Chinese Pirates are Facing Lifelong 'Social Credit' Downgrade

[Zarathustra[H]]

As we originally reported on back in December, China has a new creepy system that utilizes big data and assigns all of their citizens a "Social Credit" score based on their activities. According to The Register this system is now planned to be used to assign those pirating content online a lifelong lower score.

I've never watched Black Mirror, but maybe I should...

The controversial "social credit score" is being devised by the government in partnership with internet companies and rollout is planned for 2020. It echoes Black Mirror's "Nosedive" dystopia, a tyranny where low-graded citizens are denied access to services. The difference is that in the fictional tyranny, people rate each other, while the Chinese social credit system collates information from a variety of sources including minor traffic offences.

 

[That_Sound_Guy]

I still personally like the "take off the uniform you're still a nazi" forehead engraving : Inglourius Basterds

 

[SixFootDuo]

I guess this only really works of they know who you are.

I've been using usenet since 93' and it's still the wild wild west like it's always been but those days are numbered I'm guessing.

I can see this social score going world wide in the next 20 years for everyone.

 

[TwistedAegis]

Black Mirror doesn't really leave you feeling good after watching, but they're very interesting ideas.

 

[schizrade]

You NEED to watch Black Mirror. Very relevant show. Excellent Social commentary.

 

[cyclone3d]

What happens when everybody revolts and ends up competing for the lowest possible score?

 

[DrLobotomy]

I thought everything Chinese WAS pirated.

 

[SixFootDuo]

Yeah, I guess we should start asking the Chinese Gov to also rate their companies for IP piracy as well and while we are at it, rate the health of their cities air quality

I had 2 of my clients go to China, in fact, they been there several times. I cannot remember the name of the city but it has several million residents and it's a huge technological hub for electronic manufacturing and general manufacturing as well. He said the air was so bad that it was a brownish grey haze and that it would burn your eyes and inside your nose. He also said they had 5 star dance and strip clubs where they brought in beautiful girls from all over. It wasn't Taiwan or Hong kong it was deep into China.

 

[thesmokingman]

I thought everything Chinese WAS pirated.

The irony right? What are they gonna do about a place like Shenzhen?

Yeah, I guess we should start asking the Chinese Gov to also rate their companies for IP piracy as well and while we are at it, rate the health of their cities air quality

I had 2 of my clients go to China, in fact, they been there several times. I cannot remember the name of the city but it has several million residents and it's a huge technological hub for electronic manufacturing and general manufacturing as well. He said the air was so bad that it was a brownish grey haze and that it would burn your eyes and inside your nose. He also said they had 5 star dance and strip clubs where they brought in beautiful girls from all over. It wasn't Taiwan or Hong kong it was deep into China.

At Shenzen, they are like...

What is IP?
Baby, don't hurt me
Baby, don't hurt me no more

 

[DPI]

I'm pretty sure something was lost in translation. You get dinged if you're NOT actively pirating content, thieving intellectual property, laughing at copyrights and trademarks and generally just stealing ideas.

 

[Ducman69]

I think its a brilliant idea, if it could be policed somehow.

This actually dates all the way back to the ancient greeks, who coined the term "ostracism", in which all citizens would vote on who to kick out for a period of time. You wouldn't lose your property or anything, but it prevented any tyrants from getting too powerful if they didn't keep the people happy, as they would be swatted down before reaching critical mass.

The problem with modern society is that everyone is essentially anonymous. You can drive on the shoulder when traffic is heavy, cut to the front of the queue almost causing a wreck, throw a water bottle at another car, push people out of the way on sidewalks, take up two parking spaces, etc. and really as long as you don't get a felony, the only way people can guess as to how trustworthy or peaceful or law abiding you are is by using stereotypes to make assumptions about you based on your mannerisms, clothing, vocabulary, etc.

tl;dr: There really isn't any reward system in place for being an altruistic person, and worse yet, there is a reward system for being a selfish asshole as long as you don't "go crazy" and get yourself a felony arrest. That's not good.

 

[Nolan7689]

What happens when everybody revolts and ends up competing for the lowest possible score?

Won't happen. Same reason communism can't work and unions are barely cohesive. People suck.

There will always be someone wanting to be the perfect score and fuck everyone else for themselves.

 

[Ducman69]

Won't happen. Same reason communism can't work and unions are barely cohesive. People suck.

There will always be someone wanting to be the perfect score and fuck everyone else for themselves.

To clarify, its just brackets though from what I understand... at least that's what they do with foreigners for some time.

As a foreigner, you are graded A (best), B (most people), C (least desirable but still make the cut). If they have too many foreigners, the C's get the cut first for renewal. The B's are most people and just treated "normal", if you will. And the A grade foreigners get special treatment like special lines at the airport where you're not subject to cavity checks and other BS like that. Its actually a brilliant system, because like all countries you want foreigners but you want only the best of the best. You roll out the red carpet for these "best of the best" guys, and give them an A-grade rating, so its zero hassle and rose petals blown up their butts. Its also an incentive for the C-class foreigners to do everything they can to bump themselves up to a B before getting kicked out, and for the B-class foreigners to not be douchebags and do things that will lower their score.

 

[DukenukemX]

I can see this becoming pointless very fast. Almost as pointless as the American credit score system. And yes it's pointless, cause banks were giving people houses with no credit and no jobs, and they're doing the same thing with cars now. So yea I can totally see people in China with crappy score systems that basically get everything including houses built within hours. You're asking businesses to not do business with people with low scores not even based on their finances like the American system, but based on their social interaction. I can see this dissolving very quickly.

