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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsChina Is Becomming A 1984 Society
Very scary, very much what Mao would do/did.
China is setting up a vast surveillance system that tracks every single one of its 1.4 billion citizens from using facial recognition to name and shame jaywalkers, to forcing people to download apps that can access all the photos on their smartphones.
The growth of China's surveillance technology comes as the state rolls out an enormous "social credit system" that ranks citizens based on their behaviour, and doles out rewards and punishments depending on their scores.
Not much is known so far about how China will monitor its citizens for the social credit system, but some of the technology currently available in China could well be used in the system. Tech companies in China are required to share data with the government upon request
A BBC reporter who tested a facial recognition system in Guiyang, southwest China, found that it only took seven minutes for authorities to catch him."
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-china-is-watching-its-citizens-in-a-modern-surveillance-state-2018-4https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit-system-explained
The complicated truth about China's social credit system
China's social credit system has been compared to Black Mirror, Big Brother and every other dystopian future sci-fi writers can think up. The reality is more complicated and in some ways, worse.
The idea for social credit came about back in 2007, with projects announced by the government as an opt-in system in 2014. But there's a difference between the official government system and private, corporate versions, though the latter's scoring system that includes shopping habits and friendships is often conflated with the former.
Brits are well accustomed to credit checks: data brokers such as Experian trace the timely manner in which we pay our debts, giving us a score that's used by lenders and mortgage providers. We also have social-style scores, and anyone who has shopped online with eBay has a rating on shipping times and communication, while Uber drivers and passengers both rate each other; if your score falls too far, you're out of luck.
China's social credit system expands that idea to all aspects of life, judging citizens' behaviour and trustworthiness. Caught jaywalking, don't pay a court bill, play your music too loud on the train you could lose certain rights, such as booking a flight or train ticket. "The idea itself is not a Chinese phenomenon," says Mareike Ohlberg, research associate at the Mercator Institute for China Studies. Nor is the use, and abuse, of aggregated data for analysis of behaviour. "But if [the Chinese system] does come together as envisioned, it would still be something very unique," she says. "It's both unique and part of a global trend."
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit-system-explained
Wounded Bear
(58,698 posts)China is a combination of the worst characteristics of capitalism and fascism, which in retrospect is a bit redundant.
Xolodno
(6,398 posts)...it used to be communist. Albeit, like the Soviet Union, on paper only and not in practice.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,362 posts)Chinese have had Neighborhood Committees since the 1950s, with block monitors digging into everyone's business, reporting non-conforming behaviors.
This new set of cameras and software just augments it a little.
Me.
(35,454 posts)this goes way beyond the Mao set up
JCMach1
(27,572 posts)It is pure dystopia with a side of genocide
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)countries all over the world are longing for the bad ole good ole days
Me.
(35,454 posts)Look at who's at the WH today
hunter
(38,325 posts)Especially for those who are not white heterosexual males.
EX500rider
(10,849 posts)Really? Let me know when we have millions in "re-education" camps.
This system automatically detects and locates disloyal people and has them picked up for reeducation.
Nearly a million Moslems have been sent to reeducation camps in Xinjiang province.
hunter
(38,325 posts)Look at our police shootings and brutality.
Look at how our drug addicts die.
Look at our unemployed and unemployable.
Lots of people here in the U.S.A. have a social credit rating approaching zero.
However, we are free to say whatever we damned please here in the United States, but only so long as we are ineffective and don't break anything.
Thyla
(791 posts)Than the one you can't see.
and even if you see you can't stop some of it
Cosmocat
(14,568 posts)that scan every 7 minutes and assess how much students are obeying ...
You know darn well Rs would crank this kind of $hit up here in a heartbeat.
Me.
(35,454 posts)They've been fine toothing it ever since 2007