One of the promises China made in hosting the Olympic games was media freedom and open internet. Reporters are still having problems accessing some sites according to this article.
Kevan Gosper representing the IOC clarified the definition of ‘open internet for the Olympics’ by saying:
“My preoccupation and responsibility is to ensure that the games competitions are reported openly to the world,” Gosper said.
“The regulatory changes we negotiated with BOCOG and which required Chinese legislative changes were to do with reporting on the games,” Gosper added, using the acronym for the Olympic organizers. “This didn’t necessarily extend to free access and reporting on everything that relates to China.”
The end of the article had a quote from a Cuban reporter:
“I’m surprised how tightly controlled and complicated everything is here,” he said. “To get a phone number from China Mobile, I have to give them a copy of my passport and my mother’s maiden name. This seems quite excessive and abnormal.”
This seems a bit strange to me, because usually you can go to any convenience store or mobile phone shop and buy a Chinese SIM card without showing any kind of ID.
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