Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system that will control your life

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There was a very frightening Black Mirror episode on this very thing. Black Mirror’s third-season episode “Nosedive” imagined a horrible world controlled by a social credit system system. It even featured a scene in which star Bryce Dallas Howard is ejected from an airport for having too low a social score to secure a seat on a flight.

In 2014, the State Council, China’s governing cabinet, publicly called for the establishment of a nationwide tracking system to rate the reputations of individuals, businesses, and even government officials. The aim is for every Chinese citizen to be trailed by a file compiling data from public and private sources by 2020, and for those files to be searchable by fingerprints and other biometric characteristics. The State Council calls it a “credit system that covers the whole society.”

Doing volunteer work, donating blood, and recycling can all boost one’s social credit score, while incurring debt or criticizing the government can render you blacklisted, unable to buy property, take out loans, and now, engage in some forms of mass travel. (Esquire)

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Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system

In China, scoring citizens’ behavior is official government policy. U.S. companies are increasingly doing something similar, outside the law.

By Mike Elgan, Fast Company, August 26, 2019:

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.

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.”

At present, some parts of the social credit system are in force nationwide and others are local and limited (there are 40 or so pilot projects operated by local governments and at least six run by tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent).

Beijing maintains two nationwide lists, called the blacklist and the red list—the former consisting of people who have transgressed, and the latter people who have stayed out of trouble (a “red list” is the Communist version of a white list.) These lists are publicly searchable on a government website called China Credit.

The Chinese government also shares lists with technology platforms. So, for example, if someone criticizes the government on Weibo, their kids might be ineligible for acceptance to an elite school.

Public shaming is also part of China’s social credit system. Pictures of blacklisted people in one city were shown between videos on TikTok in a trial, and the addresses of blacklisted citizens were shown on a map on WeChat.

Some Western press reports imply that the Chinese populace is suffocating in a nationwide Skinner box of oppressive behavioral modification. But some Chinese are unaware that it even exists. And many others actually like the idea. One survey found that 80% of Chinese citizens surveyed either somewhat or strongly approve of social credit system.

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.

Here are some of the elements of America’s growing social credit system.

Insurance companies

The New York State Department of Financial Services announced earlier this year that life insurance companies can base premiums on what they find in your social media posts. That Instagram pic showing you teasing a grizzly bear at Yellowstone with a martini in one hand, a bucket of cheese fries in the other, and a cigarette in your mouth, could cost you. On the other hand, a Facebook post showing you doing yoga might save you money. (Insurance companies have to demonstrate that social media evidence points to risk, and not be based on discrimination of any kind—they can’t use social posts to alter premiums based on race or disability, for example.)

The use of social media is an extension of the lifestyle questions typically asked when applying for life insurance, such as questions about whether you engage in rock climbing or other adventure sports. Saying “no,” but then posting pictures of yourself free-soloing El Capitan, could count as a “yes.”

PatronScan

A company called PatronScan sells three products—kiosk, desktop, and handheld systems—designed to help bar and restaurant owners manage customers. PatronScan is a subsidiary of the Canadian software company Servall Biometrics, and its products are now on sale in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

PatronScan helps spot fake IDs—and troublemakers. When customers arrive at a PatronScan-using bar, their ID is scanned. The company maintains a list of objectionable customers designed to protect venues from people previously removed for “fighting, sexual assault, drugs, theft, and other bad behavior,” according to its website. A “public” list is shared among all PatronScan customers. So someone who’s banned by one bar in the U.S. is potentially banned by all the bars in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada that use the PatronScan system for up to a year. (PatronScan Australia keeps a separate system.)

Judgment about what kind of behavior qualifies for inclusion on a PatronScan list is up to the bar owners and managers. Individual bar owners can ignore the ban, if they like. Data on non-offending customers is deleted in 90 days or less. Also: PatronScan enables bars to keep a “private” list that is not shared with other bars, but on which bad customers can be kept for up to five years.

PatronScan does have an “appeals” process, but it’s up to the company to grant or deny those appeals.

Uber and Airbnb

Thanks to the sharing economy, the options for travel have been extended far beyond taxis and hotels. Uber and Airbnb are leaders in providing transportation and accommodation for travelers. But there are many similar ride-sharing and peer-to-peer accommodations companies providing similar services.

