Foreign-owned hotels in China face the prospect of “severe retaliation” whether they refuse to install government software that can spy on World Wide Web use by hotel guests coming to watch the summer Olympic games, a U.S. lawmaker said Tuesday.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., produced a translated version of a document from China’s Public safety measure Bureau that requires hotels to use the monitoring equipment.

“These hotels are justifiably outraged by that order, which puts them in the awkward position

of having to craft pop-up messages explaining to their customers that their Web history, communications, searches and key strokes are being spied on by the Chinese government,” Brownback said at a news conference.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately reply to a demand for comment.

Brownback said several worldly hotel chains confirmed receiving the order from China’s Public safety measure Bureau. The hotels are in a bind, […]

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