US Bill intended to protect children online prompts outcry from privacy advocates

By Emily Anderson Stern, Medill News Service

The EARN IT Act, first introduced in 2020, would cut back on decades-long protections for websites in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, allowing victims and their families to file lawsuits against companies that host child sexual abuse material. Photo by Eric Fischer/Wikimedia Commons

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- A bill intended to hold social media platforms accountable for posts that exploit children, but has been criticized for its potential to harm online privacy, has passed its first hurdle to getting a future vote in the Senate.

The EARN IT Act, first introduced in 2020, would cut back on decades-long protections for websites in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, allowing victims and their families to file lawsuits against companies that host child sexual abuse material.

"Our goal is to tell the social media companies [to] get involved and stop this crap, and if you don't take responsibility for what's on your platform, then Section 230 will not be there for you," said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, sponsor of the bill, in a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting last week.

Under the bill, social media companies would not be able to cite the use of encryption technology as a defense against liability.

Critics of the measure say this provision would disincentivize platforms from using encryption to protect users and would lead to unnecessarily censoring content in many cases.

Opponents include civil rights groups and industry organizations. Digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future has launched a petition against it that nearly 600,000 people have signed.

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the EARN IT Act, despite some members expressing reservations. Lawmakers from both parties, including Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Democratic Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Alex Padilla of California, voiced concerns about how the bill would impact online privacy.

"I'm a little concerned that the current language inadvertently mandates interactive computer services to do for the government what the government itself is prohibited from doing, which is engaging in ... the open-ended policing [and] the accessing and reporting of private and protected data," Lee said.

Numerous organizations that fight sexual violence and child exploitation support the bill. A press conference organized by Graham and co-sponsor Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Thursday morning featured representatives from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and anti-sexual assault organization RAINN.

Reading from a letter written by "Amy," a victim going by a pseudonym, who said images of her being sexually abused as a child still can be found on the Internet, RAINN federal affairs director Samantha Cadet said Internet service providers aren't doing anything to remove that material.

"We shouldn't have to force companies to do the right thing, but they pretend to care, then use CDA 230 to shut the courtroom doors on us," she read.

According the the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's website, its CyberTipline has received more than 82 million reports of child sexual abuse material on the Internet since its 1998 inception.

RAINN Vice President Camille Cooper said that half of the 27,000 people who access its online hotline each month are children.

Stanford Internet Observatory research scholar Riana Pfefferkorn said amending Section 230 most likely will not improve child safety.

In an essay published Feb. 4, Pfefferkorn wrote that the bill would make child sexual abuse investigations more difficult by pushing predators to offshore websites, where the law wouldn't apply, as well as the dark web, where the material is more difficult to find.

A better solution, she said in an email, would be to provide "more resources for investigating reports of child sex abuse online, because as things stand, those charged with doing this important work are completely overwhelmed."

She also noted that time would be better spent addressing factors like poverty and housing instability that make children more vulnerable to abuse.

Dutch PM apologizes for brutality during 1945-1949 Indonesian war
By UPI Staff

Women train for the Indonesian war for independence in 1945. 

File Photo by Wikimedia Commons.

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized for the systematic and widespread violence exercised by the Netherlands during the 1945-49 Indonesian war of independence.

An inquiry revealed that the Netherlands' military and intelligence services were sanctioned by the highest levels of government to carry out executions and torture in Indonesia.

Since 1969, the Netherlands has held that there were only isolated cases of excess violence and that the armed forces behaved correctly.

The report -- the result of a four-and-a-half-year research project funded by the government -- proved otherwise.

"I make a deep apology to the people of Indonesia today for the systematic and widespread extreme violence by the Dutch side in those years and the consistent looking away by previous cabinets," Rutte said, according to The Guardian. "The prevailing culture was one of looking away, shirking and a misplaced colonial sense of superiority. That is a painful realization, even after so many years."

The Indonesian war of independence was spurred just two days after Japan surrendered in World War II on Aug. 16, 1945. Revolutionaries Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared independence from the Dutch's 350-year rule over Indonesia -- a move contested by The Hague.

Between then and Dec. 27, 1949, approximately 100,000 Indonesians were killed compared to 5,300 Dutch militia.

