July 13, 2015

First rule of the Pan Am Games: You can't link to the Pan Am Games

Richard AndersonRebel Blogger

According to the British site The Register the Great Toronto Boondoggle of 2015 is banning unauthorized hyperlinking:

The organisers of the Pan American Games in Toronto, which start this week, require that people seek formal permission to link to its website at toronto2015.org.

Under the website's terms of use, amid piles of incomprehensible legalese seemingly designed to hide from the fact that social media exists, it is decreed that no one is allowed to use one of those hyperlink thingies to connect to the website unless they first get approval.

(H/T Sobering Thoughts)

This is despite the fact that the PanAm Games have been heavily subsidized by the Ontario taxpayers. That means that tax dollars were used to create a website that taxpayers cannot link to. Nor is this some obscure maintenance or reference page, it's the main portal site for the games. You can see it here in all its glory. The site features the PanAm games' tacky logo, low-res photos of the athletes, directions to the various venues and the all important medal count. 

One would assume that the games' organizers, like most people who run websites, would want to encourage people to visit their site and patronize their product. That assumes that the people running the games don't, in one sense or another, work for the government. Whether out of sheer stupidity, or mere cowardice, the organizers slipped the following into their terms of use:

Links to this Site are not permitted except with the written consent of TO2015™. If you wish to link to the Site, you must submit a written request to TO2015™ to do so. Requests for written consent can be sent to branduse@toronto2015.org. TO2015™ reserves the right to withhold its consent to link, such right to be exercised in its sole and unfettered discretion.

For years journalists and ordinary citizens have filed Freedom of Information requests with various levels of government. This is done to obtain otherwise classified or confidential documents. Apparently a similar process must now be used to gain permission to link to a freely available website. Even e-mailing a link to someone might require written consent from TO2015. Given the so-far inept handling of the games it's likely that such consent, if anyone bothered to request it, would be granted long after the closing ceremonies. 

There are things so stupid and inane that only a government lawyer could imagine them. 


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commented 2015-07-14 13:18:33 -0400
cbc has a dilemma .. devoting air time to the pan am games interrupts their anti democracy hate marathon.. a difficult decision for hubie….
commented 2015-07-13 21:01:26 -0400
The entire boondoggle is a hideous waste of tax payer dollars designed to entertain Toronto’s sports elites. In a bankrupt province, with record unemployment, failing infrastructure, senior’s without easily obtained medical care, exploding energy costs and a government that treats the few remaining employed as a cash cow for their own amusement, surly a better use could have been found for all those wasted dollars?!
commented 2015-07-13 20:07:40 -0400
Pssst, the Pan Am Games are taking place in Toronto, right now. Don’t tell anybody.