Winter Olympics: Athletes advised to use burner phones in Beijing

Winter Olympics: Athletes advised to use burner phones in Beijing

Censorship concerns The Citizen Lab report said it had found a "censorship keywords" list built into the app, and a feature that allows people to flag other "politically sensitive" expressions. The list of words included the names of Chinese leaders and government agencies, as well as references to the 1989 killing of pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, and the religious group Falun Gong, which is banned in China. The analysts noted that these features and security flaws are not uncommon for apps in China but posed a risk to users nonetheless. Analysts said the "illegal words" file appeared currently to be inactive, but it was unclear. All visitors to the Games are required to download the app 14 days prior to their departure for China, and use it to record daily their Covid status. For foreign visitors they also need to upload sensitive information already submitted to the Chinese government - like passport details and travel and medical histories.

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