The report shows that the army was frequently guilty of torture, detention under inhumane circumstances, arson of houses and villages, and arbitrary mass arrests and internments.

The research was conducted by the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, the Netherlands Institute of Military History and the Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies, and will be published in 14 books.

Last known speaker of Chilean Yaghan language dies at 93

By Calley Hair

Cristina Calderón, the last known native speaker of the Indigenous language Yaghan, speaks at the University of Magallanes in southern Chile on Oct. 23, 2014. Calderón died this week at the age of 93. Photo courtesy of the University of Magallanes.

Feb. 19 (UPI) -- The last known native speaker of the Indigenous Chilean language Yaghan died this week at 93, her family announced via social media.

Cristina Calderón was the only remaining person to speak Yaghan, a melodic language with no written form once spoken by people living on the southernmost tip of Chile.

Calderón -- known locally as "Abuela Cristina" or "Grandma Cristina," the Buenos Aires Times reported -- was recognized by the Chilean government as a "living human treasure" for her cultural preservation work.

The Yaghan people lived on the tip of South America for approximately 6,000 years. Until about 150 years ago, there were around 3,000 people in the community. Their population was decimated by infectious diseases introduced by European settlers.

The presence of foreigners also altered their culture, which prized fishing and basket weaving. Today, the region's primary industry is tourism.

Calderón's daughter, Lidia González Calderón, wrote in a tweet that her mother's death represented "sad news for the Yaghan."

"Everything I do in my work will be in your name," she wrote in Spanish." And in it will also be reflected your people."

PRIVACY 101

Dutch court says porn site can't post images of people without their permission


The decision specifically applies to one Dutch porn website, but the legal ruling is expected to affect multiple similar sites in the Netherlands.

File Photo by Gajus/Shutterstock

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- In a landmark decision Thursday, the Court of Amsterdam has ordered a Dutch porn website to clear out revenge porn or any nude images that were obtained and posted online without the express permission of the person in them.

The ruling shifts the burden of proof from the victim to the production company, a spokesman for Stop Online Shaming, which brought the suit two years ago, along with HelpWanted, part of the Online Child Abuse Expertise Agency, told Trouw.

"Until now it was up to each individual victim to prove that he or she had not given permission for the material to be shown," SOS spokesman Willem Van Lyden told the Dutch daily newspaper. "The judge had turned this around. All material is now illegal which is not a professional production unless it can be shown permission to show it was given."

The decision specifically applies to one Dutch porn website -- which hosts thousands of videos that were made surreptitiously in areas where people believe they are unwatched, like changing rooms. But the legal ruling is expected to affect multiple similar sites in the Netherlands.

RELATED Bill intended to protect children online prompts outcry from privacy advocates

The Amsterdam court agreed that sexual images published without consent are a violation of privacy, and said the porn website is obligated to compensate victims. It also ruled that the site must take down all material obtained without consent within eight weeks.

Van Lyden noted that Pornhub, the world's largest online adult site, removed many videos after accusations that they depicted child abuse and rape.

"If they have, all well and good, but we will go after the others that haven't," Van Lyden said, according to Dutch News.

FBI investigates D.C. lieutenant over potential ties to Proud Boys


D.C. police lieutenant Shane Lamond has been placed on leave amid investigation into ties with Proud Boys leader Henry "Enrique" Tarrio (shown) in front during a march in Washington, D.C.

 File Photo by Gamal Diab/EPA-EFE

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The D.C. police chief has placed a police lieutenant on leave amid an investigation of his alleged ties to the Proud Boys.

D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee told reporters Wednesday the lieutenant was placed on paid administrative leave as of Tuesday, but said he would not reveal the officer's name because it's an ongoing investigation.

Contee said his decision to place the officer on leave was based on his review of concerns "serious enough to collaborate with federal partners" in the FBI and U.S. Attorney's office.

NBC News and the Washington Post reported that officers have identified the lieutenant under investigation as Lt. Shane Lamond.

Law enforcement officials told the Post that Lamond, a 22-year veteran, allegedly had inappropriate contacts with Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, who described himself as a former chairman of the right-wing extremist group Proud Boys.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified Proud Boys as an extremist hate group, and federal officials have said it is an "extremist group with ties to White nationalism."

