{"id":237356,"date":"2022-01-19T18:15:15","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T02:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=237356"},"modified":"2022-09-09T18:10:42","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T01:10:42","slug":"olympic-athletes-to-be-seen-not-heard-warns-beijing-organizing-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2022\/01\/olympic-athletes-to-be-seen-not-heard-warns-beijing-organizing-committee\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic Athletes To Be Seen, Not Heard, Warns Beijing Organizing Committee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olympians may face punishment for speech crimes if they criticize China while competing in Beijing, a member of the Beijing Organizing Committee warned in a press conference Tuesday. Prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the International Olympic Committee banned acts of political protest by athletes during the Games<\/a>, but the press conference warning raises the specter that athletes will be held criminally liable for any political comments made while in China. At The Washington Post, Eva Dou reported on the press conference and China’s unique interpretation of the \u201cOlympic spirit\u201d<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cAny expression that is in line with the Olympic spirit I\u2019m sure will be protected,” Yang Shu, deputy director general of international relations for the Beijing Organizing Committee, said in a news conference Tuesday. \u201cAny behavior or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against the Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u2026] In China, critics of the government have routinely been sentenced to prison for staging political protests, or for comments they made on social media. While it\u2019s unlikely Beijing would risk international ire to severely punish an athlete at the Olympics for speech, Yang declined to answer on Tuesday what the maximum punishment could be for political demonstration at the Games.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] \u201cI think for the athletes to participate in the Olympic Games, they should follow the spirit and requirements provided by the Olympic Charter,\u201d he said. \u201cThe politicization of sports is one of the things opposed by the Olympic Charter.\u201d [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As such, human rights organizations are urging athletes to remain silent while in Beijing to protect their own safety. At Reuters, Aadi Nair reported on a seminar hosted by Human Rights Watch<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s really not much protection that we believe is going to be afforded to athletes,” Rob Koehler, the director general of the Global Athlete group, said in the seminar. “Silence is complicity and that’s why we have concerns.<\/p>\n

“So we’re advising athletes not to speak up. We want them to compete and use their voice when they get home.” [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Prosecution or retaliation for speech crimes has become increasingly common in China. In November 2021, Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai was the subject of a censorship campaign<\/a> (and an apparent forced disappearance<\/a> followed by a \u201cforced reappearance<\/a>\u201d) after a Weibo post in which she accused a retired political cadre, former Politburo Standing Committee member Zhang Gaoli, of sexual assault. Her name remains among the most censored terms on the Chinese internet<\/a>. The International Olympic Committee conducted two video-conference interviews with Peng, a three-time Olympian, but has not released the transcripts and continues to dismiss international concerns<\/a> about her safety.<\/p>\n

Some Olympic athletes are upset about being silenced. At The Guardian, Sean Ingle reported on one athlete’s reaction to the self-censorship that the U.S. Olympic delegation is asking from its athletes<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the US Nordic skier Noah Hoffman, who competed at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, has said the American team was telling its athletes not to talk about human rights for their own safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cAthletes have an amazing platform and ability to speak out, to be leaders in society and yet the team is not letting them field questions on certain issues ahead of these Games,\u201d he said. \u201cThat makes me upset.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut my advice to athletes is to stay silent because it would threaten their own safety and that\u2019s not a reasonable ask of athletes. They can speak out when they get back.\u201d[Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A number of countries, including the United States, have instructed their Olympic delegations to leave personal phones at home due to fears about surveillance<\/a>. A new report published by Toronto-based Citizen Lab indicates that such concerns are not unfounded. The MY2022 app, which all attendees are required to download, has major security flaws that may expose users\u2019 data and make their devices more vulnerable to attack. The report indicates that the flaws are likely the product of ineptitude on the part of the app’s developers<\/a>, rather than malicious intent. Citizen Lab\u2019s Jeffrey Knockel, who authored the report, summarized some of its key findings<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

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  • MY2022, an app mandated for use by all attendees of the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, has a simple but devastating flaw where encryption protecting users\u2019 voice audio and file transfers can be trivially sidestepped. Health customs forms which transmit passport details, demographic information, and medical and travel history are also vulnerable. Server responses can also be spoofed, allowing an attacker to display fake instructions to users.<\/li>\n
  • MY2022 is fairly straightforward about the types of data it collects from users in its public-facing documents. However, as the app collects a range of highly sensitive medical information, it is unclear with whom or which organization(s) it shares this information.<\/li>\n
  • MY2022 includes features that allow users to report \u201cpolitically sensitive\u201d content. The app also includes a censorship keyword list, which, while presently inactive, targets a variety of political topics including domestic issues such as Xinjiang and Tibet as well as references to Chinese government agencies. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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    Health customs forms which transmit passport details, demographic information, and medical and travel history are also vulnerable. Server responses can also be spoofed, allowing an attacker to display fake instructions to users.<\/p>\n

    — Citizen Lab (@citizenlab) January 18, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n