China’s Social Credit System – It’s Coming To The United States Soon
by Marin Katusa via InternationalMan.com,
ZeroHedge.com
Sun, 03/31/2019
In 2015, a 16-year-old student from Jiangsu, China, tried to board a train.
She couldn’t even purchase a ticket.
The student, Zhong Pei, tried enrolling in classes at her university. But she was not allowed to do that either.
Zhong had committed a serious crime: She was guilty of being related to someone else.
Her father had killed two people and died in a car accident. So the Chinese government blacklisted her as “dishonest.”
It took her four months before she was able to overturn the decision and go to her university.
China’s Social Credit System – America’s New Nightmare?
What Zhong experienced was the result of testing for China’s new “Social Credit System.”
The SCS aims to be a unified program that provides a “social credit score” for every one of China’s 1.3 billion citizens.
But the Chinese government needed help develop the algorithms that determine social credit scores. So it enlisted eight companies for pilot programs, including its two largest, trusted social media companies: Tencent and Alibaba. They both came up with their own solutions: Alibaba’s affiliate Ant Financial rolled out its own “Sesame Credit” system. And Tencent had a nationwide system that was trialed for less than a day before it was taken down with pressure from the People’s Bank of China.
Both Alibaba and Tencent own enormous Chinese payments systems. They also own the largest Chinese marketplaces.
So Tencent’s program and Alibaba’s Sesame Credit can easily measure how much, how often, and what is bought online in China… and more importantly, when it is paid for.
Chinese regulators are pressuring both as neither have received an official licence to operate their social credit systems. But Tencent and Alibaba are pushing aggressively because they see the benefits – these seemingly innocent systems could help bring order to the chaos of Chinese commerce.
The plan, however, does not stop there. And the Chinese government has already laid the framework for the dystopian future.
Laws from 2012 and 2016 require internet companies to retain customers’ real names and information.
There will be no opting out from this future.
In 2020, the system will become the Social Credit System (SCS). And it will be owned and operated entirely by the Chinese state government.
The SCS will take into account not only purchases, but also hobbies, your lifestyle, and even who you hang out with.
If you raise a child, attend government events, or do well at your job – things considered ideal for a model citizen – your social credit score will go up.
However…
If you drink too much, play too many video games, or speak ill of the government – your social credit score will go down.
It’s a national database that will hold information on every citizen.
It will assess information as innocent as whether an academic degree was actually earned. And as personal as if a female is supposed to be taking birth control.
In short, the SCS will not be a measurement of how regularly you pay your bills.
It will show the government precisely how well you toe the party line.
Social Credit – Obedience to an Authoritarian State
It’s a great idea, right?
There are a lot of people in China. And it’s hard to prevent crime.
Just think of all the great things it will do for the country:
Citizens know exactly how trustworthy someone is before they befriend them.
Bad driving gets punished (if you have ever driven in Vancouver, Canada-this would be a welcomed feature). While good driving gets rewarded.
People become more confident in public institutions.
If your social credit is high, you’ll reap huge benefits…
You’ll be able to rent better cars and homes, without a deposit.
Your children will have access to the best schools in your area.
You’ll get access to better health insurance.
Prospective employers will be more likely to hire you.
It’ll be easier to get the paperwork to travel or to get a loan.
The Rest…HERE
