Can't believe the Olympics are really in China

[AteUp]

Our company hasn't opened a facility in China because "Copyright in China means the right to copy".

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25918026/

Lawmaker says visitors 'will be subjected to invasive intelligence-gathering'

updated 3:00 p.m. ET, Tues., July. 29, 2008

WASHINGTON - China has installed Internet-spying equipment in all the major hotel chains serving the 2008 Summer Olympics, a U.S. senator charged on Tuesday.

"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," said Sen. Sam Brownback.

The conservative Republican from Kansas, citing hotel documents he received, added that journalists, athletes' families and others attending the Olympics next month "will be subjected to invasive intelligence-gathering" by China's Public Security Bureau. He said the agency will be monitoring Internet communications at the hotels.
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The U.S. senator made a similar charge a few months ago but said that since then, hotels have come forward with detailed information on the monitoring systems that have been required by Beijing.

Brownback refused to identify the hotels, but said "several international hotel chains have confirmed the existence of this order."

Spokesmen at the Chinese Embassy in Washington were not available for comment.

Brownback, who staged an unsuccessful campaign for president this year, released documents that he said were notices to the hotels on Internet security. The authenticity of the documents could not be checked and portions were redacted.

One document said: "In order to ensure the smooth opening of Olympics in Beijing and the Expo in Shanghai in 2010, safeguard the security of Internet network and the information thereon in the hotels ... it is required that your company install and run the Security Management System."

Brownback said the hotels "have invested millions of dollars in their Chinese properties" and "could face severe retaliation from the Chinese government" if they refused to comply.

The senator called on China to reverse its policy, but said the hotels are advising guests that "your communications and Web site activity are not private" and that e-mails and Web sites being visited are accessible to local law enforcement.

More than two years ago, a U.S. House of Representatives committee held a hearing to probe U.S. firms' compliance with China's Internet censorship demands.

Brownback has been a critic of China on human rights issues and has been among U.S. lawmakers calling on President George W. Bush to boycott the Olympics opening ceremonies, largely to highlight allegations of Beijing's supply of arms to Sudan in return for oil. Those weapons have been used to carry out genocide in Darfur, according to China critics.

China has called human rights allegations nothing more than "noise pollution" and is hoping the Olympic Games will boost its international image.

[AteUp]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25912107/

IOC to probe apparent Internet censorship
Foreign media in China complaining of harassment by government officials

updated 2:01 p.m. ET, Tues., July. 29, 2008

BEIJING - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will investigate apparent censorship of the Internet service provided for media covering the Beijing Olympics, press chief Kevan Gosper said on Tuesday.

China, which has promised media the same freedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previous Olympics, loosened its regulations governing foreign media in January last year.

Despite these new regulations, which are scheduled to expire in October, foreign media in China have complained of continuing harassment by officials and Human Rights Watch released a report earlier this month saying China was not living up to its pledges.
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Attempts to use the Internet network at the Main Press Center to access the Web site of Amnesty International, which released a report on Monday slamming China for failing to honor its Olympic human rights pledges, proved fruitless on Tuesday.

Gosper said the IOC would look into anything that interfered with reporters doing their jobs in reporting the Games.

"All of these things are a concern and we'll investigate them but our preoccupation is that the media are able to report on the Games as they did in previous Games," he told Reuters.

"Where it's not happening, we'll take the matter up with BOCOG and the authorities immediately," he said, referring to the Beijing Olympic organizers."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said media should be able to access the Internet as usual but he also conceded that sites related to Falun Gong, the spiritual movement China considers a cult, would be blocked.

"As to sites related to Falun Gong, I think you know that Falun Gong is a cult that has been banned according to law, and we will adhere to our position," Liu told a news conference.

He suggested that difficulties accessing certain Web sites could be the fault of the sites themselves.

"There are some problems with a lot of Web sites themselves that makes it not easy to view them in China," Liu said.

"Our attitude is to ensure that foreign journalists have regular access to information in China during the Olympic Games."

The Games officially open on August 8 but the Athletes' and Media Villages are up and running and the Main Press Center and International Broadcast Center are already teeming with some of the more than 20,000 media accredited to cover the event.

"As I've said before, this is a country that does have censorship within its media, but we've been guaranteed free access, open media activity for media reporting on the Olympic Games at Games time," Gosper said. "We are now in Games time."

Gosper also said that there had been complaints that the Internet service provided for media was too slow.

"We're looking into that and we've tracked that information into BOCOG immediately because free access to the Internet also means normal speed," he said.

But Gosper, making his first tour of the press center since his arrival from Australia, said he was pleased with how things looked with just 10 days to go.

"The build-up is always nervous but so far, so good."