 

[Ducman69]

You're asking businesses to not do business with people with low scores not even based on their finances like the American system, but based on their social interaction. I can see this dissolving very quickly.

Its not just a credit score system, from what I understand.

It could be useful in applying for a job, because if you have two people with identical qualifications, but you see one guy has a super low score and the other one super high, you go for the better one. It can also help determine risk factors for lenders with greater accuracy than current day credit scores if the data mining is good, so that trustworthy people have lower interest rates and perhaps even car insurance rates. Police departments in the US are also finding that credit scores are very useful indicators alone for weeding out untrustworthy candidates, and this would collect far more information than that.

Also, primarily they wanted to start out as using it as a filter for travel, which the government naturally controls themselves. If you have a high trustworthiness score, there is really no need to do an anal cavity check on you and treat you like a terrorist, because you have proven yourself an altruistic loyal citizen caring for the greater good, and you are rewarded with a "fast pass" accordingly to bypass security checks. Likewise, if you have a long history of criminality and anti-social behavior, then you SHOULD go through the greater security checks accordingly.

Ultimately, it really barely has to do anything to be effective.

If people THINK it matters, then its already a success, because they might not do dickish things if it could affect a score someone is keeping track of, and likewise if you can get a boost for community service or giving blood or donating to charity and the like, people will do it. Its why religious societies back in the day were more successful than atheistic ones, as when people think someone is watching them and judging them rewarding good behavior and punishing bad, they are better people.

Hell, we know this as we use the same tactics on children with Santa Claus... "Do your chores and be nice to your sister Billy, because Santa will know and keeps a list of who is naughty and nice".

The concept I think is great, but the problem is do you trust your government enough to implement it properly, that's my only fear. For example, what if the Democrats decide that your score can be harmed by "hate speech" which they determine is anything they hate to hear these days, even if its legit. That would suck.

 

[Nukester]

This utopian type of system gives no room for error. What happens with a teenage kid that does one thing wrong in his life. His "social score" is lowered for life, thus giving him a life sentence. Don't like this at all.

 

[Ducman69]

This utopian type of system gives no room for error. What happens with a teenage kid that does one thing wrong in his life. His "social score" is lowered for life, thus giving him a life sentence. Don't like this at all.

Not true.

Score would be like credit score, goes up and down constantly by someone's actions, and stuff very long ago falls off the radar and no longer counts.

 

[Deleted member 82943]

As we originally reported on back in December, China has a new creepy system that utilizes big data and assigns all of their citizens a "Social Credit" score based on their activities. According to The Register this system is now planned to be used to assign those pirating content online a lifelong lower score.

I've never watched Black Mirror, but maybe I should...

The controversial "social credit score" is being devised by the government in partnership with internet companies and rollout is planned for 2020. It echoes Black Mirror's "Nosedive" dystopia, a tyranny where low-graded citizens are denied access to services. The difference is that in the fictional tyranny, people rate each other, while the Chinese social credit system collates information from a variety of sources including minor traffic offences.

So China sucks.

 

[lcpiper]

Yeah, I guess we should start asking the Chinese Gov to also rate their companies for IP piracy as well and while we are at it, rate the health of their cities air quality

I had 2 of my clients go to China, in fact, they been there several times. I cannot remember the name of the city but it has several million residents and it's a huge technological hub for electronic manufacturing and general manufacturing as well. He said the air was so bad that it was a brownish grey haze and that it would burn your eyes and inside your nose. He also said they had 5 star dance and strip clubs where they brought in beautiful girls from all over. It wasn't Taiwan or Hong kong it was deep into China.

And before this city it was Seoul Korea, and before that it was Singapore, and I remember LA was no different.

Shenzhen China

Seoul Korea

Singapore

Los Angeles California

And LA used to be worse.

 

[negachampa]

Well I hope China keeps coming up with these stupid policies. All they are going to do in ensure all their smart people with money leave the country for places that actually respect the rights of people. I am not saying that will be USA if things keep going to way they are but other free western countries. Policies like this will 100% make sure China never becomes a world power.

 

[sleepeeg3]

And before this city it was Seoul Korea, and before that it was Singapore, and I remember LA was no different.

Shenzhen China

Seoul Korea

Singapore

Los Angeles California

And LA used to be worse.

My Chinese boss reiterated the burning, coughing issues in China. She went back for vacation and got bronchitis from the smog. She said you have to wear a mask just to move around in Beijing and people will not work there just because of the pollution.

In fairness, same thing happened to my Korean coworker when he went back to Korea. However, part of that is they import some of the smog from Beijing.

I've lived in HelLA, too. It is bad. ...but it sounds like Beijing tops them all.

 

[SixFootDuo]

There are major major differences between Chinese smog and LA smog. Smog in the US and LA in particular doesn't have traces of lithium, mercury, cadmium, chromium, arsenic and a host of other known carcinogens. The US has very tight controls on what they allow out into the air. Of course that could change under Trump.

Remember Back to the Future part 3? With the high-rise casino in the middle of neighborhood? For some reason when I just typed out Trump, that image came to my head. haha.

 

[DWolvin]

The other big difference in LA is that the EPA mandates have cleaned it up dramatically from the 60's and 70's. Look up 'Smoke on the Water' or Wiki how bad big cities used to be in America...