Big Data Meets Big Brother in China

By James on Novembre 14 2017

Imagine a world where your daily activities were constantly monitored and evaluated: what you buy at the shops and online; where you are at any given time; who your friends are; how many hours you spend watching content or playing video games; and what bills and taxes you pay (or not).

Now imagine a system where all these behaviours are rated as either positive or negative and distilled into a Citizen Score, according to rules set by the government. It's getting underway in China, where the government is developing the Social Credit System (SCS) to rate the trustworthiness of its 1.3 billion citizens.

The government hopes, "[The law] will forge a public opinion environment where keeping trust is glorious. It will strengthen sincerity in government affairs, commercial sincerity, social sincerity and the construction of judicial credibility."

Under this system, your score 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.

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Discussion
What is your intial response to China's plan? Should it be replicated in your own country?
To what extent should the government be allowed to collect information about you? Are there benefits to allowing it to collect such information?
Chinese businesses will one day be ranked on 'trustworthiness.' How will such scores affect the way Japan deals with China? Would they influence the way you do business?