Why journalists are taking burner phones to the Beijing Olympics Journalists covering the Winter Olympics next month say they’ll do their work in Beijing on brand-new cellphones and laptops. When the Games are over, they’ll simply leave them behind or throw them away.To get more news about 2022 beijing winter olympic games, you can visit shine news official website. The reason: Reporters are concerned that any devices they use there could become infected with tracking software, enabling Chinese authorities to spy on their contents. Hence, the use of “burner” phones and computers. The better-safe-than-sorry measure highlights the wariness among some of the thousands of journalists who are expecting chilly working conditions in the Chinese capital, and not just because of the subfreezing temperatures on the ski slopes. Local organizers, in concert with the International Olympic Committee, have imposed the tightest restrictions on reporters ever for an Olympics, which begin Feb. 4. The IOC says the measures are necessary to prevent the spread of covid-19, which was first detected in China’s Hubei province in late 2019.But others view the measures as a pretext for what the communist government has long sought to do: control China’s image by suppressing independent reporting. “It’s naive to think the pandemic hasn’t played right into China’s hands,” said Christine Brennan, a USA Today sports columnist for whom the Beijing Games will be her 20th Olympics. “They would have wanted to control us, anyway. This just gives them another excuse. China will be China.” The Committee to Protect Journalists cast the situation in Orwellian terms. “Assume your hotel room is under surveillance,” the New York-based advocacy group warned in a “safety advisory” last week. “Assume that everything you do online will be monitored. Any call made using a hotel landline or cell phone is not encrypted and can be intercepted. . . . Any conversation you have in your hotel room may be subject to eavesdropping.”Despite China’s promise to treat reporters according to IOC rules, many remain skeptical. China routinely ranks near the bottom among all nations in an annual press-freedom index and at the very top in jailing domestic journalists. It has imposed a media blackout in a western territory, Xinjiang, where international rights groups have alleged abuses of the Muslim Uyghur population — the reason the United States and several other countries have declined to send diplomatic delegations to this year’s Olympics. Chinese authorities have also cracked down on independent news organizations in Hong Kong, arresting their managers and journalists. The Foreign Correspondents Club of China said in November that international journalists have been routinely barred from Olympics-related events such as the arrival of the Olympic torch, and prevented from visiting venues — all in violation of pre-Olympic guarantees. Some report being harassed or followed by security officials when they attempted to visit facilities. Chinese officials have cited coronavirus precautions, but the correspondents group said the actions appear to be part of a deliberate campaign. Organizers frequently announce events just a few hours beforehand, the organization said, making it impossible for reporters to submit a negative coronavirus test in time to gain admittance. Officials sometimes don’t bother announcing events at all, it said.An IOC representative said Wednesday that the IOC had discussed the foreign-correspondent group’s concerns with Beijing officials and that there had been “progress” toward resolving them. “We promised to continue addressing any issues raised,” the representative said. Reporters at this year’s Games must agree to a lengthy list of covid-related restrictions, which go beyond the policies at last summer’s Olympics in Tokyo. Anyone entering China for the Games must submit proof of vaccination or face a 21-day quarantine, as well as agree to daily testing. Reporters, athletes and officials are also required to stay within a protective bubble — known as “the closed loop” — for the duration of the two-week event. Once in the bubble, they can only move between designated hotels and official venues via cars, buses and rail lines controlled by the Beijing Olympic Committee.Organizers will also require participants to upload personal health information, such as their temperature or possible covid-19 symptoms, to a special app each day. The self-reporting starts two weeks before traveling to Beijing and continues throughout the Olympics. What becomes of this information is up to the Chinese organizers. As the IOC’s official “playbook” for all participants notes, “Personal data will be processed in accordance with applicable laws and regulations” by the Beijing organizing committee, the Chinese National Government, local authorities and the IOC. A Canadian cybersecurity research group, Citizen Lab, reported this week that the app has a “devastating flaw” that could expose users’ medical and passport information, and has a feature that identifies keywords, such as “Xinjiang,” that could help officials identify critics.