Airbnb—a major provider of travel accommodation and tourist activities—bragged in March that it now has more than 6 million listings in its system. That’s why a ban from Airbnb can limit travel options.

Airbnb can disable your account for life for any reason it chooses, and it reserves the right to not tell you the reason. The company’s canned message includes the assertion that “This decision is irreversible and will affect any duplicated or future accounts. Please understand that we are not obligated to provide an explanation for the action taken against your account.” The ban can be based on something the host privately tells Airbnb about something they believe you did while staying at their property. Airbnb’s competitors have similar policies.

It’s now easy to get banned by Uber, too. Whenever you get out of the car after an Uber ride, the app invites you to rate the driver. What many passengers don’t know is that the driver now also gets an invitation to rate you. Under a new policy announced in May: If your average rating is “significantly below average,” Uber will ban you from the service.

WhatsApp

You can be banned from communications apps, too. For example, you can be banned on WhatsApp if too many other users block you. You can also get banned for sending spam, threatening messages, trying to hack or reverse-engineer the WhatsApp app, or using the service with an unauthorized app.

WhatsApp is small potatoes in the United States. But in much of the world, it’s the main form of electronic communication. Not being allowed to use WhatsApp in some countries is as punishing as not being allowed to use the telephone system in America.

What’s wrong with social credit, anyway?

Nobody likes antisocial, violent, rude, unhealthy, reckless, selfish, or deadbeat behavior. What’s wrong with using new technology to encourage everyone to behave?

The most disturbing attribute of a social credit system is not that it’s invasive, but that it’s extralegal. Crimes are punished outside the legal system, which means no presumption of innocence, no legal representation, no judge, no jury, and often no appeal. In other words, it’s an alternative legal system where the accused have fewer rights.

Social credit systems are an end-run around the pesky complications of the legal system. Unlike China’s government policy, the social credit system emerging in the U.S. is enforced by private companies. If the public objects to how these laws are enforced, it can’t elect new rule-makers.

An increasing number of societal “privileges” related to transportation, accommodations, communications, and the rates we pay for services (like insurance) are either controlled by technology companies or affected by how we use technology services. And Silicon Valley’s rules for being allowed to use their services are getting stricter.

If current trends hold, it’s possible that in the future a majority of misdemeanors and even some felonies will be punished not by Washington, D.C., but by Silicon Valley. It’s a slippery slope away from democracy and toward corporatocracy.

In other words, in the future, law enforcement may be determined less by the Constitution and legal code, and more by end-user license agreements.

 

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Patriotic American
Patriotic American
4 years ago

Yet some (Deep State) FCC members are more concerned about Trump’s plans to rein in these tech companies, rather than the tech companies’ censorship of conservative voices and schemes like this. Go figure.

Art~Spectrum
Art~Spectrum
4 years ago

Text & video reports on Red Communist China’s Mafia-like regime’s technology-empowered, electronically-expanding mass surveillance network ( Silicon Left-Valley enabled? ), is truly frightening! ( Spirit of American Tech-Giants at East-Asian work? ) Breath & scope of growing State-intrusion into society — and consequent intimidation — totalitarian’s dream come true! But that is bullying way of Emperor Xi. The more crafty version of “Rocket Man”, Kim, the unhinged slave-master.

Democratic Peoples’ Party, U.S.A., no doubt, on China’s “progress”, taking careful note. Lap-dog Silicon Valley, panting at Party’s mud-encased feet.

In sinister shadow unfolding, Orwellian nightmare of Communist-occupied Mainland, who can fail to understand why heroic youth of Hong Kong — with wide-spread community support — are risking their futures(!), endangering their lives, in valiant struggle against the Red Dragon’s creeping presence of Police-State suppression?

In compelling interview, Mr. Bannon had insightful things to say about Mafia-like Communist regime —— >

santashandler
santashandler
4 years ago

…..And the police will be converted from gov workers, to corporate enforcers, going after people for such nebulous things as getting kicked out of a bar. Worse than “1984.”

muhamMADTheFakeProphet
muhamMADTheFakeProphet
4 years ago
Reply to  santashandler

Worse than “1984”? Winston Smith’s ultimate fate in Oceania was to be executed.

JeromefromLayton
JeromefromLayton
4 years ago

Well, that’s one way to become a non-person. The Soviets did it the hard way with blunt weapons and photo montage (snip and paste). More often, it happens to the living so they don’t get served in the restaurant and their plastic won’t work in the gun store.

