Photo of burner phones recommended by US Olympic Team for use for athletes and staff as Androids and digital phones can be invaded or spied on while at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing (digitalcameraworld.com file photo)

Winter Olympics: US Team warned of Phone Surveillance

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

The US is getting ready to send its athletes to the Winter Olympics beginning February 2 in Beijing, China. The US government has warned all US Olympic team members to leave their phones at home and use burner phones during the games, because of potential digital surveillance from the Chinese government.

Computers, data applications on cell phones are subject to malicious intrusion, infection and data compromise, Team USA advisory reportedly stated, as they encouraged the use of “burner phones”.

Like it was not enough the current tensions between the USA and China, with the case of professional Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, (the WTA has suspended tournaments in China because of concerns about Peng’s safety) it is sad for American athletes that have spend some of the best years of their youth training for this Olympic event, now they have to be fearful of their own private information on their phones, because they are traveling to a country that doesn’t respect individualism and where the government rules foremost with little to no opposition.

In other words they are traveling to the biggest and most powerful communist country in the world. China is not a country where an athlete can “take a knee” and becomes famous, that only happens here in the United States, where Thank God we enjoy those freedoms.

China is the subject of an Olympic boycott movement. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Japan, have joined together with the US for a diplomatic boycott as no government officials from these countries will attend this 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

In June 2021, a letter signed by 200 rights groups was delivered to NBC urging the broadcaster not to show the games in Beijing on human rights grounds specifically on the treatment of Uighur Muslims by the Chinese communist government.

It would be interesting to see what are the ratings for this upcoming Winter Olympics on NBC, the official rights holder. The last Tokyo 2020 Olympics viewing figures for the Opening Ceremony were reported to be the lowest for more than 30 years for an Olympics at 16.9 million.

Ultimately the Chinese government controls every sporting event including the Olympic games and censorship is a “normal”practice for the communist. The government has banned for example Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and since 2019, Wikipedia.

Their government could care less if it’s NBC or Al Jazeera. China internet censorship is regarded as the most sophisticated in the world, as a matter of fact their system is commonly referred as “The Great Firewall of China”.

Good luck to all athletes, especially the United States team.

Listen to Amaury Pi Gonzalez for That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcasts heard Tuesdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com