Nightmarish Black Mirror episode becomes reality as China gives each citizen a 'reputation rating'

vt-author-image

By VT

Article saved!Article saved!

We all rate people in our heads. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t. When an idiot driver speeds past you on the motorway, or when a parent sits back and lets their kid wreak havoc in a public area, these people immediately plummet in your estimations. But what if there was an actual system where an authoritarian government monitored everything you did and scored you to measure how decent a citizen you seemed (with dire consequences for those handed a low score)?

It sounds like a fascinating concept for a budding novelist wishing to follow in the footsteps of dystopian writer George Orwell, or perhaps even a throwback to a certain Black Mirror episode. But rather than fiction, it is actually something that is set to become a horrifying reality in China.

The Chinese government looks set to give each citizen a three-digit score that will determine their place in society. People will be given a score of between 350 (low) and 950 (high), and rewards will be given to those with good scores, while those with less than desirable ratings will be treated like second-class citizens. People's numbers will go up when they do good deeds like donating blood, paying debts on time, charity work, recycling or by spreading positive messages about the country on social media. On the other hand, their figure will shoot down if they do something like cancel a reservation, leave a dishonest review or frequently return clothes to shops.

[[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrpK90bHO2U]]

Although it sounds fairly harmless to begin with, something akin to the credit rating scores in others countries, China's new system will take things a step further and punish people who have low ratings. A citizen’s score could affect how fast their visa gets approved, decide whether or not they are granted entry to the fast lane at airport security and even decide if they are worthy to adopt a pet. Blacklisted citizens are also not to be considered for public office, to lose access to social security and welfare benefits and to be frisked more when passing through customs. Furthermore, there's a chance they could be shut out of senior positions in the food and drug industry, not get beds on overnight trains, not get rooms or tables in highly-starred hotels and restaurants and not get their children into expensive schools.

Chillingly, people will also be monitored on the social connections. If they associate with the wrong crowd of people - for example, if they like a low-ranking friend’s social media post or message someone who has expressed dislike for the Chinese government - it could drastically affect their personal rating. When Wired Magazine interviewed someone already apart of the system, they explained: “They will check what kind of friends you have. If your friends are all high-score people, it’s good for you. If you have some bad-credit people as friends, it’s not nice.”

[[heroimage||http://cdn.junglecreations.com/wp/junglecms/2018/03/china-good-citizens-compressor.jpg||image]]

All in all, people will become the type of citizen the Chinese government wants in their country, or face societal exile. At the current time, the scheme is not yet compulsory and anyone who has joined so far has done so willingly. Yet, although the Chinese government has kept largely schtum on things, reports suggest that the reputation rating will be made mandatory in China by 2020.

The idea has been in the works for years and was unveiled to the public back in 2015 when the government released an outline plan for the construction of a social credit system. Their initial statement on the matter - where they highlighted the country’s need to develop a reliable credit system - didn’t seem worrying at all, given that the People’s Republic were behind the times as far as credit scoring systems went, with many of China’s 1.3 billion residents not owning credit cards and the country lacking an equivalent to the USA's FICO credit score.

According to the initial declaration: ”Planning Outline for the Construction of a Social Credit System (2014-2020)”, issued by the State Council, the Social Credit System would focus predominantly on four main areas: "sincerity in government affairs", "commercial sincerity”, "societal sincerity” and "judicial credibility”. 

At first sight, the proposal seemed perfect as a way to counteract the country’s problems with things like food security, counterfeiting and local abuse. But amid the scheme lay an intended fundamental alteration in the way Chinese society worked. When you cut the long-winded technical lingo down to the bone, the government were planning on instigating a mass surveillance system which would force their citizens to step into line… or else.

The article in Wired Magazine followed several Chinese people who had already signed up to the new system, created by licensing technology companies like e-commerce group Alibaba’s Ant Financial and game developer Tencent. Delving into the dark consequences that low scorers face, they revealed how their score affects everything - and I mean everything - they do.

The writer of the piece, Mara Hvistendahl claims that she "belonged to the digital underclass" after immediately being given a "poor" rating of 550; this meant she had to pay a $30 deposit before she could rent a bike at the cost of 15 cents and had to pay deposits to stay in hotels, rent GoPros or borrow free umbrellas. Likewise, when journalist Liu Hu signed up to Zhima Credit, he was "banned from most forms of travel; he could only book the lowest classes of seat on the slowest trains. He could not buy certain consumer goods or stay at luxury hotels, and he was ineligible for large bank loans."

[[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWxHq5hzOag]]

Unsurprisingly, the sinister penalties have been compared to an episode in Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, which saw people rate interactions with one another. In ‘Nosedive’, people were judged on a five-star system and if their rating dropped too low, they became a second-class citizen; this is seen several times throughout, with one character claiming that her husband was denied vital cancer treatment because he was a 4.3 rather than a 4.4. At the time of its release, the episode seemed brutally cynical, but as information about China's national reputation system hit newsstands, people were quick to compare the two, recoiling in horror as the similarities became clear.

Nonetheless, some have dismissed this as vicious rumours and insist that the new system has been heavily misinterpreted by the western press. They state that, rather than interfering in the lives of citizens, the system would greatly help the hundreds of millions of Chinese people who want access to small business loans or consumer credit, but have no collateral or financial history to prove themselves worthy.

But as everyone knows, an unmonitored government is one that can do whatever it likes. The Chinese people need to be wary of the rating system or else they may find themselves in big trouble for clicking “like” on the wrong status or for forgetting what time was on their parking ticket. Because God knows we’ve all done that.

