IOC admits censorship deal with China
The Swiss-based International Olympic Committee (IOC) says a compromise has been struck with China to keep limitations on website access during the Summer Games.
The human rights organisation Amnesty International criticised the IOC for failing to win assurances from Beijing for unrestricted access to the Internet.
It was agreed that some sensitive sites would remain blocked on the basis that they were not considered related to the Olympic competition, said IOC press chief Kevan Gosper on Wednesday.
He added his main preoccupation was to ensure the competitions would be reported openly to the world.
Websites including the Chinese versions of the BBC and Deutsche Welle, the Taiwanese newspaper Liberty Times and Amnesty International are all blocked.
The internet censorship is seen as the latest broken promise by China on press freedom for the Beijing Games which are due to begin on August 8.
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