coverage of events on the Web. Other Web sites are permitted to show Olympic trials events, but they must link to NBCOlympics.com--and all that video content must be taken down before the games begin in Beijing.
Is NBC being a bit paranoid about Web sites stealing its TV viewership?
"It's not that we aren't nervous," Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics, told the AP. "But we're up to it, and we're going to perform as we always have in the past."
Maybe NBC will surprise us and do better.
Click here for more stories on tech and the Beijing Olympics.
NBC will not be offering live online feeds of any events that will be broadcast on TV. The ones broadcast on TV will, of course, include the most popular events and the ones that people are most likely to tune into. The video of the events will be on NBC's site only after the events have been completed. With this in mind, it is clear that NBC views its online offering as a supplement to their TV broadcast and not as any sort of a replacement.
Many have been really quick to heavily criticize this move by NBC, but I'm not jumping on that bandwagon just yet. I am usually not one to defend old media (see my post on Why Broadcast TV Sucks), but I have some sympathy for NBC here. I applaud NBC for taking this major leap into the online distribution of this major event in the first place. It's an unfamiliar road and a departure from a model that has worked for NBC for a very long time.
Of course, we would love to see every live stream available to us, with videos and highlights that we could embed on other sites, but this may be too radical of a first step for NBC. Think of this year's Olympic webcast as testing the waters. If NBC's web offerings prove to be profitable this year, then maybe they will expand their offerings in years to come. The Olympics only happen every two years (the more popular Summer version every four) and I can understand NBC not wanting to gamble too much on this very costly venture.
An online feed of an event like the Olympics (or any sporting event for that matter) can offer all sorts of rich functionality, including realtime statistics, scores, and leaderboards. There is no doubt in my mind that rich functionality will eventually win out, whether it is viewed on your computer or through a new interface on your TV. If it doesn't look like they get it now, NBC and the other networks will eventually see the light, but these big companies may just need a little more time to make the switch at their own pace.
To view NBC's online Olympic offering, you must install Microsoft's Silverlight plug-in.
Don't believe the haters, NBC's online offering of the Olympics is a step in the right direction, just not two steps as a lot had hoped.
Click here for more stories on tech and the Beijing Olympics.
Sinobyte commenters have raised two good questions about Internet freedom during the Olympics, set for August 8 to 28 in Beijing. I'm going to give the best kind of answer available for each: an educated guess.
I had written about "free Wi-Fi," which hasn't yet really started working, but is slated to be available during the games in some key areas of the city.
Commenter DangerousOffender asks: How "free" will the access be? Will users be able to access the entire internet, or will it be censored?
I was referring, of course, to "free of charge," but this is a good question. In recent years, no public internet connection has been completely unfiltered. Censorship works in a few different ways: some Web sites are simply blocked at the IP level, making it impossible to access them without a proxy; certain sensitive terms in pages, if detected by filters, can cause the connection to be disrupted; and sensitive terms that appear as part of a URL can trigger a similar disruption.
In the lead up to the Olympics, many online limitations have been relaxed. Access to BBC News was restored. Blogspot has been unblocked, blocked again, and is presently available from this connection in Beijing. English Wikipedia is available, but Chinese Wikipedia is still blocked. After pressure from the International Olympic Committee, the Beijing committee has promised fewer restrictions, but since some ISPs do the censorship themselves to avoid trouble with authorities, any "opening" may not trickle down to every connection.
Rumor has it, anyway, that top hotels full of foreigners and journalists will have unfettered access. I doubt this will be a citywide phenomenon, let alone a national loosening.
JeffW42 asks: How monitored will it be? Will your e-mails be reviewed for "offensive" material, and username and password stored for later reference?
While we have some guesswork to do on censorship, there's even more to do on surveillance. Let's focus on capability and relevance.
Capability: Chinese authorities are viewed by many around the world in governments and other fields as highly capable in infiltrating computer systems. While the Chinese government denies it every time, U.S. authorities say attacks of various kinds have come from China. What's more important is this: We know the government has access to the gateways between China and the rest of the Internet. It should be assumed that, just as any traffic can be filtered for keywords, any traffic can be more closely monitored.
Relevance: The fact that authorities could capture your traffic does not necessarily mean your passwords could be captured. A properly configured SSL-based password system, standard on most websites, should make password capture very difficult if not impossible. Though I am not a security expert, my sense is that this sort of surveillance would be a very low priority for Chinese authorities.
On the question of reviewing e-mail for content, it seems highly unlikely that e-mail would be blocked. If you're planning a big protest or something, however, expect that you and your buddies are on some kind of list for closer monitoring. Simple measures can make all communication much more smooth and quick during high-filtering periods. Users of Gmail, for instance, found that while a normal HTTP connection was extremely slow during the recent unrest in Tibet, using SSL by typing in https://mail.google.com/ (the added "s" is the key) made the connection faster, and e-mails containing sensitive terms were delivered more consistently.
