http://www.wired.co.uk/article/chinese-government-social-credit-score-privacy-invasion
The Chinese Government social credit score project. Or rather Social Score or mass control. This is both amazing in scope and terrifying. It has all the hallmark of a massively dangerous invasion of privacy and a massive social experiment with the ultimate
goals to further contrl citizens behaviours and acreate a further mass control instrument.
"It is very ambitious in both depth and scope, including scrutinising individual behaviour and what books people are reading. It's Amazon's consumer tracking with an Orwellian political twist," says Johan Lagerkvist, a Chinese internet specialist at the
Swedish Institute of International Affairs, describing the social credit system in the article. For now, technically, participating in China's Citizen Scores is voluntary. But by 2020 it will be mandatory.
The behaviour of every single citizen and legal person (which includes every company or other entity)in China will be rated and ranked, whether they like it or not. Market players like Alibaba's Ant Financial Services. WeChat,/Tencent among others are involved
into this through two main projects: China Rapid Finance and Sesame Credit.
So it provides for individuals daily activities to be constantly monitored and evaluated: Online and in-store purchases; where you are; who your friends are and how you interact with them; how many hours you spend watching content or playing video games;
and what bills and taxes you pay (or not).
But it goes beyond what in a way Google or Facebook and the others are doing already as this system lead to all your behaviours being rated as either positive or negative which are encapsulated into a single number, creating your Citizen Score. It is use
to say whether you are trustworthy.
Plus, your rating would be publicly ranked against that of the entire population and used to determine your eligibility for a mortgage or a job, where your children can go to school - or even just your chances of getting a date. Or official documentation.
Or worse.
Don't be fooled, this is the stuff of Orwellian nightmares and I am convinced that the Chinese government is not the only one to think about pushing the use of data and digital technologies to extremely gravely abusing and limiting individual freedoms and
privacy.
For now, technically, participating in China's Citizen Scores is voluntary. But by 2020 it will be mandatory. The behaviour of every single citizen and legal person (which includes every company or other entity)in China will be rated and ranked, whether
they like it or not. Market players like Alibaba's Ant Financial Services. WeChat,/Tencent among others are involved into this through two main projects: China Rapid Finance and Sesame Credit.
It is use to say whether you are trustworthy. Plus, your rating would be publicly ranked against that of the entire population and used to determine your eligibility for a mortgage or a job, where your children can go to school - or even just your chances
of getting a date. Or official documentation. Or worse.
Don't be fooled, this is the stuff of Orwellian nightmares and I am convinced that the Chinese government is not the only one to think about pushing the use of data and digital technologies to extremely gravely abusing and limiting individual freedoms and
privacy.