China might use data to create a score for each citizen based on how trustworthy they are
Business Insider
· Oct. 26, 2016, 3:33 PM
Warning: This post contains slight spoilers for the first episode of "Black Mirror" season 3.
In the third season of popular British television series "Black Mirror," the first episode features an eye-embedded app that lets people rate their interactions with one another and share status updates. It's like Facebook, Instagram, and Yelp combined — with serious stakes.
Characters who act nice and don't appear smarmy can get five stars. But if they act negatively, they'll face one-star reviews. If someone drops too low, they become a kind of second-class citizen — they're socially shunned, shuttered out of workplaces, forced to pay a premium on leases, and penalized in myriad other ways.
Like many "Black Mirror" episodes, this one takes a present tech-related paranoia to its extreme. But in China, a similar system could soon become a reality.
The Chinese government is planning on implementing a system that connects citizens' financial, social, political, and legal credit ratings into one big social trustability score. The idea would be that if someone breaks trust in one area, they'd be adversely affected everywhere.
Proponents of the plan, like Chinese blogger Wenquan Xin, say the system is needed because many of China's 1.3 billion citizens don't own a credit card, and the country lacks an equivalent system to the US' FICO credit score. That means bankers and loan providers don't have much to go on.
According to the Washington Post, eight private companies have created pilot "credit databases" that compile information about individuals.
Sesame Credit, a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba, is already running a social credit system. According to the BBC, the company determines people's scores by incorporating a number of factors into its algorithms, including whether someone has gotten traffic tickets, if they've paid their taxes, and what they buy online. If you're constantly buying video games, for instance, you'll be seen as idle. If you're buying diapers, you could be considered a responsible parent.
Those with high rankings can rent bikes or cars without leaving a deposit, and skip lines at hospitals by paying after they leave, according to the Post. 15% of users on Chinese dating site Baihe choose to display their Sesame Credit score, and that some weed out potential dates based on that measure of trustability.
This preferential treatment for higher-rated people is very similar to the scenario depicted on "Black Mirror."
The Chinese plan for a more widespread scoring system has been in the works since 2015. But in September, the government released bullet points of proposed penalties for those who "breaks social trust" (which could be done by defaulting on a loan, for example, or voicing a dissenting opinion against the government online).
According to the policy documents, here's what could happen if you're a low scorer:
· You won't be considered for public office
· You'll lose access to social security and welfare
· You'll be frisked more thoroughly when passing through Chinese customs
· You'll be shut out of senior level positions in the food and drug sector
· You won't get a bed in overnight trains
· You'll be shut out higher-starred hotels and restaurants and will be rejected by travel agents
· Your children won't be allowed into more expensive private schools
In the "Black Mirror" episode, titled "Nosedive," the purpose of a universal ratings system is ostensibly to incentivize untrustworthy individuals in a society to shape up to what other members consider good.
But the irony in the episode is that the system ends up creating a culture of disingenuity — a "numbers game" where people kiss up to popular folks to raise their social standing, rather than simply striving to be a better person.
Even though the technology in "Nosedive" isn't here yet, China's social credit scores could one day contribute to the sort of culture we saw in "Black Mirror." And if the episode's finale is any good predictor of the outcome, the system might not end happily for those who step out of line with popular opinion.
I, The overall line of thinking for the construction of a social credit system
(1) Development situation.
The Party Centre and the State Council pay high regard to the construction of a social credit system. Relevant regions, departments and work units have explored and moved the matter forward, and positive headway has been made in social credit system construction. The State Council has established an interministerial joint conference for social credit system construction to comprehensively move social credit system construction forward, which promulgated and implemented the “Credit Investigation Sector Management Regulations”, and a batch of rules and standards for credit system construction have been successively rolled out. A nationwide uniform financial credit information database has been created, the construction of a credit system for small and micro-enterprises and the countryside has been vigorously moved forward; various ministries have promoted credit information openness, launched industry credit evaluation, and implemented categorized supervision and management over credit; various sectors have vigorously launched propaganda and education on sincerity and sincerity self-discipline activities; various regions have explored the establishment of comprehensive credit information sharing platforms, stimulating the comprehensive use of credit information by various departments and work units; social demand for credit services and products is growing every day, and the credit services market is incessantly expanding in scale.
