Networker: An Olympic performance
In recent years, the Olympic Games have been a showplace for the latest technology. Computer technology companies compete to provide hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment and services free in sponsorship deals.
At the 1998 Winter Olympics, IBM showed that it could provide access to millions of internet viewers, including hundreds of thousands simultaneously. Events were "streamed" a fraction of a second after they took place.
Technology has moved on since then. From September 13 internet viewers around the world will be able to see the Olympic athletes break world records within ... 24 hours.
Why so slow? Because lawyers and other profiteers of "intellectual property" have finally caught up with the internet, and are making it operate at their pace.
The system is simple. First, (if you are a member of the IOC — International Olympic Committee) sell the media rights around the world, including to US broadcaster NBC for $705 million. Then, ensure that only journalists and television crews from the paying media organisations can get near the event.
(Of course, that is not possible in a democratic society. So you have to find a compliant and despotic regime — like the NSW Labor government — to enforce the rules. The European Union is threatening to take Australia to the World Trade Organisation over the matter.)
The media and entertainment monopolies then run a series of court cases to attack the right of viewers to swap files, music or videos over the internet (the principle being defended is the right of artists to have their talent and creations bought for a pittance or stolen from them by unscrupulous media and entertainment companies who continue to profit from this work decades later).
This creates both a legal precedent and a sense of foreboding among organisations that run large internet operations. The IOC and NBC then announce in advance that anyone who tries to broadcast coverage of the Olympics over the internet in real time will be sued.
The whole purpose these shenanigans is to prevent US television viewers from seeing the highlights of the Olympics until they appear in prime time, as much as 18 to 24 hours after the events were run. This ensures that NBC makes its money by selling advertising to US viewers. Chances are the advertising will exhort them to log on to the internet to buy something.
The wonders of the free market!
BY GREG HARRIS
[Thanks to a reader who pointed out that ADSL stands for Asymmetric (not "Asynchronous") Digital Subscriber Loop (GLW #411). That makes more sense, as the column explained that with ADSL the amount of data reaching the viewer is much larger than the amount the viewer can send.]