Tarrio told the Post his contact with Lamond was professional and included him notifying him in advance when Proud Boys planned to march in the district, and Lamond telling him the location of counterdemonstrators to avoid conflict.

D.C. counterprotesters previously told The Post that police stood by while Proud Boys violently attacked them, adding to the perception they were taking sides.

Though Tarrio was not at the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection, other Proud Boys members were there and have been arrested, and D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine announced in December he would sue the Proud Boys and militia group the Oath Keepers over the attack.

Tarrio was arrested two days before the Capitol insurrection on charges of burning a Black Lives Matter banner, and was released last month after serving out a five-month sentence in jail. The court had also ordered him to stay out of the city while the case was pending.

"Though Mr. Tarrio was prevented from entering Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, he was allegedly involved in the Proud Boys' preparation for the events at the Capitol," the House select committee investigating the insurrection said.

Experts: COVID-19 showed U.S. unprepared for biological threats

By Jorja Siemons, Medill News Service

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told those assembled at the hearing Thursday, "We have seen how naturally occurring biological threats, such as the virus that causes COVID-19, can significantly harm communities that were not adequately prepared."

 File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the government's failure to adequately prepare for biological threats, experts told senators Thursday at a hearing on improving U.S. biosecurity preparedness.

"Biodefense is too fragmented and uncoordinated across all levels of government, and the private sector too," Christopher Currie, who directs the Government Accountability Office's Homeland Security and Justice Team, told members of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

"Unfortunately, COVID-19 shows that these gaps were real," Currie said.

The government's National Biodefense Strategy, unveiled in 2018, would have helped the United States to prepare for viruses like COVID-19, but the pandemic hit before it could be fully implemented, Currie said.

"Emerging infectious diseases over the last 20 years have occurred with increased frequency," Gerald Parker, associate dean for Global One Health at Texas A&M University and chair of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, said before the hearing.

"We dodged a few close calls -- but COVID got us," Parker said.

Similar to traditional weapons of war, infectious biological agents like bacteria and viruses can be used to kill humans, animals and plants. For example, after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, letters laced with anthrax killed five Americans and infected 17 others.

"We have seen how naturally occurring biological threats, such as the virus that causes COVID-19, can significantly harm communities that were not adequately prepared," said Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich.

Ranking member Rob Portman, R-Ohio, asked Currie why the United States didn't catch COVID-19 until January 2020.

"Multiple agencies involved tried to pursue their own surveillance," Currie responded. "Part of the problem is the fragmentation and lack of integration."

Currie said his office created new surveillance systems to monitor COVID-19 at the local level and in the private sector.

"We need to look at what we created there and not just get rid of it when COVID's over," he said. "We need to use that to develop new surveillance systems."

Government technologies must be updated so that biological weapons can be detected and mitigated quicker, said Asha George, executive director of Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.

The Department of Homeland Security's existing BioWatch Program, which provides biosecurity risk assessment, needs to be replaced, according to George, whose commission released a report in October that found the $80 million-a-year program has questionable accuracy and delayed reporting times.

"There's no reason to just keep this limping along the way it is," George said. "We should shut down that program and replace it with applied technology."

Looking beyond the pandemic, Russia and North Korea's possession of active biological weapons could pose the next threat, officials said.

"While some strides have been made, we are not sufficiently prepared," George said.

IOC chief rebukes Beijing Olympics organisers for political statements


Ethnic Uyghur skier Dinigeer Yilamujian (L) was chosen by China to help light the Olympic cauldron 

(AFP/Manan VATSYAYANA)

Thu, February 17, 2022, 11:40 PM·3 min read

The IOC called an immediate meeting with Chinese organisers to remind them to keep politics out of the Beijing Olympics, president Thomas Bach said Friday, after a local spokeswoman hit back at "lies" about Xinjiang.

"This problem we did not ignore," the International Olympic Committee chief said, a day after a spokeswoman for the local organising committee, BOCOG, hit back at questions from foreign media about Taiwan and human rights in Xinjiang.

"We were in touch with BOCOG immediately after this press conference and then both organisations, BOCOG and the IOC, have restated the unequivocal commitment to remain politically neutral, as it is required by the Olympic Charter," Bach said.

