Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Chinese Journalist Banned From Flying, Buying Property Due To 'Social Credit Score' (cbslocal.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the street-credit dept.

schwit1 shares a report from CBS Local: China is rolling out a high-tech plan to give all of its 1.4 billion citizens a personal score, based on how they behave. But there are consequences if a score gets too low, and for some that's cause for concern. When Liu Hu recently tried to book a flight, he was told he was banned from flying because he was on the list of untrustworthy people. Liu is a journalist who was ordered by a court to apologize for a series of tweets he wrote and was then told his apology was insincere. "I can't buy property. My child can't go to a private school," he said. "You feel you're being controlled by the list all the time." And the list is now getting longer as every Chinese citizen is being assigned a social credit score -- a fluctuating rating based on a range of behaviors. It's believed that community service and buying Chinese-made products can raise your score. Fraud, tax evasion and smoking in non-smoking areas can drop it.

1 of 404 comments (clear)

  1. we're getting there ourselves ... by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: -1, Redundant

    ... we just outsource it to private parties on social media (and often simply media media) to do the enforcement.

    • You can get fired for making a political contribution to a ballot initiative.
    • You can get thrown out of a bar for wearing a MAGA hat.
    • You can become public enemy #1 for "refusing to denounce" something.
    • You can "be" a hateful bigot for holding Bill and Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's (first term) position on marriage being for a man and a woman.
    • You are branded a "denier" (like a Holocaust denier, get it?? you are horrific and untouchable) for declining to believe what you have been instructed to believe about climate change. Not for actually doing anything polluting, mind you, just for refusing to offer your pinch of incense to the statue of belief.

    While some of this is government driven (e.g. six figure fine for declining to bake a cake), most of it is outsourced to the private sector.

    China is just more systematic and efficient about it.