Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

RKP5637

(67,088 posts)
Mon Aug 26, 2019, 08:21 PM Aug 2019

Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system In China, scoring citizens' behavior

Here we go ... chilling!

https://www.fastcompany.com/90394048/uh-oh-silicon-valley-is-building-a-chinese-style-social-credit-system

Have you heard about China’s social credit system? It’s a technology-enabled, surveillance-based nationwide program designed to nudge citizens toward better behavior. The ultimate goal is to “allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step,” according to the Chinese government.

In place since 2014, the social credit system is a work in progress that could evolve by next year into a single, nationwide point system for all Chinese citizens, akin to a financial credit score. It aims to punish for transgressions that can include membership in or support for the Falun Gong or Tibetan Buddhism, failure to pay debts, excessive video gaming, criticizing the government, late payments, failing to sweep the sidewalk in front of your store or house, smoking or playing loud music on trains, jaywalking, and other actions deemed illegal or unacceptable by the Chinese government.

It can also award points for charitable donations or even taking one’s own parents to the doctor.

Punishments can be harsh, including bans on leaving the country, using public transportation, checking into hotels, hiring for high-visibility jobs, or acceptance of children to private schools. It can also result in slower internet connections and social stigmatization in the form of registration on a public blacklist.

China’s social credit system has been characterized in one pithy tweet as “authoritarianism, gamified.”

It can happen here

Many Westerners are disturbed by what they read about China’s social credit system. But such systems, it turns out, are not unique to China. A parallel system is developing in the United States, in part as the result of Silicon Valley and technology-industry user policies, and in part by surveillance of social media activity by private companies.

6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system In China, scoring citizens' behavior (Original Post) RKP5637 Aug 2019 OP
it is only going to get worse Celerity Aug 2019 #1
Definitely!!! It's in hyper expansion mode. ... frightening, especially if here in a supposed RKP5637 Aug 2019 #2
This is why I try to stay off the grid as much as possible! Initech Aug 2019 #3
Very smart!!!!!!!! n/t RKP5637 Aug 2019 #4
DU is "off the grid"? brooklynite Aug 2019 #6
Hong Kong moondust Aug 2019 #5

RKP5637

(67,088 posts)
2. Definitely!!! It's in hyper expansion mode. ... frightening, especially if here in a supposed
Mon Aug 26, 2019, 08:48 PM
Aug 2019

democracy!

moondust

(19,959 posts)
5. Hong Kong
Mon Aug 26, 2019, 10:12 PM
Aug 2019

Two days ago.

~
Some protestors view the (smart) lampposts with suspicion and believe they are actually surveillance tools—they are fitted with sensors, closed-circuit cameras, and data networks. About 50 of them have already been installed, and Hong Kong has plans to install 200 more. Demonstrators today demanded that the lampposts be removed from the streets and then took it upon themselves to do just that. They vandalized some lampposts, and one group managed to fell one by sawing the metal base and and using ropes.
~
Hong Kong protestors are attacking smart lampposts
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Silicon Valley is buildin...