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china's social credit scores
  and hi-tech concentration camps

First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up - because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up - because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up - because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up - because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me - and by that time no one was left to speak up.

-Martin Niemoller

This is a quote from Martin Niemoller on the Holocaust. If one group of people can do something insane then other could easily do this as well. All over Europe people were thrown into camps and persecuted. In today's age people are discriminated against on the daily such as ethnic minorities all over the globe.


Shouldn’t we -- as Christians and Muslims who love our neighbors, as conservatives who X, liberals who Y, activists who Z, and as Americans with strong beliefs in freedom -- worry about the Muslims under surveillance in the Xinjiang region just as much as the Alexa unit in our own homes?

 

It’s terrible when the government forces a listening device in a person's home, but in the USA we buy them ourselves. What if we had cameras put in our churches and our neighborhoods because the nation believed we were a danger? The problem we have to answer is where does security end and a surveillance state begin.

IDH Students Explain Social Credit Scores and their Dangers

China and the Great Wall of Censorship

This IDH Special Report -- featuring IDH Development Director Julius Hernandez -- delves deeper into social credit scores and their ramifications.

In America we complain a lot about censorship. While the Facebook algorithm may only show conservative posts to conservatives and vice versa for liberal posts, in China you may not see a particular post in general. Recently, China has banned keywords that have anything to do with religions. Foreigners are also banned from using the internet to spread their faiths within Northern Asia. People will need licenses from the religious affairs departments if they want to “preach and offer religious” minus using livestreams to show ongoing activities of the religion.

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source and further reading: (https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2163961/china-ban-foreigners-preaching-religion-online)

The United States' Dystopian Future is Becoming China's Reality

America’s Dystopian Future is Becoming China’s Reality

Social Credit Score - Sesame Credit

 

"People with low ratings will have slower internet speeds; restricted access to restaurants and the removal of the right to travel" - Rachel Botsman

 

China's new credit score system was due to go live in 2020. What does that mean for their citizens? Well, it means they will be under the watch of around 300 million cameras. Rumor has it, the new national anthem for China will be changed to “Every Breath You Take” by The Police. In reality, every person will be given a score depending on every move they make ranging from paying bills and walking on the streets. Below is just a few thing you can be penalized for, followed by a list of penalties. 

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Violations

  • Paying your bills late

  • Refusing to serve mandatory military service

  • Points deducted if your dog causes public disturbance (Could also have their dog confiscated)

 

Penalties

  • Ban from purchasing travel tickets

  • Stopping social gatherings

  • dating services blocks

  • could lose their right to own a pet

  • Put on a black list of bad citizens 

 

But, as there are penalties there are also some Rewards for good citizens. 

 

Rewards

  • Reduced energy and insurance bills

  • No down payment on hotels

  • Higher priority for trains, airfare, and many other things

  • Higher visibility on dating sites

 

This is may be the dystopian future of America if Big Data and privacy violations are not restricted. Only time will tell how this social credit score “experiment” pans out.


 

“Individuals on Sesame Credit are measured by a score ranging between 350 and 950 points.” see the full story at <https://www.wired.co.uk/article/chinese-government-social-credit-score-privacy-invasion>

The Five ways Alibaba’s algorithm works for determining the individual credit score (source)

 

  • credit history

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  • how users complete contracts

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  • personal characteristics

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  • behavior and preference

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  • interpersonal relationships

social credit INH: This could happen in America

What if everything you do digitally
-- shopping, posting, researching, bookmarking and more --
was carefully quantified
to measure you against others?

what if it controlled your life
dictating jobs, financial credit,
housing, travel,
and even pet ownership?

What if it was real?

china's concentration camps

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