So much for Olympic values. Did the IOC really think they weren’t going to be called out on this one? Blaming the local committees is beyond pathetic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International, whose website is among those barred in China, 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.

BOCOG spokesman Sun Weide said censorship would not prevent journalists from reporting on the Games, though he acknowledged there would be no access to some websites, such as those of the Falun Gong, which he described as “an evil fake religion that has been banned by the Chinese government.”