The United States has led a diplomatic boycott of the Games by some Western nations over rights concerns in China, especially the fate of the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Campaigners say at least one million Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims have been incarcerated in camps in Xinjiang, while there are also allegations of mandatory sterilisations of women and forced labour.

"These issues are irrelevant to the Winter Games, but I still feel obliged to make a quick comment again," BOCOG spokeswoman Yan Jiarong said Thursday, after foreign reporters twice asked about Xinjiang.

"The questions are based very much on lies. Some authorities have already disputed such false information with a lot of solid evidence."

China vehemently denies all allegations over its treatment of Uyghurs and maintains the camps are vocational training centres aimed at reducing the appeal of Islamic extremism.

The ethnic Uyghur skier chosen by Beijing to help light the Olympic cauldron at the Games' opening ceremony, meanwhile, rebutted claims of rights abuses Friday, telling a state-run tabloid that Western media outlets were "spreading rumours".

"If there is what the West claimed to be 'genocide' ... I would not have had the chance to appear at the Olympic Games," Global Times quoted cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang as saying.

"Choosing me as one of the torch bearers displays the truth about the harmony of the big Chinese family," the 20-year-old added.

The United States had criticised the skier's selection as an attempt to "distract" from the mistreatment of the Uyghurs.

The interview with Yilamujiang came as Human Rights Watch released a new statement saying Chinese government censorship had "seriously marred" the Beijing Games.

Yan, the BOCOG spokeswoman, was also bullish on the question of Taiwan. China claims the self-ruled democratic island as part of its territory to be retaken one day, by force if necessary.

At all Olympic Games, athletes from Taiwan compete under the banner of "Chinese Taipei".

"This is something that we really have to take a solemn position on," Yan said, following a question about Taiwanese athletes at the Games and their attendance at Sunday's closing ceremony.

"What I want to say is that there is only one China in the world.

"Taiwan is an indivisible part of China and this is a well-recognised international principle and well recognised in the international community.

"We are always against the idea of politicising the Olympic Games."

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Refugees in Greece face hunger, homelessness despite status





sMany refugees struggle to put a roof over their heads, and hundreds have ended up in the Eleonas camp near central Athens 

AFP/Louisa GOULIAMAKI

John Hadoulis
Thu, February 17, 2022

Two minutes into a Greek jobs fair interview, Hashim, a 21-year-old Afghan refugee, is offered work as a waiter at a swanky Corfu hotel.

It's his ticket out of the grim migrant camp he has called home for the past year, but there's a caveat: he has to cut his ponytail.

"Health and safety protocol," his interviewer explains.

Hashim, who won asylum in Greece a month-and-a-half ago, has little choice.

"If I do not have work, I need the camp," he explains in a mix of broken English and Greek, summing up the predicament of many refugees in Greece.

Athens has granted refugee status to over 68,000 people in the past three years, according to the migration ministry.

But if obtaining asylum in an EU country is a dream come true for many migrants, in Greece it means having to confront a whole new set of challenges.

Right now "it's probably easier to survive in Greece as an asylum seeker than as a refugee," says Spyros-Vlad Oikonomou, advocacy officer at the Greek Council for Refugees, one of the country's leading rights groups.

"It's a particularly sad paradox... essentially, Greece still has no integration system," he told AFP.

Starting in 2019, the conservative government began phasing out accommodation and financial assistance for people with asylum status, arguing that such benefits only encouraged further migration.

"Our country will not give refugees lifelong pensions and accommodation," Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said at the time.

"A month after asylum (is granted), provision of shelter, food and financial support stops. Whoever wants to stay in this country must be able to work, get back on their feet," he told Parapolitika daily.

Since then, Greece has shut down an EU-funded accommodation programme that was housing over 6,500 approved refugees and passed a law requiring them to leave the country's migrant camps once they get the nod to remain in Greece.

- 'Same rights' as Greeks -

Louise Donovan, communications officer for refugees with the UN refugee agency in Greece, said the 30-day grace period was "very short" compared to other EU member states and that many refugees struggle to put a roof over their heads.

Many gravitated towards Athens to seek help in finding shelter, or contacts to enable them to leave the country.

Some lived in public squares or squats.