Nightmarish Black Mirror episode becomes reality as China gives each citizen a 'reputation rating'

vt-author-image

By VT

Article saved!Article saved!

We all rate people in our heads. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t. When an idiot driver speeds past you on the motorway, or when a parent sits back and lets their kid wreak havoc in a public area, these people immediately plummet in your estimations. But what if there was an actual system where an authoritarian government monitored everything you did and scored you to measure how decent a citizen you seemed (with dire consequences for those handed a low score)?

It sounds like a fascinating concept for a budding novelist wishing to follow in the footsteps of dystopian writer George Orwell, or perhaps even a throwback to a certain Black Mirror episode. But rather than fiction, it is actually something that is set to become a horrifying reality in China.

The Chinese government looks set to give each citizen a three-digit score that will determine their place in society. People will be given a score of between 350 (low) and 950 (high), and rewards will be given to those with good scores, while those with less than desirable ratings will be treated like second-class citizens. People's numbers will go up when they do good deeds like donating blood, paying debts on time, charity work, recycling or by spreading positive messages about the country on social media. On the other hand, their figure will shoot down if they do something like cancel a reservation, leave a dishonest review or frequently return clothes to shops.

[[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrpK90bHO2U]]

Although it sounds fairly harmless to begin with, something akin to the credit rating scores in others countries, China's new system will take things a step further and punish people who have low ratings. A citizen’s score could affect how fast their visa gets approved, decide whether or not they are granted entry to the fast lane at airport security and even decide if they are worthy to adopt a pet. Blacklisted citizens are also not to be considered for public office, to lose access to social security and welfare benefits and to be frisked more when passing through customs. Furthermore, there's a chance they could be shut out of senior positions in the food and drug industry, not get beds on overnight trains, not get rooms or tables in highly-starred hotels and restaurants and not get their children into expensive schools.

Chillingly, people will also be monitored on the social connections. If they associate with the wrong crowd of people - for example, if they like a low-ranking friend’s social media post or message someone who has expressed dislike for the Chinese government - it could drastically affect their personal rating. When Wired Magazine interviewed someone already apart of the system, they explained: “They will check what kind of friends you have. If your friends are all high-score people, it’s good for you. If you have some bad-credit people as friends, it’s not nice.”

[[heroimage||http://cdn.junglecreations.com/wp/junglecms/2018/03/china-good-citizens-compressor.jpg||image]]

All in all, people will become the type of citizen the Chinese government wants in their country, or face societal exile. At the current time, the scheme is not yet compulsory and anyone who has joined so far has done so willingly. Yet, although the Chinese government has kept largely schtum on things, reports suggest that the reputation rating will be made mandatory in China by 2020.

The idea has been in the works for years and was unveiled to the public back in 2015 when the government released an outline plan for the construction of a social credit system. Their initial statement on the matter - where they highlighted the country’s need to develop a reliable credit system - didn’t seem worrying at all, given that the People’s Republic were behind the times as far as credit scoring systems went, with many of China’s 1.3 billion residents not owning credit cards and the country lacking an equivalent to the USA's FICO credit score.

According to the initial declaration: ”Planning Outline for the Construction of a Social Credit System (2014-2020)”, issued by the State Council, the Social Credit System would focus predominantly on four main areas: "sincerity in government affairs", "commercial sincerity”, "societal sincerity” and "judicial credibility”. 

At first sight, the proposal seemed perfect as a way to counteract the country’s problems with things like food security, counterfeiting and local abuse. But amid the scheme lay an intended fundamental alteration in the way Chinese society worked. When you cut the long-winded technical lingo down to the bone, the government were planning on instigating a mass surveillance system which would force their citizens to step into line… or else.

The article in Wired Magazine followed several Chinese people who had already signed up to the new system, created by licensing technology companies like e-commerce group Alibaba’s Ant Financial and game developer Tencent. Delving into the dark consequences that low scorers face, they revealed how their score affects everything - and I mean everything - they do.

The writer of the piece, Mara Hvistendahl claims that she "belonged to the digital underclass" after immediately being given a "poor" rating of 550; this meant she had to pay a $30 deposit before she could rent a bike at the cost of 15 cents and had to pay deposits to stay in hotels, rent GoPros or borrow free umbrellas. Likewise, when journalist Liu Hu signed up to Zhima Credit, he was "banned from most forms of travel; he could only book the lowest classes of seat on the slowest trains. He could not buy certain consumer goods or stay at luxury hotels, and he was ineligible for large bank loans."

[[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWxHq5hzOag]]

Unsurprisingly, the sinister penalties have been compared to an episode in Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, which saw people rate interactions with one another. In ‘Nosedive’, people were judged on a five-star system and if their rating dropped too low, they became a second-class citizen; this is seen several times throughout, with one character claiming that her husband was denied vital cancer treatment because he was a 4.3 rather than a 4.4. At the time of its release, the episode seemed brutally cynical, but as information about China's national reputation system hit newsstands, people were quick to compare the two, recoiling in horror as the similarities became clear.

Nonetheless, some have dismissed this as vicious rumours and insist that the new system has been heavily misinterpreted by the western press. They state that, rather than interfering in the lives of citizens, the system would greatly help the hundreds of millions of Chinese people who want access to small business loans or consumer credit, but have no collateral or financial history to prove themselves worthy.

But as everyone knows, an unmonitored government is one that can do whatever it likes. The Chinese people need to be wary of the rating system or else they may find themselves in big trouble for clicking “like” on the wrong status or for forgetting what time was on their parking ticket. Because God knows we’ve all done that.