VTS
VTS
4 years ago
Reply to  santashandler

By that time all those media giants will totally discredit themselves and smart employers will be hiring only those with red and orange numbers. Some already reject ivy league graduates. Who needs snobby brats like Fredo working for them?

JeromefromLayton
JeromefromLayton
4 years ago
Reply to  santashandler

In the movie, the technology was frozen at 1948 because top down totalitarian societies kill innovation. The Chinese figured out how to have both individual business and strong central control at the same time; it’s called Fascism. It works but it sucks to live under it. That “social credit rating” is an automated version of part of the Chinese culture and we can expect it to spread to other similar cultures so there should be no surprise to see it in Silicon Valley. The real problem is that the Valley People have already chosen sides and some of them are out to stick it to Conservatives.

TomSJr
TomSJr
4 years ago

Coming from New York state, OF COURSE!

But, with everything new and nasty that comes along, there is always an alternative out there that is the direct opposite! I keep a huge list of them and THOSE are the businesses/platforms I support!

livingengine
livingengine
4 years ago

In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute or kill them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlaw

JeromefromLayton
JeromefromLayton
4 years ago
Reply to  livingengine

Or de-platform them or employ a shadow ban.

Laddyboy
Laddyboy
4 years ago

“And the People will not be able to buy or sell if they do not have the mark of the BEAST upon their forehead, which is the number 666.”
Does this sound familiar??? Look up, redemption drawest nigh.

nag2
nag2
4 years ago
Reply to  Laddyboy

It might be best to determine what the sign, seal, or mark is and what determines why it is placed on either the forehead or the hand. Also, one might want to understand a little about Biblical gematria in order to identify what the number 666 represents. Just a thought.

JeromefromLayton
JeromefromLayton
4 years ago
Reply to  nag2

Engineering students have seen it as a triple surface differential. It’s three lower case delta characters in a row that look like 666 rotated 90 degrees clockwise.

nag2
nag2
4 years ago

May I suggest to you that the 666 has to do with those who disregard the law of God. In Greek the verse (Rev. 13:18) has no article while the KJV and many other versions attributes the word man with the article “a” man in error. It should be just “man”. Nevertheless, if one thinks of the singular they look for one person while the book of Revelation deals with the world wide and spiritual in large part. Therefore it’s better to look at a group of people who disregard God’s law since the whole purpose of the book is to point out the Savior from sin for those who accept Him. It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:1) There is so much more and too much for a short note.

byronmullet
byronmullet
4 years ago

It’s just what liberals have been trying to do incrementally for 40 years. Makes you almost want to cry, how people could throw away a perfectly good country based on sound principles. That’s what Obama did with the weaponizing government did enforcing a social credit system on Trump. Before that it was the IRS with Lois Lerner and the tea party groups… In the end they will give us a number and we won’t be able to buy or sell unless we submit… America needs to go back to the old ways. When people repented of their sins & asked Jesus to be their savior and he gave them a new heart of peace and love… And people sat around fires with guitars and sang Kumbaya. Come by here my Lord..

leonore35
leonore35
4 years ago

This type of social credit system was featured in an episode of The Orville when the space travelers visited such a planet.
They barely escaped with their lives!

Roma Mikhasev
Roma Mikhasev
4 years ago

enemy inside

Mike Kevins
Mike Kevins
4 years ago

The number of the beast. I would get a big, fat 0.

LeslieFish
LeslieFish
4 years ago

We must do as the Hong Kong protesters are doing: chop down the cameras! I can see a great economic opportunity in electronics recycling.

JeromefromLayton
JeromefromLayton
4 years ago
Reply to  LeslieFish

Be careful out there. Count on those cameras having tracking devices and 24/7 two way communication that doesn’t depend on wires. Borrow an ANTIFA trick or two: A variable mask for cover and an air soft launcher also known as a paint gun. POP, SPLAT right on the lens. Expect covert cameras to be in the mix. It’s the one you don’t see that gets you.

JeromefromLayton
JeromefromLayton
4 years ago

The solution is to not play in their box since it is getting to be filled with used kitty litter. Get off the mailing lists and resist requests for your e-mail address. Resist that temptation to use things like yelp because that is how you feed the Beast. Use cash more and plastic less. That funny thing in my pocket is a check book. No debit card and I don’t even use an ATM on TDY trips.

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