The IOC might want to put their fingers in their ears again

The International Olympics Committee - whose response to questions about if China is really opening up like it promised when it was given the Olympics is, pretty much, to stare out the window and hum until the question goes away - might want to ignore this, too: having heard that athletes were downloading pro-Tibet songs from iTunes, the new, cuddly, open-to-question Chinese government, erm, blocked iTunes:

On Monday, expatriate iTunes users living in China began experiencing technical problems with their previously unfettered access.

That was the same day the US-based Campaign for Tibet organisation claimed on its website that "over 40 Olympic athletes in North America, Europe and even Beijing" had downloaded the album.

Apple's customer forums contain numerous examples where users have complained about experiencing these technical problems.

But, hey... did you see the fireworks? Did you? Have you seen the swimming? LOOK AT THE SWIMMING. JUST LOOK AT THE SWIMMING.

We're given to understand that the Chinese authorities have yet to bother with blocking the Zune Store.