It’s every athlete’s dream to compete in the world’s biggest sports events like the winter Olympics games and its also equally important for one to have memories about what took place during the competition which of recently has been made easy by using our smartphones to record and store whatever we think is more important to us or important to show to our loved ones.
But the more smartphones have become sophisticated, the more they have become easy to hack or access from a third party without you knowing. All apps we use on our smartphones nowadays collect our personal data, from the way live, eat, sleep or travel without our knowledge or consent.
So FBI coming up now to issue warnings to US athletes and those of its allies not to take smartphones at Beijing Winter Olympics games in Beijing China has come as a surprise to many people around the world as many people question FBI’s intentions in encouraging US athletes to leave their smartphones at home even after sighting spying allegations.
Many people have questioned what information could US and allied athletes have that would encourage China to spy on them or what could they be hiding with respect to the winter Olympics games that will take place in Beijing China.
FBI says that athletes taking their smartphones to the Beijing Winter Olympics games in Beijing China will expose them to malicious cyber activities and has been encouraging them to instead take burner phones or temporary phones to the Beijing Winter Olympics games in Beijing China.
While not mentioning any specific cyber threat against the Olympics, the FBI has said that it’s important that those at Beijing winter Olympics games in Beijing China be vigilant and maintain good practice in their network and digital environment.
Although I can’t deny what the FBI is saying, I think there are mostly three reasons why the FBI is encouraging US and allies athletes not to take their smartphones to the Beijing Winter Olympics games in Beijing China.
1. The Chinese government announced that they were planning to launch their digital currency called e-yuan to be used at the Beijing Winter Olympics games in Beijing China for all participants including those from overseas first as a pilot study but more importantly to make it easy for them to buy whatever they want during competitions.
In China today, everything is bought by using the phone. The Chinese society has become cashless and many of the technologies used at the Beijing Winter Olympics games in Beijing China require two key components; one is a smartphone and another is internet to order to access everything from buying food to travel using a car or buying clothes.
So the US intelligence is worried that the US and its allies athletes may unintentionally help China to Internationalize their e-yuan once they start using the app to make transactions during the Beijing winter Olympics games in Beijing which is a big threat to the US dollar and its global dominance.
It will be a nightmare for the US if countries and people around the world adapt and start using e-yuan in their daily transactions which cut US dollar usage from the International financial system since the US has been surviving by selling its dollar to the world in exchange for anything the US doesn’t produce.
The war to maintain dollar supremacy has been going on for years starting with small countries Libya and Iraq of which both were invaded and their governments removed and country destroyed. The same can be said about the Ukraine crisis as the US is demanding Russia not to cut dollar usage from its financial system.
2. The second reason is to keep many people in the US and other Western countries in dark about the recent development of China after they have been from time to time alleging China to be stealing intellectual property from the US and other Western companies. So how will audiences at home react when they see many technologies they have never seen deployed at the Beijing Winter Olympics games in Beijing China.
In this era of social media and a fight to gain more followers, what do you think those athletes will do, of course, take videos and photos about whatever amazes them during competitions and share them with their fans who in turning start to question their respective governments at home for answers.
Because how can in a real sense country like China which has been constantly attacked for having the worst government and abuser of human rights be so much developed than their home countries. Those athletes have millions of followers on different social media so what do think those followers will likely do at a time when inflation is too high and economies in their home countries are not doing well.
How will people react when they see a clean, developed China with no homeless people on the street, or people going by their daily life without government interference as it has been alleged from time to time by Western leaders and media.
3. Access to direct information without editing, as hundreds of athletes upload directly or live stream what is taking place in Beijing China, millions of their followers will be able to gain first-hand information which is a big threat to the system, the western media houses have been operating on for years.
Those Western media houses form the fifth pillar of US power in dominating the world and maintaining US influence around the world and the US can’t afford it to be compromised at a time like this when the US is engaged in a superpower contest with China on who will lead the 21st century.
Beijing Winter Olympics games in Beijing China are said to be one of the most technologically advanced Olympics games ever held and at the same time use clean energy which is unprecedented in the history of Olympics games.