But others remained in migrant camps in violation of the rules, with some 500 ending up in the Eleonas camp near central Athens which is slated for closure this year.

In October, 26 rights organisations accused Greek authorities of leaving people in camps, including refugees, short of food.

"Though practices differ from region to region, it is roughly estimated that 60 percent of people living in camps do not receive food in the mainland," the groups said.

The migration ministry replied that asylum recipients were not supposed to be in camps in the first place.

It noted that they have the "same rights" as Greek citizens and can apply for jobs and state health coverage.

- 'No jobs' -

But several people with refugee status interviewed by AFP and others who spoke to rights groups tell a different story.

With unemployment in Greece still officially at around 13 percent, 36-year-old Cameroonian Yannick Ghislain Dzernyuy says there are "literally no jobs, and the ones you have (pay) very little."

Obtaining social insurance and tax registration can take months, and it's nearly impossible to learn Greek while working at the same time, refugees say.

Under the Helios scheme run in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration, newcomers can avail of six-month integration classes and limited rent subsidies.

But only refugees who gained the right to remain after 2018, or those already living in state-provided accommodation when they were granted asylum, may benefit.

Currently, fewer than 1,700 people are receiving the rental subsidies, and around 600 are enrolled in integration classes.

- Moving west -

Forced onto the streets, thousands of refugees have left Greece for other EU states on short-term travel documents.

In June, the home affairs and migration ministers of Belgium, France, Germany, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Switzerland jointly complained to the European Commission that "considerable" numbers of refugees were travelling from Greece and lodging new asylum claims elsewhere.

More than 17,000 people who had already received refugee status in Greece have requested asylum in Germany since July 2020, said a joint letter by the ministers, seen by AFP.

Complaining of "flagrant abuse" of provisions allowing refugees 90-day travel through the Schengen Area, they urged the Commission to work with Greece on improving conditions for the "physical subsistence" and integration of refugees in the country.

"It is of utmost importance to us all, that the situation in Greece improves," the ministers said.

Athens is now working on a new integration plan. In October, UNHCR agreed to give Greece "technical support" on simplifying administrative procedures and legal frameworks, Donovan said.

"We are discussing changes to open Helios to more participants" and place more emphasis on skills training, deputy migration minister Sofia Voultepsi told AFP.

jph-mr-eg/cb/ach

Boy trapped for three days in Afghan well dies after rescue



Boy trapped for three days in Afghan well dies after rescueOfficials said the boy slipped to the bottom of the 25-metre (80-foot) shaft, but was pulled by rope to about 10-metres before becoming stuck 

(AFP/Javed TANVEER)

Fri, February 18, 2022

A five-year-old boy trapped for three days down a remote Afghan village well died minutes after being pulled out on Friday, following a rescue effort the country's new Taliban rulers said showed they would spare nothing for their citizens.

The child, named Haidar, on Tuesday slipped and fell to the bottom of a well being dug in Shokak, a parched village in Zabul province, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul.

"With great sorrow, young Haidar is separated from us forever," said Taliban interior ministry senior adviser Anas Haqqani, in a tweet echoed by several of his colleagues.

"This is another day of mourning and grief for our country."

Haidar was buried later in the day, his small grave covered by a mound of gravel and marked by a ribbon of white cloth.

Zabul police spokesman Zabiullah Jawhar told AFP Haidar was clinging to life when rescuers reached him.

"In the first minutes after the rescue operation was completed, he was breathing, and the medical team gave him oxygen," he said.

"When the medical team tried to carry him to the helicopter, he lost his life."

The operation comes around two weeks after a similar attempt to rescue a boy from a Moroccan well gripped the world -- but ended with the child found dead.

Haidar's grandfather, 50-year-old Haji Abdul Hadi, told AFP the boy fell down the well when he was trying to "help" adults dig a borehole in the drought-ravaged village.

Officials said he fell to the bottom of the narrow 25-metre (80-foot) shaft, then was pulled by rope to within about 10 metres of the surface before becoming stuck.

Senior officials from the Taliban's newly installed government oversaw the rescue operation in Shokak, which was watched by hundreds of villagers -- many related to the child.

