IOC not aware of internet blocking

The international media should have been told they would not have completely free access to the internet before they arrived to report the Beijing Olympics, IOC press chief Kevan Gosper said yesterday.

As the row over censorship continued to rumble, Gosper said that both he and the international media had been taken by surprise that some sensitive websites had been blocked, despite many assurances from Beijing organisers that they would be able to work normally during the Games, which start on August 8.

Gosper said: "It's clear that I have been providing, on behalf of the IOC [International Olympic Committee], incomplete information."

Gosper said he had never been told IOC officials had held talks with local organisers BOCOG [Beijing Organising Committe for the Olympic Games] that some websites, which are not directly connected to the Games, could be blocked.

"Had I and the international media been informed earlier of this understanding that certain websites would be inaccessible, we would not now find ourselves in the position where they, as well as myself, have been taken by surprise," said Gospel.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International condemned internet restrictions during the Games as "compromising fundamental human rights and betraying the Olympic values".

"This blatant media censorship adds one more broken promise that undermines the claim that the Games would help improve human rights in China," Amnesty East Asia researcher Mark Allison said in a statement.

Gosper admitted he was surprised that he had not heard the IOC had discussed the matter privately with BOCOG as, in his position as chairman of the IOC's press commission and vice-chairman of the Beijing co-ordination commission, he had been involved in countless meetings about press operations for the Games.