Although certain headway has been made in the construction of our country’s social credit system, the contradictions that it is not matched, not coordinated and not adapted to economic development levels and the social development stage remain prominent. The main problems that exist include: a credit investigation system that covers all of society has not yet been formed, credit records of the members of society are gravely flawed, incentive mechanisms to encourage keeping trust and punishments for breaking trust are incomplete, trust-keeping is insufficiently reward, the costs of breaking trust tend to be low; credit services markets are not developed, service systems are immature, there are no norms for service activities, the credibility of service bodies is insufficient, and the mechanisms to protect the rights and interests of credit information subjects are flawed; the social consciousness of sincerity and credit levels tend to be low, and a social atmosphere in which agreements are honoured and trust are honestly kept has not yet been shaped, especially grave production safety accidents, food and drug security incidents happen from time to time, commercial swindles, production and sales of counterfeit products, tax evasion, fraudulent financial claims, academic impropriety and other such phenomena cannot be stopped in spite of repeated bans, there is still a certain difference between the extent of sincerity in government affairs and judicial credibility, and the expectations of the popular masses.
(2) Circumstances and requirements
Our country is currently in the assault phase of deepening economic structural reform and perfecting the Socialist market economy system. The modern market economy is a credit economy, establishing and completing an social credit system is an important step in rectifying and standardizing the market economy order, improving the market’s credit environment, reducing transaction costs and preventing economic risk, and is an urgent requirement to reduce administrative governmental interference in the economy and perfecting the Socialist market economy system.
Our country is in a period of strategic opportunity to accelerate the transformation its development method and realize scientific development. Accelerating the promotion of social credit system construction is an important precondition for stimulating optimized resource allocation, broadening internal demand and stimulating the structural optimization and improvement of industrial structures, and is an urgent requirement to perfect scientific development mechanisms.
Our country is in a crucial period of economic and social transformation. Interest subjects are becoming more pluralized, various social contradictions are prominent, and social organizations and management methods are seeing profound change. Completely moving the construction of a social credit system forward is an effective method to strengthen social sincerity, stimulate mutual trust in society, and reducing social contradictions, and is an urgent requirement for strengthening and innovating social governance, and building a Socialist harmonious society.
Our country is in a period of expansion in which the openness levels of the economy are rising on an even greater scale, across even broader fields, and at even deeper levels. Economic globalization has enabled an incessant increase of our country’s openness towards the world, and economic and social interaction with other countries and regions is becoming ever closer. Perfecting the social credit system is a necessary condition to deepen international cooperation and exchange, establishing international brands and reputations, reducing foreign-related transaction costs, and improving the country’s soft power and international influence, and is an urgent requirement to promote the establishment of an objective, fair, reasonable and balanced international credit rating system, to adapt to the new circumstances of globalization, and master new globalized structures.
(3) Guiding ideology and target principles.
To comprehensively move the construction of a social credit system forward, we must persist in taking Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important “Three Represents” thought and the scientific development view as guidance, act according to the spirit of the 18th Party Congress, the 3rd Plenum of the 18th Party Congress, and the “12th Five-Year Plan”, take completing credit laws, regulations and standard systems and shaping a credit investigation system covering all of society as the basis, take moving forward the construction of sincerity in government affairs, commercial sincerity, social sincerity and judicial credibility as main content, take moving forward the construction of an sincerity culture and establishing mechanisms to encourage sincerity and punish insincerity as focal points, take moving forward the construction of sectoral credit, the construction of local credit and the development of credit services markets as support, take raising the entire society’s sense of sincerity and credit levels and improving the economic and social operating environment as targets, put people first, broadly shape a thick atmosphere in the entire society that keeping trust is glorious and breaking trust is disgraceful, and ensure that sincerity and trustworthiness become conscious norms of action among all the people.
The main objectives of the construction of a social credit system are: by 2020, basically having established fundamental laws, regulations and standard systems for social credit, basically having completed a credit investigation system covering the entire society with credit information and resource sharing at the basis, basically having completed credit supervision and management systems, having a relatively perfect credit service market system, and giving complete rein to mechanisms to encourage keeping trust and punish breaking trust. Having made clear headway in the construction of sincerity in government affairs, commercial sincerity, social sincerity and judicial credibility, and a substantial rise in market and social satisfaction levels. Having broadly strengthened the sense of sincerity in the entire society, achieved a clear improvement in the credit environment for economic and social development, and a market improvement of the economic and social order.