Olympics Committee Admits Internet Censorship Deal With China

Some International Olympic Committee officials cut a deal to let China block sensitive websites despite promises of unrestricted access, a senior IOC official admitted on Wednesday...

...China had committed to providing media with the same freedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previous Olympics, but journalists have this week complained of finding access to sites deemed sensitive to its communist leadership blocked.

"I regret that it now appears BOCOG has announced that there will be limitations on website access during Games time," IOC press chief Kevan Gosper said, referring to Beijing's Olympic organizers.

"I also now understand that some IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related," he said.

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Comments

[bayside]

I noticed neither fox or CNN ,both right wing broadcasts were invited to participate..Thats a good thing..

[fluentinsilence]

Forget about the IOC, the Olympics being in China alone will cause me not to watch.

Except for women's gymnastics; exceptions can be made.

[monty]

The other part of the story is that communications companies like Comcast and Time Warner do the bidding of the Chinese government, thereby promoting and endorsing a Communist regime. Here in the US, these same companies are spying on all of us. So, you do the math.

[Big0725]

What's YOUR solution? Since China still has MFN status and we owe them over a half trillion dollars, what should we do? Not trade with them? That'll go over like a pregnant pole vaulter!

People need solutions. Anyone can whine!

[CAMBEL]

The International Olympic Committee has been notorious for accepting bribes and favors from cities wanting to be chosen as Olympic sites, why is anybody surprised that they could be bribed to change the rules for China at the last minute?

[Big0725]

The IOC is the most corrupt bunch of good ole boys ever to shine it's face on humanity.

[itmaybetoolate]

Disgraceful! But is anyone really surprised?

[Samnite]

When will people learn the Olympics have morphed into a giant commercial event.

Don't waste your time watching a single minute of them!

[Bitsko]

I am totally in agreement with any and all criticism of the Olympics Committee and the Chinese government, but I will be watching a lot of the games. These young people from around the world put in a lot of time and sweat to get there and I'll be rooting them on.

[OsamaBushLadin]

There are Tibetans, Uyghurs, and follwers of the Falun Gong that are regulary beaten, imprisoned, and even killed by this this murderous regime. Second, they have hundreds of offensive missiles pointed at Taiwan, and these bastards are main enablers of the tragedy in Darfur, but only thing you are worried about is a bunch of prima donnas many of which never worked for a living. I don't want to be offensive you sir are a simpleton, this foolishness is actually what they want. How sickening.

[itmaybetoolate]

The true measure of a person is what he or she is willing to give up to support his or her principles. I think we have our answer for these young people.

[frybread]

I'm surprise anyone still cares to watch the Olympics. Nothing but a way for the media and corporations and tourism industries to make money. The fact that a country like China gets to host the Olympics despite human rights violations in the days leading up to the Games and the restriction of the Internet should shame the IOC.

[jamalystic]

Now the west is getting a taste of what many millions of ordinary chinese folks are experiencing under such regimes. It is a shame that the olympics should be hosted under such unfriendly and intimidating welfare: More Shouting Down the Chinese Well(http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=679&doc_id=160437&F_src=flftwo)

[Big0725]

Kinda like 1936 revisited.

[KPinSEA]

Any foreign journalist that is sending stories home via their computer is most likely doing so through a secure VPN connection. That connection can just as easily be used to browse the Internet and, although usually a bit slower than surfing without the VPN, will give the journalist the same Internet access they'd have on their own corporate network.

China does not block most common VPN protocols, because there's so integral to doing business from China.

[brizzle]

Well, if the journalists are complaining (as this article says they are), then they're not using a secure VPN connection as you claim is "most likely". If you'd actually read the story, you'd know this...well, most likely.

[irishgawdess]

Another reason for the U.S. to boycott the Olympics this year: Capitalist treatment of their workers, Tibet, and now restricted internet access.

[coloradosiren]

It must be that time in history to ice the Olympics until the IOC comes to their senses and respect the spirit of the olympics. China hosting the Olympics is a joke.

[Big0725]

Amen!

[texanna]

So, what if they had an Olympics and no one cared? The IOC is a private organization and they are all about the bucks. So, they made this bed and I say let them lie in it alone.

[WasteNJ]

Get the Olympic handcuff shirt and support Reporters Without Borders here:

http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=20

They've been exposing these China Olympic issues since the beginning.

The internet filtering can only be accomplished with the help of the telecoms, i.e. if you have your Verizon Global Broadband card in your laptop, accessing a Verizon network in that area, you'd have the same experience you'd have in the country next door, unless Verizon implements the filters. US based ISP's don't care about "freedom", they care about profits. Surf the wrong site in China and Verizon would turn over the records to prosecute you in a heartbeat.

[Tulu]

China is suffocating freedom of speech by helping African leaders to block the internet. Unlike Africans cannot see another chance of democracy and this time they have thank China for it. Read on http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/scapegoats_and_thieves.html

[Tulu]

China is becoming the 21st century problem for democracy the world particularly in regimes that are dictators (e.g. Mels Zenawi of Ethiopia, Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Al-Bashire of Sudan etc.) by cooperating the new gained powered of the citizen journalism of the internet. Let me just mention few things that China provided to the Ethiopia’s Zenawi in the last 6 years or so. China provides Ethiopia with internet censorship technology, short-wave radio jamming equipment, eaves dropping. All Ethiopian dissident websites are blocked. Ethiopia’s Telecom is the single company owned by the regime that provides all IT to Ethiopia. China is country provides with all the technologies. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0153096.htm