I was looking for a Rio Olympics 2016 GIF and I realised I couldn’t find any one. Whilst coming through the Internet, I stumbled on a report that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued a ban on the press from sharing GIFs from the Olympics.
I then read the actual publication from the IOC concerning this and found it was more than just GIFs. It forbade short video formats
Olympic Material must not be broadcast on interactive services such as “news active” or “sports active” or any other related Video on Demand services, which would allow the viewer to make a viewing choice within a channel and to thereby view Olympic Material at times and programs other than when broadcast as part of a News Program as set out in Clause 1 above. Additionally, the use of Olympic Material transformed into graphic animated formats such as animated GIFs (i.e. GIFV), GFY, WebM, or short video formats such as Vines and others, is expressly prohibited.
Anybody creating a GIF is most likely going to face legal action but I wonder how this would be effectively monitored.
I know the rule is meant to protect the broadcasters (NBC) that paid a lot for the exclusive rights but a lot of people were looking to relive the Olympic memories through GIFs, Vines and Twitter videos.
Check out the reactions on Twitter…
https://twitter.com/ndiblasio/status/761261137073692672
If I had a dollar every time NBC cut to commercial break I’d have enough money to defend myself in a lawsuit for using an Olympics GIF
— Sam Stryker (@sbstryker) August 6, 2016
https://twitter.com/EntirelyAmelia/status/761401434512449536
https://twitter.com/ANakedLight/status/761594655796375552
Well, we at Innovation Village will not want to incur the wrath of the great IOC. We don’t even have the money for lawyers….
What do you think? Do you think people will adhere to this strict rule?
