Paul Farhi: Why Journalists Are Taking Burner Phones to the Beijing Olympics

From a Washington Post story by media reporter Paul Farhi headlined “Why journalists are taking burner phones to the Beijing Olympics”:

Journalists covering the Winter Olympics next month say they’ll do their work in Beijing on new cellphones and laptops. When the games are over, they’ll simply leave them behind or throw them away.

The reason: Reporters are concerned that any devices they use there could become infected with tracking software, enabling Chinese authorities to spy on their contents. Hence, the use of “burner” phones and computers.