A little perspective
Much is made of China's Internet restrictions. A few things of note, before one seizes on this as unique. I'm not trying to argue that the restrictions are good, but I think a lot of people take this phenomenon and turn it into an anti-Chinese trope without placing it in a bit of a context.
- A study found that most Chinese approved of government controls over the Internet.
- Several students at elite universities I have met in Beijing had no idea there was any censorship.
- The U.S. government, for example, is not exactly free of programs to monitor its citizens' communications.
- China has a lot of surveillance cameras, but so does Britain.
Now, if you can get a visa to China, come on over and enjoy the games. I hear lots of the hotels are wide open.
Anticipated wireless coverage areas in Beijing. If they work, they are advertised to be free until after the Olympics.
(Credit: Wicity via Sina)Beijing Wicity is setting out to cover several key parts of Beijing with Wi-Fi access, and it is supposed to be free until after the Olympics, which will take place August 8-28, but service is spotty in advertised coverage areas.
Danwei reports that Wicity, not to be confused with WiiCity (which doesn't exist, but would be a pretty fun place), is a project of Chinacomm (中电华通). Wednesday is the first day of the test stage.
People in an office in Beijing's Central Business District, or CBD, report that they see the network but cannot get online. I'm sitting in a cafe in Sanlitun, and I don't see the network on either my MacBook or my HTC Touch.
Members of a hepatitis B support group in China, numbering about 300,000, lost their online forum in a Chinese crackdown on civil society. Now some say they may be forced into taking drastic measures, even during the Olympics.
In an unusually prominent threat of collective action in China, Lu Jun, who ran a recently blocked site for carriers of hepatitis B, said some disgruntled members may be planning protests during the Olympics, according to the Financial Times:
Mr. Lu, who heads a rights group that has helped carriers sue companies such as IBM and Foxconn for discrimination, said the Web site was a gathering place for sufferers who had little other opportunity to vent their frustrations, or find support from doctors and fellow patients. By shutting it down, the Chinese government risked pushing patients to take drastic actions, Mr. Lu said.
"A common refrain in the messages we have received from members since the Web site was shut down is: 'I love my country, but my country doesn't love me,'" Mr. Lu said.
(The site) "In the Hepatitis B Camp" was first shut down by the government last November. On Tuesday, Mr. Lu said an official had told him at the time that the closure was due to the upcoming Olympic Games. Mr. Lu managed to reopen the Web site by moving it to an overseas server, but Beijing last month began blocking access to the Web site within China, just 10 days after government officials participated in an event for World Hepatitis Day at the Great Wall.
The system for ordering, paying for, and issuing Beijing Olympic tickets has had many kinks, the latest of which may be the middle name question.
A Wall Street Journal blog reports that people found a Bank of China branch unwilling to issue tickets to some foreigners because the registered name lacked the middle name present on the required passport. Without an exact match, you're nearly out of luck. Just like getting on a plane in China.
The iconic Olympic sites in Beijing
(Credit: Graham Webster)Or that's what the report says. It's a blog post based on a single anecdote from an anonymous foreign friend in a foreigner-rich neighborhood in Beijing who ended up arguing for two hours and is still a little paperwork away from getting the tickets. The post also contains a claim that Monday was the first day that tickets ordered online could be picked up, which does not seem to be true based on anecdotes I've heard from other foreign friends, whom I will keep anonymous.
Either way the issuance of tickets has been quite a trial for some. At least a few friends who live in Beijing found that their U.S. bank cards flagged the purchase when they charged Olympic tickets, thereby canceling the transaction and, you would think, nullifying the tickets. That would be fine if it weren't unusually hard to get tickets in the first place.
People waited online in virtual queues for ticket orders to be issued just after individual batches became available. If you were lucky enough to get a ticket, you would hope Visa, one of the Olympics' primary sponsors ("but they don't take... " well you know the rest), would be more inclined to accommodate unusual transactions in the form of tickets to the Games.
But after all, the oddest story I have heard is that one person went in to collect the tickets anyway, despite the bank having canceled payment. And, with no apparent dispute over middle names, the tickets were issued. It's just that no one ever paid for them. Oops.
The Journal post I am sure is based on a real incident, but the mistake is in thinking any individual experience is generalizable. These things just aren't going consistently.
China Mobile has opened a wireless service center and Internet cafe at an altitude of 17,000 feet at the Everest base camp, making it the world's highest such site, according to People's Daily Online.
According to reports, the Internet cafe is aiming to effectively protect the Olympic torch relay teams' communications needs at Mount Qomolangma in Tibet. China Mobile has built a business office and Internet cafe at an altitude of 5,200 meters at Mount Qomolangma base camp to provide mobile services and Internet services to government officials, mountain climbing members and journalists.
Maybe they'll add an oxygen bar for out-of-shape journalists with underdeveloped hemoglobin.
Lenovo used a boatload of resources to win the contest to design the Olympic torch for this summer's Games, and what's the world's reaction? Derision and anger.
