Mexican Government Officials Have Press Creds Withdrawn From Olympics Over Uploaded Cell Phone Footage

from the still-the-most-live-olympics? dept

We've been detailing the ridiculous lengths the IOC and other Olympics organizations go in bullying others with their super special intellectual property protections. It's always quite stunning to watch an event supposedly about fostering international cooperation and sporting devolve into a mess of commercial protectionism, speech-stifling threats, and the kind of strong-arm tactics usually reserved for members of organized crime groups.

But I will give these Olympic goons credit: they appear to consider their bullying a matter of principle, deciding not to go any easier on an entire group of Mexican government officials because one of them uploaded one video of one Mexican athlete to a social media account.

According to a report by Mexico’s Eluniversal, the Rio Organizing Committee has taken the decision to withdraw press credentials from Mexico’s National Commission of Physical Culture and Sports (Conade) following a copyright dispute.

The publication says that Conade violated licensing conditions put in place by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after one of its members filmed the gymnast Alexa Moreno using a cellphone. The video was subsequently posted to social media. According to the Committee, Conade failed to obtain the necessary rights to broadcast Olympic content, so in retaliation nine Conade members, who work for the Mexican government, had their press credentials taken away.

Yes, why didn't this government person secure the rights to take a cell phone video of one of their country's own athletes competing in an event? Didn't he or she know that the Olympics operates in a time-bubble, where the things the rest of the world does every day, like upload short videos to Facebook, don't happen?

Making this more hilarious is that Conade is a government group specifically tasked with promoting athletics within Mexico.

While the Committee probably felt it needed to set an example, taking away the credentials of the Conade staff will be felt back home in Mexico. Conade is the arm of the Mexican government charged with promoting physical education and sport in the country. Before their punishment, they were also the conduit between the Games and their countrymen.

But while the Rio Organizing Committee punishes the whole of Mexico for the sharing of a single video, thousands of people are sharing recorded events at will on sites such as The Pirate Bay.

Because nothing says international cooperation like petulantly nixing the press credentials of a country's government representatives for uploading a single cell phone video while pirate streams and video sharing go on elsewhere unabated. Gold medal.

Filed Under: mexico, olympics, press credentials, social media, video
Companies: conade