You've realized a lifelong dream…and arrived in Beijing just in time for the opening ceremonies on Saturday, August 8.
No doubt you've brought your suitcases, video recorder, and if you're a bit more adventurous, a Chinese language phrasebook. But upon your arrival, you'll have an unacknowledged, although very real, presence to accompany you throughout your visit: Big Brother.
This isn't the Big Brother of old, as China displayed to the world at Tiananmen Square in 1989. No, the new Chinese Big Brother is much more subtle, especially to outsiders.
Take the cab ride to your hotel, for instance. Nearly all of Beijing's taxis are equipped with microphones and video cameras that the Chinese security services police can remotely activate to eavesdrop on passengers. And please don't discuss politics: if you say something offensive, you could be deported before you even arrive at the opening ceremony!
Assuming you arrive intact at your gleaming five-star digs, you'll no doubt want to log on to the Internet to catch up with events at home. With what China calls the "Great Firewall," you might notice that certain Web sites aren't accessible, particularly if they're reporting on events Tibet, human rights violations in China, and the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
But more likely, you want to read e-mails from home and perhaps correspond with your colleagues at work. You'll be glad to know that you may not be the only one reading your communications: more than 30,000 full-time security officials monitor e-mail, Internet forums, blogs, and news sites. And especially if you're staying at one of Beijing's luxury hotels, your room probably comes with a video camera and microphone as well that officials can remotely activate anytime.
Once you leave your room, your belongings probably won't be stolen, thanks to tens of thousands of police stationed throughout the city, and in hotels. However, when you return, you may notice—or more likely, not notice—a few hidden additions to your laptop, cell phone, Blackberry, or other portable electronic device.
In just a few minutes, security officials can sneak into your room and copy all data off any electronic media you've brought with you—your laptop's hard drive, the contact list on your cell phone, etc. They can also plant software into any electronic device that effectively takes it over once you reactivate it. From that point forward, even after you return home, Chinese officials can monitor every keystroke on your laptop, your PDA, along with all conversations or text messages on your cell phone.
How likely is it that you'll be targeted? Since China requires most visitors to apply for a visa, officials will know in advance that you're arriving. And, if you're important enough—or if officials believe you possess important information that could be useful to China—you can probably count on the kind of reception that I just described.
U.S. companies manufacture most of the equipment and software China uses for this type of surveillance. And increasingly, it's being adapted for use in other countries, which means you can expect more and more pervasive surveillance, wherever you travel.
How can you protect yourself? For once, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security actually has some good suggestions for foreign travel:
"Protective measures should include using designated 'travel' computers, single-use cell phones, temporary e-mail addresses, as well as refraining from communicating with a home organization's information technology systems."
When you return, simply discard your cell phone and temporary e-mail address. And "wipe" your computer clean before you leave and after you return, using a utility such as Killdisk.
Enjoy the Olympics!
Copyright © 2008 by Mark Nestmann
(An earlier version of this post was published by The Sovereign Society.)