Of course, it has nothing to do with Lenovo or the torch design and everything to do with China's human rights record, its crackdown on protesters in Tibet, and its ongoing support of Sudan's government.
The Wall Street Journal takes a look at how Lenovo's $100 million-plus marketing blitz as one of the official sponsors of the Games held in its own backyard could actually be a major blunder from a brand perspective.
Lenovo executives apparently expected some protests, but were "caught off guard" by the animosity the torch was met with during the traditional relay, particularly in London, Paris, and San Francisco. But Lenovo still has several months to go before the Games begin, and the company is adamant its association with the Games and with China won't hurt its aspirations of becoming a global PC brand name on the level of Hewlett-Packard and Dell.
See the Journal story for more.
A Tibetan demonstrator passes a supporter of the China Olympics at the planned starting point of the torch relay in San Francisco Wednesday.
(Credit: Hanna Sistek/CNET News.com)SAN FRANCISCO--In a switcheroo that threw off hundreds of protesters and put Twitter and text-message alert systems to the test, city officials here decided to take the Olympic torch relay on a far different route Wednesday than had been previously announced.
The relay had been highly anticipated, largely because of security concerns related to protesters who--fueled by Web campaigns--came out in droves to oppose the Chinese government's plans to carry the torch through Tibet, or more generally, the government's overall human rights record.
As crowds of spectators and protesters awaited the torch along the city's Embarcadero and at the foot of the Market Street thoroughfare, the relay took off by bus in the opposite direction to Van Ness Avenue and then into the Marina District in the north part of the city, according to news reports. That set off a storm of Twitters--some of which were pasted onto this page at SFist--and a constant stream of text messages as people tried to figure out what was happening and which direction to head.
Chasing the torch through S.F.:
Click above image to watch video.
"We are reorganizing the protest, sending text messages with minute-by-minute updates on where the torches are," said Tawni Tidwell, a member of protest organizer SF Team Tibet. "People are using their cell phones, BlackBerrys, and PDAs. We are also updating media though our phones, sending pictures."
Tidwell added: "It would be really, really hard if we didn't have this. Can you imagine if the protesters in Lhasa had this technology? Witnesses could just send things in."
Of course, such forms of instant communication are only so reliable--I'm on an sms feed from SF Team Tibet and am still trying to sort out what's accurate and what's just rumor. It seems the planned closing ceremony was canceled and the torch is now enroute to the airport. (Followers are encouraged.)
CNET News.com's Hanna Sistek contributed to this report.
A screenshot of a Twitter sent by SF Team Tibet.
I just got done mentioning how hard it is for me to fully participate in Wikipedia from China. But English-language Wikipedia is suddenly accessible tonight from Beijing.
Obviously, Chinese officials read this blog and care very much about my opinions. (Blogspot's available too, but I didn' t ask for that. So whatever.)
I can't say I discovered this on my own. Danwei's "Net Nanny" post tipped me off.
I can confirm that both Wikipedia and Blogspot work from my connection and that this will make my life easier.
But as Danwei, the Chinese media and culture site, reports, Wikipedia's Chinese-language site is still blocked. Thus unfortunately, the argument that I made previously--that Wikipedia still lacks very important participation from this part of the world--will continue to stand.
The iconic Olympic sites in Beijing
(Credit: Graham Webster)An Associated Press article coinciding with the change notes that Olympic officials are grappling with how to keep up appearances with foreigners as they arrive in Beijing. The usual estimate is that 500,000 people will come for the games. In the article, an official was quoted as saying he hoped the Internet would be open for media during the games:
Kevan Gosper, vice chairman of the IOC coordinating commission, said blocking the Internet during the games "would reflect very poorly" on the host nation.
"Even this morning we discussed and insisted again," Gosper said. "Our concern is that the press is able to operate as it has at previous games--at games time."
Gosper said the Chinese had an obligation under the so-called "host city agreement" to open Internet access to 30,000 accredited and non-accredited journalists expected to attend.
"There was some criticism that the Internet closed down during events relating to Tibet in previous weeks, but this is not games time," Gosper said.
Danwei calls this an "explanation," but I think it's more ambiguous. This change is similar to the unblocking of the English BBC News site in recent days: the Chinese counterpart is still blocked. The strategy of allowing open access in English and other non-Chinese languages while restricting Chinese-language sites feels like a P.R. move. Journalists from other countries will stop complaining so much about not being able to screw around online and comment on their friends' blogs, and the Chinese authorities still get to control content for the majority of Chinese Net users.
The two changes may also reflect a technical similarity, and possibly new infrastructure. The Chinese and English Wikipedia sites are differentiated using subdomains: cn.wikipedia.org vs. en.wikipedia.org. Similarly, the URLs for English and Chinese news on BBC are easily differentiable. This may mean a shift from IP filtering to URL filtering. Either way, offending requests still appear to be met with "connection resets."
