Thanks to the marvels of modern technology, everyone interested has access to satellite images of the Earth. With the push of a button, anyone can look anywhere in the world and get a street-view of its location; but this will no longer be the case in the Peoples Republic Of China.
In an effort to combat what they consider a threat to state security, the Chinese government has set up new regulations that will ban what they consider to be "illegal" maps of the country placed online.
The new regulations include all maps downloaded or copied from the internet onto mobile devices according to The New York Times.
Chinese officials are concerned that some uploaded satellite maps and images could display sensitive military locations. Authorities are now strengthening supervision on companies utilizing platforms that provide online maps and geographical information. They are updating current policies to require that all internet map servers store map data inside the country as well as provide public internet protocol addresses.
The new policies will affect map services like Bing and Google. Google recently found itself caught up in a confrontation with China, after the company decided to no longer go along with the country's requirement to censor internet searches in China. In an effort to work around the censoring restrictions, Google moved its servers to Hong Kong.
Government officials will also require that all map servers "have no record of information leakage in any form in the past three years." And by December, officials will also crack down on unregistered or illegal map servers. Those who are deemed in violation of exposing state secrets could be jailed for up to 10 years.
Officials also plan to crack down on unregistered or illegal Internet map servers by December and release blacklists to the public.
Source: DailyTech
