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A Student Was Rejected By A College Because Of China's 'Social Credit System' (buzzfeed.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: A prestigious college in Beijing that reportedly tried to bar a student because his father was on a government blacklist is causing huge controversy in China. According to state media reports, a high school student with the surname Rao in the eastern city of Wenzhou, in Zhejiang province, was accepted on the back of his score in China's fiendishly difficult and incredibly competitive national college entrance exam. But before his family could enjoy Rao's accomplishments, the college notified them he may not be able to attend because of his father's poor credit standing -- the father owed 200,000 RMB (about $30,000) to a local bank, and had been put on a blacklist dubbed the "lost trust list" for individuals with bad social standing, state media reported.

Blacklists are a key feature of China's controversial "social credit system" -- a set of government programs that sets up both incentives and disincentives to encourage people to behave in socially desirable ways. Social credit in today's China involves government programs that collect and analyze data from different parts of people's lives, including their education history, compliance with traffic rules, criminal history and debt. It has raised serious concerns over individual privacy rights.

6 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. What Individual Privacy Rights? by brian.stinar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We're talking about China, right?

    1. Re: What Individual Privacy Rights? by sycodon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Who defines bad behavior again?

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  2. Sins of the Father by TWX · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I thought we weren't supposed to punish children for sins of the father, or the mother, or other family members. We were supposed to punish people for their own sins only.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:Sins of the Father by TFlan91 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In America, sure, for instance, you do not inherit your parents debt when they pass away.

      But this is China. Literally a world apart. "Family shame" is a very pervasive concept in Asia

  3. It's a communist dictatorship by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As communist dictatorships go, this little thing in this story is pretty mild.

    Beats taking him out to a ditch and shooting him because he is an "intellectual" who might mislead the proletariat.

    Again, it's a communist dictatorship. The government could have literally ordered that he not be allowed to be born. And they do that very thing, with their population control policy.

  4. Re:Like Mccarhty? by volodymyrbiryuk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In that kind of environment it would be enought to have people snitch on people they don't like, telling about that one 'suspicious' friend the other person has. It worked in the Soviet Union and in the GDR. Why wouldn't it work in the US.

    --
    sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /