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China Creates App To Tell You If You're Near Someone In Debt, Encourages You To Report Them (techspot.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the public-shaming dept.

The Chinese government has developed a mobile app that tells users if they are near someone who is in debt. The app, called a "map of deadbeat debtors," flashes when the user is within 500 meters of a debtor and displays that person's exact location. TechSpot reports: News of the app has caused quite a bit of controversy after it was originally reported by the state-run China Daily. It is an extension to China's existing "social credit" system which scores people based on how they act in public. The app is available through the WeChat platform which has become immensely popular in China. The government stated that "Deadbeat debtors in North China's Hebei province will find it more difficult to abscond as the Higher People's Court of Hebei on Monday introduced" the app. Once a user is alerted that they are close to a debtor, the user can then view their personal information. This will reveal their name, national ID number, and why they were added to the debtor list. The debtor can then be publicly shamed or reported to the authorities if it is deemed that they are capable of repaying their debts.

3 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. Controvercy IN CHINA? by aberglas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It would be very interesting to know what Chinese thought about this.

    (We already know what we think about it. Outside the USA it is terrible, inside the USA with the privately run credit agencies it is just business as normal.)

    But seriously, does anyone have any feedback upon what the Chinese themselves think about this sort of thing?

    1. Re:Controvercy IN CHINA? by humaniverse · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm Chinese. Yes, it is contro in China as well. But people generally care less about privacy compare to western world. That's cultural thing. If you have nothing bad, why you want to hide. Remember, China is the world safest country. Girl can walk anywhere in any city at 2:00 am. Many senior people volunteer as street guard. Policeman has no gun cause there is no need. Privacy and security are contradicting. Chinese pick security.

  2. Re:This makes no sense by _merlin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nah, it's because Chinese personal bankruptcy laws are pathetically weak. There are people who either rack up debt they can't pay, or just don't pay debts when they're capable of it. If an individual debt is below a certain level, it's very hard to sue the debtor, and with the weak bankruptcy laws you can't get their assets liquidated and/or restrict them from running a business. Fixing or improving the laws for better protection against deadbeat debtors would be hard, because the Chinese government isn't a coherent unit, it's a massive bureaucracy that barely functions. Making this app to try and shame people into servicing their debts and/or get people to avoid doing business with them is far easier.