Famed Tibetan blogger Woeser reports a brutal shooting of peaceful Tibetan protesters in Shetar (translation via TWBF):

In addition, some netizens appeal to everybody: extremely urgent, please save Serthar in Tibet! According to the latest news, in order to protect the Tibetan national flag, people in Kego Township of Serthar County in Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan province, were brutally suppressed by over 5,000 military police between 4:00pm and 5:00pm on March 20!

Up to now, the number of the killed and wounded is over 20. The incident was caused by the fact that the military police shamelessly made the following announcement to the Tibetan people: the Central government directly issued an order to execute anybody who demonstrates. Then when they were about to take off the Tibetan national flag, they were stopped by the Tibetans peacefully, but the military police immediately fired at Tibetans. Please save Tibet!

11:00am tomorrow people in Nido Township of Serthar County will face much more serious massacre, please save Nido Township of Serthar County! Please spread the message to governments of other countries and human right organizations! Please generate your compassionate heart, and save the Tibetan people.

Woeser’s blog has many more pictures of Chinese military patrolling in Tibet, despite China’s claims that their military has not been used to put down demonstrations. New evidence based on reporting done by UPI confirms that the People’s Liberation Army has been used in Lhasa.

The Washington Post has a great article on how China and Chinese hackers are doing coordinated electronic attacks on Tibetan independence groups organizing outside of Tibet. I can say with certainty that while I worked at Students for a Free Tibet, we regularly received virus attacks over email from China. From what I hear, these have increased markedly over the last year and are at a high point now. Apparently the attacks being made on pro-Tibetan independence groups are almost identical to attacks made on American defense contractors by China recently.

“The fact that we’re being attacked with the same resources thrown at multi-billion defense contractors is flattering,” said Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet. “It shows that we really are an effective thorn in the side of a repressive regime.”

Indeed. The best part is that China’s cyber attacks on Tibetan independence groups has done literally nothing to impact their effectiveness nor the massive outpouring of support for Tibetans’ struggle for freedom.

Lhasa Rising at Tibet Will be Free has a terrifying post on China’s “Golden Shield” surveillance technology that is deployed in Tibet. I

Golden Shield is “a database-driven remote surveillance system – offering immediate access to records on every citizen in China, while linking to vast networks of cameras designed to increase police efficiency.”

According to the Canadian group Rights and Democracy, Western companies have collaborated with China to implement technologies like:

• speech recognition technology for automated surveillance of telephone conversations;
• the integration of face recognition and voice recognition technology
• smart cards for all citizens which can be scanned without the owner’s knowledge
• closed-circuit television to monitor public spaces

What this means for Tibetans is that they are under more surveillance than ever. Now China can systematically arrest and torture any Tibetans even remotely involved in the pro-independence demonstrations; away from cameras, in the middle of the night, behind prison walls. A truly chilling prospect, brought to you by the Western companies named in the R&D report.

Beyond the applications for Tibet, it’s this sort of Orwellian technology that makes totalitarian government’s more effective at controlling their populations and stifling dissent. Anyone who cares about civil liberties should be appalled at how China has used surveillance technology – developed with the help of Western corporations – to repress and crack down on Tibetans who seek freedom. If you ever wonder why I fear the unlimited expansion of executive powers pursued by the Bush administration, this is pretty much exactly the natural evolution of the surveillance state that could be achieved in a Bush-styled system in the US. Fortunately, we’re not there yet, but as this technology was developed with the help of companies like Nortel, it’s not hard to believe that American telecoms could also lend their capacities to build a system like Golden Shield.