- 'Prayers not enough' -

They despatched bulldozers and other earth-moving equipment to the site, as well as one of the country's few airworthy helicopters in case he required medical evacuation to hospital.

Some Taliban officials posted videos of the tricky operation, saying it showed how the new regime -- widely criticised for rights abuses -- would spare nothing to care for its citizens.

"Our prayers weren't enough, but it brought everyone together, and we showed to everyone that all Afghan lives are precious," tweeted one Taliban official.

Video shared Thursday on social media showed the boy wedged in the well but able to move his arms and upper body.

"Are you OK my son?" his father can be heard saying. "Talk with me and don't cry, we are working to get you out."

"OK, I'll keep talking," the boy replies in a plaintive voice.

The video was obtained by rescuers who lowered a light and camera down the narrow well by rope.

Engineers using bulldozers dug an open slit trench from an angle at the surface to reach the point where Haidar was trapped.

A large rock blocked the final few metres, which workers used pickaxes to break through on Friday morning.

The operation employed similar engineering to the rescue attempt in Morocco earlier this month, when a boy fell down a 32-metre well and was pulled out dead five days later.

The ordeal of "little Rayan" gained global attention and sparked an outpouring of sympathy online, with the Arabic Twitter hashtag #SaveRayan trending.

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‘F1 materials’ rev high-speed Germany to Beijing Olympic gold

Country has dominated the Games with 12 out of the 24 golds in sliding sports

---

Published:  February 18, 2022 15:48AFP

 

Johannes Lochner of Germany and his team finish during the four-man bobsleigh training heat at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Thursday.Image Credit: AP

Yanqing: Germany have dominated sliding sports at the Beijing Olympics on high-speed sleds using materials “basically similar to Formula One”, says one of the men who builds them.

Going into the final weekend of the Games, the Germans have won 12 of the 24 medals at Yanqing National Sliding Centre, including seven of the eight golds.

Together with the expertise and determination of their athletes, Germany’s success is down to technology from about 7,000 kilometres (4,00 miles) away in Berlin.

The Institute for Research and Development of Sports Equipment (FES) in the German capital builds and tests the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton sleds.

The materials for them would not be out of place on a Formula One racing car, says engineer Konstantin Schulze, who oversees their construction.

Enormously important move

Underlining the comparison, in Friday’s training for the four-man bobsleigh, Germany’s Johannes Lochner was fastest, clocking speeds of up to 136 kilometres per hour.

Germany’s top bobsleigh pilot Francesco Friedrich rates FES as “enormously important” as he looks to win a second gold in Beijing in Sunday’s four-man bobsleigh.

Like the other German pilots, Friedrich works closely with FES experts whenever he races.

“You have to imagine it like a sports car that the athlete needs to deliver the perfect performance,” says Schulze.

German sleds are sought after and Friedrich sold a bobsleigh he no longer needed to Canadian rival Christopher Spring before the Winter Games.

“He (Friedrich) definitely wouldn’t have sold it if he didn’t have something better, right?” said Canadian pilot Justin Kripps last week.

FES engineers tinker with the sleds on the ice at one of Germany’s four tracks or in the wind tunnel at their Berlin headquarters.

“We try to cut two tenths (of a second) from each run during an Olympic cycle,” said FES director Michael Nitsch.

In a sport often decided by fine margins, that could make the difference between winning an Olympic medal or not.

Such technology does not come cheap.

Johannes Lochner and his German teammates in action during the training at the National Sliding Centre in Beijing on Thursday.Image Credit: Reuters

The German government provides annual funding of €7 million ($8 million) to FES, which has 80 employees.

Their know-how benefits German athletes in other Olympic sports such as speed skating, canoeing and cycling.

Germany’s success on the Yanqing ice track is born out of bitter defeat.

At the 2014 Sochi Games, Germany failed to win a bobsleigh medal for the first time in 50 years.

Unfair advantage

As a result, the German federation turned to FES and Austrian manufacturer Wallner.

The two-pronged approach saw Germany win all three bobsleigh medals at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Friedrich won two and four-man golds while Mariama Jamanka took the two-woman title — all in FES sleds.

Nitsch dismisses suggestions that FES gives German racers an unfair advantage. Other national teams are “also allowed to do what we do”, says the FES boss.