Taming technology

"You always hope that your work will eventually be used do some good in the world, and this was an amazing chance to make that hope real by creating tools that have the potential to aid investigations of child predators, find child victims and reduce the flow of child pornography on the Internet."


Kudos to Shumeet Baluja, Research Scientist and their team at Google. They are taming the technology to work for humanity and not against it. I have always believed that every technology was developed with all good intentions until it got into the wrong hands. The internet is an ocean of knowledge for many but for some it is a means seeking sadistic, inhumane pleasure knowing well that it is killing their own souls and also that of the innocent child. Many are minting money out of this appalling business and the world stands by, having lost all sensitivity.

Now the team at Google are building softwares to find child victims. This would also deter these criminals from posting pornographic material online so blatantly.

Since it was founded in 1984, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has reported more than 570,000 child exploitation leads to law enforcement agencies and assisted with more than 140,900 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery of more than 124,500 children.

The advent of the Internet has unfortunately provided child predators with a new avenue to exploit children. In August 2006, we joined NCMEC's Technology Coalition Against Child Pornography, teaming up with other tech industry companies to develop solutions that hinder predators' ability to use the Internet to exploit children or traffic in child pornography.

Shumeet Baluja, Ph.D., is currently a Senior Staff Research Scientist at Google, where he works on a broad set of topics ranging from image processing and machine learning to wireless application development and user interaction measurement. Shumeet was formerly the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of JAMDAT Mobile, Inc., where he oversaw all aspects of technology initiation, development and deployment.

Olympics

KK’s comment made me take a look into the Olympics Committee to see how a city is selected. As you can see boycotting of Olympics is nothing new and it was first done by US against Moscow in year 1980 and retaliated by the Moscovites in year 1984.

Tibet has every right to protest and I am with them. But why was Beijing selected in the first place when Tibet’s fight is nothing new to the whole world? And why is that certain countries other than Tibet take the Olympics as their arena when they feel agitated against certain “Occupations” that irks them while they themselves are freely doing it?


NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES
The National Olympic Committees (NOCs) propagate the fundamental principles of Olympism at a national level within the framework of sports activity

ORGANISATION OF THE NOCs

There are currently 205 National Olympic Committees over five continents.

ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES

The NOCs come together at least once every two years in the form of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) to exchange information and experiences in order to consolidate their role within the Olympic Movement. In this way the ANOC helps the NOCs to prepare for their meetings with the IOC Executive Board and Olympic Congresses.

The ANOC also makes recommendations to the IOC regarding the use of funds deriving from the television rights intended for the NOCs. These recommendations focus on the implementation of the Olympic Solidarity programmes in particular.

The ANOC is currently made up of the 205 NOCs and is split among five continental associations:

AFRICA: ANOCA (Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa)
AMERICA: PASO (Pan American Sports Organisation)
ASIA: OCA (Olympic Council of Asia)
EUROPE: EOC (European Olympic Committees)
OCEANIA: ONOC (Oceania National Olympic Committees)

MISSIONS OF THE NOCs

The National Olympic Committees (NOCs) promote the fundamental principles of Olympism at a national level within the framework of sports. NOCs are committed to the development of athletes and support the development of sport for all programs and high performance sport in their countries. They also participate in the training of sports administrators by organising educational programs.

Another objective of the National Olympic Committees is to ensure that athletes from their respective nations attend the Olympic Games. Only a NOC is able to select and send teams and competitors for participation in the Olympic Games.

National Olympic Committees also supervise the preliminary selection of potential bid cities. Before a candidate city can compete against those in other countries, it first must win the selection process by the NOC in its own country. The National Olympic Committee can then name that city to the IOC as a candidate to host the Olympic Games.

Although most NOCs are from nations, the IOC also recognises independent territories, commonwealths, protectorates and geographical areas. There are currently 205 NOCs, ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe.

MOSCOW 1980


THE AMERICAN BOYCOTT

The Olympics were disrupted by another, even larger boycott, this one led by U.S. president Jimmy Carter, part of a package of actions to protest the December 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Carter engaged in extensive arm-twisting to gain support from other nations. Some governments, like those of Great Britain and Australia, supported the boycott but allowed the athletes to decide for themselves whether to go to Moscow. No such freedom of choice was allowed U.S. athletes, as Carter threatened to revoke the passport of any athlete who tried to travel to the USSR. In the end, 65 nations turned down their invitations to the Olympics; probably 45 to 50 did so because of the U.S.-led boycott. Eighty nations did participate - the lowest number since 1956.

LOS ANGELES 1984

THE FINANCING

After the terrorist attack in 1972 and the financial disaster of 1976, only Los Angeles bid for the right to host the 1984 Olympic Games. As the Los Angeles Games were the first since 1896 to be staged without government financing, the organisers depended heavily on existing facilities and corporate sponsors. Although criticised at the time, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games became the model for future Games, particularly after it was revealed that they had produced a profit of US$ 223 million.

THE SOVIET BOYCOTT

With the Olympics being held in the United States only four years after the U.S.- led boycott of the Moscow Games, it was not surprising that the Soviet Union organised a revenge boycott in 1984. This time only 14 nations stayed away - but those nations accounted for 58% of the gold medals at the 1976 Olympics.

INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC TRUCE FOUNDATION

OBJECTIVES

Kofi Annan during the presentation of the Olympic Truce sculpture
In the framework of promoting peace through sport and the Olympic ideal, the IOC established an International Olympic Truce Foundation (IOTF) in July 2000.
As a non-governmental organisation belonging to the Olympic Movement, the IOTF defines its actions around the following objectives:

- To promote the Olympic ideals to serve peace, friendship and understanding in the world, and in particular, to promote the ancient Greek tradition of the Olympic Truce;

- To initiate conflict prevention and resolution through sport, culture and the Olympic ideals, by cooperating with all inter and non-governmental organisations specialised in this field, by developing educational and research programmes, and by launching communications campaigns to promote the Olympic Truce.

INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC TRUCE CENTRE
To meet these objectives, the IOTF established an International Olympic Truce Centre (IOTC), which is responsible for the implementation of projects related to the global promotion of a culture of peace through sport and the Olympic ideal, in accordance with the principles and policies established by the Foundation. The Centre's main headquarters are located in Athens, Greece, with a liaison office in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a symbolic office in Olympia, Greece.

The IOTF is administered by a Board composed of personalities from the world of sports and politics, and meets once a year.

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