In a follow up story to our post Wednesday about the International Olympic Committee considering lifting a ban on athletes blogging, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), demonstrating that Australian athletes succeed in spite of their governing body, has stated that Australian Athletes will be totally banned from blogging at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics because they could release “electronic missiles”. (note, I’m not kidding, I really, really wish, as an Australian, that I was)

Craig Phillips from the Australian Olympic Committee said that Blogging would erode the sanctuary of the Olympic village.

“The nature of the technology is such that if someone came off the field or the track annoyed about something, they could spout off at their competitors or their coaches. That would undermine team spirit…Blogging would allow athletes to launch missiles electronically, and it could become a real free for all.” said Mr Phillips.

The BBC reports that Mr Phillips also said there were commercial considerations.

The AOC fears that non-Olympic sponsors might use blogs to hijack the games in ambush marketing. Yep, it’s really all about the money.

Tags: Olympics, Australian Olympic Committee

Originally posted on February 9, 2007 @ 2:59 am

In a rather extraordinary example of begging for money, Florence Devouard, Chairwoman of the Wikimedia foundation has told an audience at the Lift07 conference that Wikipedia has the financial resources to run its servers for another 3-4 months, and that without further funding Wikipedia “might disappear”.

Could Wikipedia shut it’s doors? Tthe site alone would be worth at least $xxx million, if not a billion, after all, there’s literally no better property out there when it comes to traffic and authority than Wikipedia. And whoever bought it would not only have an amazing marketing tool, they could even control the truth, at least as most of us know it. Indeed, the likes of Microsoft wouldn’t need to hire people to edit entries, they could simply pay the new owner. Text Link sales alone across the site would more than pay for the servers the site uses, tens of thousands of times over. I smell a begging bluff on this one, but Devouard did make the claim.

(via Via Digitalis/ SEO Black Hat)

Originally posted on February 9, 2007 @ 9:44 pm

One of my huge passions in the last 6 months has been blog metrics. I’ve been studying different methods of measurement, so I obviously think its interesting to see interaction on this front when it comes to a tie up between Comscore and Federated Media.

I wish them the best of luck. I know developing a system of measurement can be mind numbing, so let’s hope they come up with a good standard with a decent API that I can utilize heading forward. Advertisers like to see numbers, and I can’t think of anyone who provides better Web metrics than Comscore.

As part of Federated Media’s pioneering efforts in conversational media, the company has partnered with comScore Networks — the industry-leading research firm –- to develop industry-standard methods of measuring tech-savvy, niche audiences.

“The complex nature of conversational media like blogs and community-driven sites like Digg presents unique measurement challenges,” said Magid Abraham, president and CEO of comScore Networks. “In partnering with Federated Media, comScore will harness their experience with a large network of blogs and consumer-generated sites to ensure that the blogosphere has available to it the most accurate and reliable third-party measurement services.”

“We’re delighted to be working with comScore on this important measurement effort,” said John Battelle, chairman and publisher of Federated Media. “If anyone can provide the audience measurement services needed by the blogosphere, it’s comScore.”

Source: Federated Media

Originally posted on February 8, 2007 @ 6:22 am

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Defense demanding expedited information on how the US Army monitors soldiers’ blogs, after the previous failure of the Department to comply with Freedom of Information requests lodged by the Foundation.

According to the EFF, a US Army unit called the Army Web Risk Assessment Cell (AWRAC) reviews hundreds blogs every month, notifying Army bloggers when it sees information it finds inappropriate.

EFF’s suit demands records on how the AWRAC conducts its monitoring, as well as any orders to soldiers about revision or deletion of web posts. It also demands expedited processing, as the information is urgently needed by the public.

(via El Reg)

Originally posted on February 7, 2007 @ 7:13 pm