Sen. Brownback Spotlights Chinese Order to Spy on Olympic Hotel Guests

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

I wonder what company is supplying this Chinese government spyware
"software"?  It seems like the spyware would have to be some sort
pack-sniffer box that gets installed in a hotel and then periodically phones
home with activity logs.  I wonder also how room registration information is
matched with Web surfing activities.

 

Richard

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,393861,00.html

WASHINGTON -  Foreign-owned hotels in China face the prospect of "severe
retaliation" if they refuse to install government software that can spy on
Internet use by hotel guests coming to watch the summer Olympic games, a
U.S. lawmaker said Tuesday.

Sen. Sam Brownback, a Republican, produced a translated version of a
document from China's Public Security Bureau that requires hotels to use the
monitoring equipment.

"These hotels are justifiably outraged by this order, which puts them in the
awkward position of having to craft pop-up messages explaining to their
customers that their Web history, communications, searches and key strokes
are being spied on by the Chinese government," Brownback said at a news
conference.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.

Brownback said several international hotel chains confirmed receiving the
order from China's Public Security Bureau. The hotels are in a bind, he
said, because they don't want to comply with the order, but also don't want
to jeopardize their investment of millions of dollars to expand their
businesses in China. The hotel chains that forwarded the order to Brownback
are declining to reveal their identities for fear of reprisal.

.

 

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