London’s 2012 Olympic Games have already been entangled in one censorship controversy. But measures that will be in force during the game themselves pose a far greater threat to free expression, says Aileen McColgan
In October 2005 the Sunday Times reported that ‘[a]s many as 55,000 members of the “Olympic family”, including ministers, media and corporate sponsors’ would be permitted to make use of dedicated road lanes in London during the 2012 games, while other drivers faced being herded into the remaining lanes — with £5,000 fines for those who rebelled. The legal powers in question were to be created by the London Olympics and Paralympics Bill as it then was. According to the article, among those benefitting from the special lanes would be around 12,000 corporate sponsors and their guests.
Politburo-like transport privileges are not the only corporate gifts to be found in what is now the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006. Section 19 of the Act provides a legal basis for the executive regulation of advertising ‘in the vicinity of London Olympic events’. Of particular concern to some, the Act provides that the regulations ‘may apply in respect of advertising of any kind’, including non-commercial advertising and ‘announcements or notices of any kind’.
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