As Seth Godin would say, this is broken.

The 2012 Games could have tested the power of sponsored stories, social media advertising and online community engagement on behalf of high paying sponsors. But, instead, Olympic organizers hid behind copyright protection and old technologies - including social channels - to broadcast them instead of share them with the generous spirit of, well, the Olympics!

I agreed with a friend tonight that I am only now mildly regretting that we have been a cable TV-free home for many years now. Except part of me is happy to be boycotting these Games for not making every minute and every bit of content freely available across the web. I could take a video of my left foot this evening and potentially share it with more people on more channels than anything happening at the London Olympics this week.

The International Olympic Committee needs to hear a clear message that this has to be the last "television network" Olympics. They'll hear it if enough of us consume non-Olympic content on the web over the next two weeks, share best wishes and support directly to our favourite athletes who are available online, and hope that the IOC wakes up and changes direction before Russia 2014 and what could be a turning point for the modern Games if they don't tear down this iron curtain.

If you could, would you prefer to consume the Olympics through the web where you can choose your experience and how you'd like to share it with others?

If such a massive, wealthy machine as the Olympics can misunderstand and fail so badly with social media, does this comfort or frighten you when you consider the opportunities for your business in becoming social?