[Ky'sFinest]

sounds similar to the patriot act

[AteUp]

sounds similar to the patriot act

Yeah, not really.

[RLWEBB]

I for one think we should not be going to China. I mean, look at how they treat their citizens. I think we should boycott it.

[Ky'sFinest]

Yeah, not really.


yeah, really.


Expands terrorism laws to include “domestic terrorism” which
could subject political organizations to surveillance, wiretapping,
harassment, and criminal action for political advocacy.
Expands the ability of law enforcement to conduct secret
searches, gives them wide powers of phone and Internet
surveillance, and access to highly personal medical, financial,
mental health, and student records with minimal judicial oversight.
Allows FBI Agents to investigate American citizens for criminal
matters without probable cause of crime if they say it is for
“intelligence purposes.”

[Ky'sFinest]

I like how he puts it.


Dennis Kucinich has this on his website regarding our civil rights and the patriot act:

http://patriotact.kucinich.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=1



April 2006
The "Patriot Act" is not what American patriots have fought and died for. To allow our Bill of Rights to be nullified without judicial supervision invites tyranny. The Attorney General has been handed unfettered power to wiretap, search, jail, and invade our most sacred right to privacy. The government must not be allowed, without probable cause or warrant, to snoop on our communications, medical records, library records, and student records The recent disclosures of the President's refusal to follow the FISA law should worry all Americans concerned with the dangers posed by a too-powerful executive. We elect Presidents, not kings, and no president is above a clearly written law expressly curbing his powers.

Far more worrisome, however, is the lap dog Congress that we currently have -- something even Republican Congress people are sheepishly admitting. For example, only eight members of Congress have been told ANYTHING about the FISA violations and they are sworn to secrecy. However, when they are asked if they have been told much, several have acknowledged that they have been pretty much left in the dark.

That is not a Republic in action. No people should be frightened into giving up their precious rights. Recent refusals by the Attorney General to disclose whether similar programs are being used against purely domestic communications should send a chill down all our spines.

The time to stop the erosion of our rights is now. All elected officials want terrorists to be listened to and caught. Does anyone seriously believe that terrorists feel they can talk freely on the phone? The misleading and duplicitous response that the government can't talk about its secret programs even in secret sessions of Congress is, frankly, ludicrous.

[AteUp]

Comparing how China censors the internet and screens visitor's laptops to our Patriot Act is laughable. Not to mention the censoring of it's own people and the media.

[AteUp]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25943303/

Beijingers get dress code advice for Olympics
What not to wear: too many colors, white socks with black shoes, pajamas

updated 6:28 a.m. ET, Thurs., July. 31, 2008
BEIJING - Polishing up Beijing for the Olympics has extended to telling residents what not wear, with the city government advising against too many colors, white socks with black shoes, and parading in pajamas.

The advice, on top of campaigns to cut out public spitting and promote orderly lining up, was handed out in booklets to 4 million households ahead of the Olympics, an official said Thursday.

The etiquette book giving advice on everything from shaking hands to how to stand is part of a slew of admonitions on manners, said Zheng Mojie, deputy director of the Office of Capital Spiritual Civilization Construction Commission.

"The level of civility of the whole city has improved and a sound cultural and social environment has been assured for the success of the Beijing Olympic Games," she said.

There should be no more than three color groups in your clothing, the book published by Zheng's committee advises, and wearing pajamas and slippers to visit neighbors, as some elderly Beijing residents like to do, is also out. It recommends dark-colored socks, and says white socks should never be worn with black leather shoes.

In the last few years the government has educated people on how to prepare for the Olympics under the slogan: "I participate, I contribute, I enjoy."

Measures such as a ban on spitting in the capital city, which started in 2006, and the introduction of a day to show a little more patience in lines — on the 11th of each month — have paid off, Zheng said.

Rules on lines, stance, handshakes, cheers
Campaigns involving nearly a million volunteers have been launched to give etiquette tips at schools, universities and government offices. In some districts university students have been encouraged to go to villages to educate rural people, she said.

"Such campaigns and educational activities are now gradually improving the lives of Beijingers, for example now you'll find more smiling faces and people are more properly and elegantly dressed," she said.

People have formed a habit of queuing for buses, she said. At more than 1,000 bus stops in the city people are queuing up, she said. "This has already become a habit for the Beijing citizens," Zheng said.

The book advises that there should be no public displays of affection, feet should be slightly apart or in the shape of a V or Y when standing, and a handshake should not last more than three seconds.

Don't ask foreigners their age, marital status, income, past experience, address, personal life, religious belief or political belief, it says.

Another book, published in April, details how to be a good fan when watching Olympic competitions, saying spectators should cheer all teams, and accept that a victory or loss is temporary whereas the impression of the culture inside a sports venue lasts forever.