China completes mass surveillance scheme in Tibet

China has fully implemented a scheme in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) that requirs all mobile phone and internet users to register with their real names.

State media reports said the monitoring scheme was introduced to crackdown on rumours in the restive region.

More than 100 Tibetans have self-immolated in TAR and surrounding regions demanding more rights, freedom and the return of spiritual leader, Dalai Lama.

The completion of the scheme comes at a time when China has asked the US to clarify the accusations of former CIA employee Edward Snowden that Washington has been carrying out large-scale mass surveillance and have also hacked computer servers in the Communist country.

China, as it turns out, monitors its own citizens too.

Officials in Lhasa explained the TAR scheme as conducive to peace in the region.

“The real-name registration is conducive to protecting citizens’ personal information and curbing the spread of detrimental information,” Nyima Doje, deputy director of the administration, was quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency as having said.

First Published: Jun 19, 2013 23:47 IST