| By :
Jennifer Robinson
China, following on from its control of Internet sites, has identified photocopier machines in Tibet as a potential threat to the state. Fearing what BEJING may class as anti-government propaganda, a new law has been introduced that requires the owners of printing and copying shops to obtain a permit. They will be required to record their clients and all material being photocopied or printed. The Lhasa Evening News reports that the new rules are being implemented right now. Tibetan protesters claim the new rules are part of a wider aim to quell Tibetan intellectuals after a March 2008 uprising and subsequent casualties. The Government Authorities in Tibet view printers and photocopiers for shops as potential channels through which Tibetan writers, artists and other intellectuals can spread dissident information. Chinese representatives say that their goal is to bring stability, ethnic unity and improved standard of living to the region. Internationally, China has been much berated for its censorship policies. This has meant that writers and songwriters have been detained and people questioned for sending what are considered to be anti-government email. The Golden Shield Project operates on the World Wide Web and is a censorship program installed by the state of China. Often called the Great Firewall of China, the Golden Shield Project has drawn intense criticism from Internet enthusiasts and Search Engine Companies alike. Google have had a turbulent time with Chinese censorship claiming that Government Censorship is inconsistent with its corporate ethics. Google shut down its search Web site in China on March 22 because it said it disagreed with the Chinese government Internet censorship policies. However, Google are now set to renew its web services according to latest reports. Google had been redirecting its China users to their Hong Kong site where the censorship is not applied. Chinese proxy servers often host online in an attempt to get round blocked internet content. Using a proxy server to access the net has become a common thing among China's cyber community. The economy of the People's Republic of China is the third largest worldwide and despite concerns over censorship many organisations see that the benefits of doing business in China outweigh the difficulties with the Golden Shield Project. With a rumoured cost of over $900 million the Golden Shield Project of China remains one of the most sophisticated firewalls in the world. Blocking access of non-government approved websites and controlling Name Servers. This latest rule in Tibet extends the controlled distribution of information to the low-tech world of photocopiers.
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