No word on the
blogging status of mascots

Last week the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued blogging guidelines for the Beijing Olympics.

This is the first time blogging will be permitted amongst participants or officials of the Olympic games.

But bloggers must mind IOC directives. For example, still pictures taken outside accredited areas, or personal photos within the areas that do not include sporting action, are OK for blog publication.

Blogging was sanctioned as a "legitimate form of personal expression," but "not a form of journalism."

"It is required that, when accredited persons at the Games post any Olympic content, it be confined solely to their own personal Olympic-related experience," the IOC wrote.

Participating bloggers cannot post visual or audio material from the Beijing Olympic Games. Confidential information regarding third parties is also off-limits.

Blogs must not form exclusive agreements with any company. Commercial references, or ads in general, are verboten.

Finally, athletes or Olympic officials are admonished to keep blogs "dignified and in good taste."

The IOC's conditional approval aside, some worry the so-called "Great firewall of China" will hinder Olympic bloggers anyway.

Permission to blog about the Olympics while the games take place has been a coveted privilege amongst participants, but the IOC worried blogging may invite infringement of copyright agreements.

The group also hopes to protect existing broadcasting contracts with the Games. Such relationships are worth several billion euros, ZDNet reports.

Blogs written by athletes during the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 Turin Winter Games were not officially approved by the IOC.