Beijing Olympics Visitors Come Under Widespread Surveillance

The Chinese government ramped up surveillance leading up to the Olympics, and now that the games have begun, visitors to the city can expect to have their every moves followed. Will the move make the games more secure, or is it just an invasion of privacy?

In an article in the Los Angeles Times, Mark Magnier says China installed about 300,000 cameras in Beijing under an estimated $6.5-billion, seven-year program dubbed the Grand Beijing Safeguard Sphere.

“China is trying to project a picture and a narrative about the Olympics,” Nicholas Bequelin, Hong Kong-based researcher with Human Rights Watch, told Magnier. “By limiting journalists, shutting down the Internet, arresting activists, it’s hoping to control the message.”

The problem, Magnier says, is that few expect the security infrastructure to be even partially dismantled, a step Greece took after hosting the 2004 games. Critics said these systems give China more advanced tools in its bid to control domestic critics, activists and media.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fg-snoop7-2008aug07,0,1463581.story