Zhima credit and social credit system ratings

ressem

There's an article on Wired (https://www.wired.com/story/age-of-social-credit/) discussing Zhima credit, where individuals create an ID to access pay-by-mobile services in China. They are assigned a score between 350 and 950.

The 3 digit score can go up and down based on your purchases, e.g. diapers (responsible citizen) Vs video games (wastrel). (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-34592186)

If you want to rent a bike, a person with a low score will be charged a deposit, someone with a low score will not. Those with high ratings get to skip queues, those with low ratings mightn't be allowed to book on the same train. Those with high scores may not have to prepay for hospital treatment.

https://angrymoo.com/sesame-credit-summary/ wrote:

Users with 700+ or 750+ sesame points can apply for visa to Singapore and Luxembourg respectively using a much more simple online process with less documents to hand in.

A response on the FT from the company says that the info is anonymized and encrypted.
The FT's article is paywalled though ("A Big Brother approach has qualities that would benefit society")

A partnership (cough) between the Chinese government and the big Chinese companies intend to have this as a mandatory profile in the next decade. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System).

It does appear to be spreading elsewhere in Asia (http://privacy.com.ph/news-article/sesame-credit-apologizes-alipay-privacy-mishap/), and to visitors to China.

So how many of us will be starting at 350 points due to our boards posts, or should any holiday plans to China involve buying nappies from Alibaba for the preceeding few months?
GDPR legislation notwithstanding, how much of this goes on in the background in Ireland, just less conspicuously.

Fr_Dougal

UK has a similar system, works well.

ressem

The UK has some peer to peer credit schemes, credit union with added tech.

I'm not aware of anything where the UK government can dock you 50 credit points if it considers that you don't take sufficient care of your elderly parents.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/16/china-social-credit-system-ant-financials-sesame-credit-and-others-give-scores-that-go-beyond-fico.html wrote:

"trust-breakers" can face penalties on subsidies, career progression, asset ownership and the ability to receive honorary titles from the Chinese government.
... those who fail to repay debts are punished by travel restrictions.

markodaly

Sounds like an episode of Black Mirror.

ressem

Yeah, Charlie Brooker was asked about it

https://www.thedailybeast.com/black-mirror-creator-charlie-brooker-on-chinas-social-credit-system-and-the-rise-of-trump wrote:

“I did see that!” exclaims Charlie Brooker, the creator of Black Mirror who’s credited with writing (or co-writing) every episode of the show. “They’re going to do the system from ‘Nosedive’ for citizens! It’s incredibly sinister. Am I right in thinking that your ranking is affected by your friends, so if you hang with the wrong crowd, your social ranking will go down? Wow. It’s completely mental.”