In a report published on January 18, 2022, the CitizenLab pointed flaws in the My 2022 application, developed by China for the Beijing Winter Olympics.
My 2022, the Olympic Games app that is already causing debate
While the digital yuan will be the official currency of the Beijing Olympics, China will impose the use of the My 2022 application. A mandatory app for all participants in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games. Its use is already debated. Indeed, according to experts from the CitizenLab, the application has dangerous flaws. Indeed, several types of data and file transfers are not encrypted.
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Concretely, this means that the data of the athletes can be easily hacked, and this is not possible. According to cybersecurity experts, health forms that transmit passport details, demographic information, medical and travel history are also vulnerable. According to the tests carried out, the servers can also be usurped, which would allow a hacker to display false instructions to users.
That’s not all: if the My 2022 app is quite transparent about the data collected, it is difficult to find to whom or to which organizations it shares this information. The app also includes a list of censorship keywords, currently inactive, which targets a variety of political topics. In short, all these security flaws violate Google’s policy and Apple’s App Store guidelines, but also Chinese laws and national privacy standards…
The My 2022 app has been developed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to control the vaccination of athletes and to impose daily tests. In addition, all international and domestic Games participants are required to download My 2022 14 days before their departure for China and start monitoring and reporting their health to the app on a daily basis.
A very controversial edition of the Winter Olympics in Beijing
While the Winter Olympics will officially start on February 4 in Beijing, this case comes taint a little more the image of this controversial edition. Several major world powers have decided to oppose a diplomatic boycott. This is particularly the case of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and even Japan.
Japanese government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said “We have no plans to send government officials. Japan believes it is important that common values shared by the international community, such as freedom, human rights and the rule of law, are also respected in China.”.
As of February 2021, approximately 180 human rights groups have called on governments to boycott these Games, arguing that “Holding the Games in Beijing would legitimize a regime that is currently committing genocide against the Uyghur people in China”.