Watching dissidents is a booming business in China

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_OUTSOURCING_SUPPRESSION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-05-27-11-04-52

Co-workers, neighbors, government office workers, unemployed young toughs and gang members are being used to monitor perceived troublemakers, according to rights groups and people under surveillance.

While China has long been a police state, controls on these non-offenders mark a new expansion of police resources at a time the authoritarian leadership is consumed with keeping its hold over a fast-changing society.