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posted by cmn32480 on Sunday August 07 2016, @12:52PM   Printer-friendly
from the taking-on-goliath dept.

Submitted via IRC for xhedit

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) must spend a majority of the four-year break between Olympics thinking up new, spectacularly petty demands to make of everyone when the next event rolls around. It's always been overbearing and thuggish, but it seems determined to top itself with each new iteration of its sports-related boondoggle.

In the run-up to this year's particularly dystopian Olympic games, being hosted in a city without clean water or a clean police force, the USOC has already demanded:

- That a company take down Olympic-related social media posts pertaining to the Olympic athlete the company is sponsoring

- That no non-official commercial entities are allowed to use certain hashtags in tweets

- That no "non-media" companies are allowed to refer to the Olympic games, outcomes of events, or even share/repost content posted by official Olympic media accounts

It's these last two that are being challenged -- not by a megacorporation unable to buy its way into the USOC's good graces, but a Minnesota-located franchise of the Zerorez carpet cleaning business.

A small business in Minnesota is suing over the US Olympic Committee's ban on tweeting about the Olympic games. The Committee announced last month that non-sponsors are banned from even using hashtags like #Rio2016 or #TeamUSA. Zerorez, a carpet cleaning business in Minnesota, will file suit in U.S. District Court on Thursday.

So why is this seemingly random floor cleaning business in Minnesota the one suing? They simply want to root for the home team.

"They're very engaged with social media," Aaron Hall, CEO of the JUX Law firm, told me over the phone. "They felt concerned about being censored on social media, especially at a time when we're going through a time of pain and negativity."

Source: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160804/20130135162/minnesota-carpet-cleaning-business-sues-us-olympic-committee-over-ridiculous-social-media-rules.shtml


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  • (Score: 1) by gmrath on Sunday August 07 2016, @07:39PM

    by gmrath (4181) on Sunday August 07 2016, @07:39PM (#385029)

    That they may claim rights they "simply don't have," is no doubt true, but they DO have lots of money and lawyers and lobyists to make sure their worldview prevails, things the small fry don't have. Only large entities with resources could fight them to a possible successful conclusion - but most of those will remain silent on these issues hoping they will be able to get away with the same stuff, or are in cahoots with the USOC. And there it goes. . . Wonder how much of the USOC is government-funded?

  • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Sunday August 07 2016, @11:28PM

    by Whoever (4524) on Sunday August 07 2016, @11:28PM (#385083) Journal

    Exactly. They are giant assholes.