"As the ceremony got under way with a dramatic, drummed countdown, viewers
watching at home and on giant screens inside the Bird's Nest National Stadium
watched as a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks processed
gloriously above the city from Tiananmen Square.

What they did not realise was that what they were watching was in fact
computer graphics, meticulously created over a period of months and inserted
into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment."

Read more about the Chinese government's admission that it faked a key part of the Olympic firework's broadcast extravaganza.

Is it really okay to fake for the sake of an orgasmic fireworks delight?   I think the day will soon arrive when faked videos become so undetectable and un-engineerable in reverse that the presumption will be that all video is suspect and that none will ever more be admissible as proof of anything.  And I think that such a development may be the only thing that will prevent future governments from ubiquitously videoing us in every aspect, facet, and moment of our lives.  After all, when inexpensive, mass-produced nano-aerial vehicles (NAVs) are finally reduced to the size of a mosquito and can record video feeds via onboard video cams, who's going to make the can of RAID to de-bug the airspace in your bedroom?