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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.

4 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. Like Mccarhty? by lucasnate1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just read "I married a communist", a novel about the Mccrathy era. There was a part there where someone was unable to get a scholarship because a friend of his was in a blacklist. Yes, I know that technically one can have the money to study without the scholarship, but I bet that someone rich enough to do that would also have enough money to somehow fix his social credit.

    --
    Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
  2. Re:What Individual Privacy Rights? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Interesting

    >>A (Chinese) college in Beijing...bar a student because his father was on a government blacklist

    As designed. Checks out. I half suspect this story was planted by the Chinese government to loudly advertise the fact that its blacklist will hurt doublethink offenders' kids too.

    Wake me up when we get the story from America that someone's kid was denied entrance to a university because his/her dad spouted off with some pro-Trump or pro-socialist screed on social media.

  3. Apply our own 'social credit score' on China by Sebby · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Since China insists on inflicting a "social score" on their citizens, I think the rest of the world should do the same on China

    Wanna export your products here? Sorry, our "social score" for China prohibits us from doing so

    Want our companies to use your workforce? Oh, sorry, China's "social score" doesn't allow for our companies to do business with it

    --

    AC comments get piped to /dev/null
    1. Re:Apply our own 'social credit score' on China by TFlan91 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      As bad as America looks right now, it is still by far a better place to live than China.

      Just because America is showing a bit of nastiness that's been hiding under the rug for the last half century, doesn't mean the rest of the world is any better.

      Where I live now, in eastern Europe, it is incredibly racist, unbelievably so, but the difference is that most people share those opinions so you don't have public outrage over a racist incident, people just nod their head in silent agreement and move on.