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China Snooping on Olympic Hotel Guests, ABC Learns
ABC Confirms That Web Access in Hotels Is to Be Monitored as China Eases Some Internet Restrictions
By JO LING KENT
BEIJING, Aug. 1, 2008
RSS The skies are bluer and the Internet is freer in Beijing today after a week of censorship controversy and thick pollution plagued Olympic officials and journalists. But the situation at the Games, which begin in a week, is far from perfect.
Visitors walk in front of a 2008 Beijing Olympic logo, under heavy rain, at Beijing's Tiananmen Square July 31, 2008.
(Gil Cohen Magen/Reuters )The Chinese government lifted some Internet restrictions after journalists and other groups complained that promises for press freedom during the games were violated.
However, loosened controls do not mean the Chinese will stop monitoring all foreign activities. On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said that the Chinese government had installed Internet-spying equipment in all the major hotel chains serving the Olympics. He revealed a Chinese document that required such hotels to use monitoring devices during the Olympics.
Several major international hotel chains confirmed receiving the order to install online monitoring devices, Brownback said, citing a translated version of a document issued by China's Public Security Bureau.
One major international hotel chain, which operates in several Olympic host cities, told ABC News on condition of anonymity that they were recently contacted by Chinese authorities who requested that hotels install monitoring devices in their rooms, allowing the authorities to spy on guests.
This hotel chain, independently contacted by ABC, said that if they are forced, they will install the devices.
"The Chinese government has put in place a system to spy on and gather information about every guest at hotels where Olympic visitors are staying," Brownback said in a statement. "This means journalists, athletes' families and other visitors will be subjected to invasive intelligence gathering by the Chinese Public Security Bureau."
ABC Confirms That Web Access in Hotels Is to Be Monitored as China Eases Some Internet Restrictions
By JO LING KENT
BEIJING, Aug. 1, 2008
RSS The skies are bluer and the Internet is freer in Beijing today after a week of censorship controversy and thick pollution plagued Olympic officials and journalists. But the situation at the Games, which begin in a week, is far from perfect.
Visitors walk in front of a 2008 Beijing Olympic logo, under heavy rain, at Beijing's Tiananmen Square July 31, 2008.
(Gil Cohen Magen/Reuters )The Chinese government lifted some Internet restrictions after journalists and other groups complained that promises for press freedom during the games were violated.
However, loosened controls do not mean the Chinese will stop monitoring all foreign activities. On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said that the Chinese government had installed Internet-spying equipment in all the major hotel chains serving the Olympics. He revealed a Chinese document that required such hotels to use monitoring devices during the Olympics.
Several major international hotel chains confirmed receiving the order to install online monitoring devices, Brownback said, citing a translated version of a document issued by China's Public Security Bureau.
One major international hotel chain, which operates in several Olympic host cities, told ABC News on condition of anonymity that they were recently contacted by Chinese authorities who requested that hotels install monitoring devices in their rooms, allowing the authorities to spy on guests.
This hotel chain, independently contacted by ABC, said that if they are forced, they will install the devices.
"The Chinese government has put in place a system to spy on and gather information about every guest at hotels where Olympic visitors are staying," Brownback said in a statement. "This means journalists, athletes' families and other visitors will be subjected to invasive intelligence gathering by the Chinese Public Security Bureau."
