It’s fascinating to see how far China is still ahead of the curve. “Family registers were in existence in China as early as the Xia Dynasty (c. 2100 BCE – 1600 BCE)” (Wiki). As of 2020, China will implement the Social Credit System, the successor of the ancient huji or hukou system. In the words of a recent Wired article: “Big data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens”.
Originally, the hukou system was a household registration which identified a person as (i) a resident of a certain area and (ii) belonging to a certain family. Subsequently, it developed into a system for categorizing families and clans for purposes of taxation, military service, and social control (Wiki). The hukou system is often labelled as an “internal passport”, also because it looks like one.
Essentially, the current hukou system divides Chinese citizens in having a rural or urban residency status. The immense urbanisation in China caused a mass migration of rural workers and put strains on its hukou system. Guardian, 2014: “China is to overhaul the system that migrant workers say has made them second-class citizens, easing the settlement of 100 million people in cities over the next six years.”
The Technological Revolution of 1800-2100 allows China to make a massive leap forward and create a futuristic hukou system with a total disregard for privacy rights, including a “right to be forgotten“. Wired: “For now, technically, participating in China’s Citizen Scores is voluntary. But by 2020 it will be mandatory. The behaviour of every single citizen and legal person (which includes every company or other entity) in China will be rated and ranked, whether they like it or not.”
The Social Credit System will be built by the Chinese technology giants and is remarkably simple: it uses the collective data of the Chinese Amazon, Chinese Facebook, Chinese PayPal, Chinese Tinder, Chinese Uber, and Chinese WhatsApp. The combination of buying, chatting, dating, paying, social media posting, and transport is used for the ranking & rating of Chinese citizens.
In the next several decades, other countries will (slowly) follow the Chinese example. Integrating government databases is already common to prevent (tax) fraud. The fight against terrorism has required governments to expand such efforts. The forthcoming (voluntary) sale of banking transactions will enable companies to improve their ratings of individuals. Also see my 2016 blog on data ownership and PSD2. Privacy rights is slowly becoming an academic topic.
Technology has always had two faces: efficiency versus control, gadget vs spy, information vs propaganda, master vs slave, and tool vs weapon. To some extent, I am impressed by China’s new Social Credit System: it has perfectly captured technology’s other face. Following deeds and words, the next big step is thoughts (eg, the 1956 book and 2002 movie Minority Report).
Every once in a while, a new technology, an old problem, and a big idea turn into an innovation. A quote by American inventor Dean Kamen.
Ayo Technology (2008) by Milow – artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
Aayooh
I’m tired of using technology,
Why don’t you sit down on top of me
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