Ride the Lightning

Team USA Tells Athletes to Leave Their Phones at Home and Take Burner Phones

January 19, 2022

CNET reported on January 14 that US athletes traveling to the Winter Olympics next month in Beijing have been told to leave their personal phones at home.

Team USA has encouraged Americans competing in the games to instead take burner phones to prevent potential surveillance, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The report comes after the Biden administration in December sad that no US officials will attend the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, staging a diplomatic boycott against China’s human rights violations.

“The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses,” press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing in December. “The athletes on Team USA have our full support.”

The advice is sound and I suspect that the burner phones will be the phones of choice in Beijing.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
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Email: Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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