Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Hebei, a Northern Chinese Province, Unveils an App That Triggers a Notification When You're Near Someone in Debt (standard.co.uk)

Posted by msmash on from the extreme-measures dept.

China is gearing up to launch a social credit system in 2020, giving all citizens an identity number that will be linked to a permanent record. Like a financial score, everything from paying back loans to behaviour on public transport will be included. One aspect of this social credit system is a new app in the northern province of Hebei. From a report: According to the state-run newspaper China Daily, the Hebei-based app will alert people if there are in 500 metres of someone in debt. It's like being on Oxford Street and being able to work out everyone around you who was in debt. According to the financial charity, the Money Charity, the average UK household debt (including mortgages) was $76,000, in June last year. That's a lot of notifications.

6 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Notification tone... by deathcloset · · Score: 5, Funny

    "You are within zero meters of someone in debt..."
    Notification tone...
    "You are within zero meters of someone in debt..."
    Notification tone...
    "You are within zero meters of someone in debt..."
    [Throws phone off bridge]
    Fading notification tone...
    "You are within thirty meters of someone in..."

    1. Re:Notification tone... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      I think what the summary misses - is that this is referring to social credit debt, not just any debt in general. This whole discussion is off the rails.

  2. Social experiments by sinij · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Communist Party of China is not afraid of massive scale social experiments of this kind. However, consequences of this are unpredictable. The CCP expects orderly society that could be easily subdued on individual level. This is one possible outcome (i.e. 1984). However, it is one of many possible situations. Humans are not designed to conform 100% of the time, and even Pope at some point watched porn.

    I am hoping China taking a leap forward so the rest of us could watch from distance. However, last time they tried Social Engineering on a massive scale (i.e. Great Leap Forward) it didn't end well.

    Something tells me the way society operates is hard-coded to a large degree, and trying to patch any of it drastically has a great chance to cause kernel panic.

    1. Re:Social experiments by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'd argue that China collapsing into civil war might be a good ending for the rest of the world...

  3. Re:1984? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    My friend, if furries have a direct and measurable impact on your life, that's far more on you than them.

  4. This is part of a larger game by Headw1nd · · Score: 4, Interesting

    China has seemingly made a policy of enforcing social shaming and isolation by using surveillance to make the effects transmissible by proximity, i.e. you go to a place undesirables live or hang out, or talk to or even sell things to undesirables, you become an undesirable yourself. Some reports suggest that this policy has been used to great effect in Xinjiang, leading to a situation where the population is so afraid of being blacklisted they will shun anyone they even think might be out of the government's favor. I suspect there is a similar aim with this, and that its true purpose is not to you know you are around debtors, but to remind you that the government knows you are around debtors. Hang out with them too much and your own credit may start to go down.