sesame credit
sesame credit is china’s first system to incorporate online and offline data to generate credit scores .
sesame credit generates a social credit score for users based on
holistic
factors, such as credit history and social networks .
copyright © 2010 - 2018 credit sesame, inc. | all rights reserved .
sesame credit’s release in january followed a government directive last summer calling for the establishment of a “social credit system. ” the directive
sesame credit tracks
financial and consumption activities of our users, and materials published on social media platforms do not affect our users' personal sesame credit score ,
explained spokeswoman miranda shek .
however, sesame credit will not divulge exactly how it calculates its credit scores, explaining that it is a
complex algorithm
.
users with a high sesame credit score can access privileges, such as a deposit waiver on bicycle rental services .
china has created a social tool named sesame credit which gives people a score for how good a citizen they are .
in her research, ahmed, who specializes in chinese internet policy, focused on alipay' s use of sesame credit. both alipay and sesame credit are run by ant financial, which is one of eight companies approved by authorities for social credit experimentation in the private sector .
credit sesame believes access to personal credit information is a consumer' s right. that' s why we continuously provide you with both a free credit score and free credit monitoring. you also get personalized recommendations to help you save money on credit cards, mortgages, and loans .
sesame credit also maintained that user and data privacy remain of utmost importance to the company .
sesame credit only tracks consumption - related activities of users who have signed off to join (the service) ,
the company told cnbc in an email .
“report: her gate has opened for you. her sesame score is 655. ”
every month, credit sesame automatically pulls your data and shows you your credit score for free. we also give you information about your credit cards and loans, so you can take control of your finances with ease .
sesame credit gives users a score based on five dimensions of information: personal information, payment ability, credit history, social networks and behaviors. some are more objective than others .
we repeatedly remind our customers that using sesame credit is voluntary ,
explains the matchmaking site' s vice president, zhuan yirong .
in a trendy neighbourhood in downtown beijing, many were enthusiastic when asked about their sesame credit ratings, proudly displaying them on their mobile phones .
sesame has promoted the consumer benefits of a good credit score, from a prominent dating profile on the baihe matchmaking site to vip reservations with hotels and car rental companies. a mobile phone game designed by sesame credit encourages users to guess whether they have higher or lower credit scores than their friends, encouraging everyone to openly share their ratings .
at credit sesame, your privacy is important. not only do we use industry - standard encryption methods, our security practices are approved by verisign .
thanks for using credit sesame! we update regularly to improve your experience in the app, and help you in the journey to a better financial future .
ant financial tells quartz that sesame credit is not a silly game, but the first system in china to incorporate online and offline data to generate credit scores. scores go up or down based on five categories :
umbers were popping up on my social media feeds as my friends and strangers on weibo and wechat began to share their 芝麻信用分, or “sesame credit scores. ”
the rewards mechanism in the social credit system could also generate higher levels of consumption, ahmed said. while researching online reactions to sesame credit, she said she found plenty of buzz suggesting that users can increase their scores by spending more via alipay. online news platform quartz reported in 2015 that sesame credit did not take into account what users purchased, but the amount of purchases affected scores .
as extra credits explains on youtube :
if you post pictures of tiananmen square or share a link about the recent stock market collapse, your sesame credit goes down .
credit sesame' s trending charts make it easy to see how you' ve improved your financial picture. each month, you can track your loan payments, view your interest rates, check your credit score, review your credit ratios, and see what type of loans you qualify for .
while it’s true that the chinese government intends to create what it calls a “social credit system, ” sesame credit and its competitors (of which there will soon be several) have little to do with such plans—at least for now .
sesame credit, then, works more like a loyalty program than a credit rating system. but it is possible that as its user base (36 million people so far) grows, the scope of its financial impact will extend .
that doesn’t mean you have a better sesame credit score versus [ someone in ] tibet. we don’t discriminate [ based on ] where you are from, ” she says .
using real - time analytics, credit sesame can help you monitor your credit and protect your finances. we review key financial indicators, and then inform you of changes in your credit score or home value. through your choice of real - time, daily, or weekly alerts, we also let you know when better credit card and loan options become available .
credit sesame wants you to know your options, so we' ll show you offers based on your credit profile, your financial goals, and the current market conditions. choose what' s best for your bottom line, and save on credit cards, home loans, auto loans, and more .
stay on top of your finances no matter where you are. your credit sesame account is accessible 24 / 7 on your desktop and through mobile apps on your iphone or android .
it is very convenient ,
one young woman smiled .
we booked a hotel last night using sesame credit and we didn' t need to leave a cash deposit .
there has already been some evidence of chinese citizens competing with one another to get high scores, posting their sesame credit scores on weibo, the chinese equivalent of twitter, quartz reports .
we added some ideas for you to increase your credit limit and build a great foundation for the health of your credit score .
for now, it remains unclear how exactly scores are calculated because algorithms used by sesame credit are blackboxed. unlike alibaba, ant financial is not a public company and as a result, has not come under the same level of scrutiny, ahmed said. as such, information disclosed on sesame credit and the way it might be developed in the future has been relatively vague .
ant financial tells quartz that sesame credit operates independently from the government’s social credit system. that looks to be the case right now—for example, my friend and i are both sesame credit users, but we’re nowhere to be found on the government database. if ant financial is to be trusted, the content of one’s purchases—books or sex toys? —won’t impact one’s ability to get a car loan. creemers says that such a system is unlikely to emerge .
the baihe online dating site encourages users to display their sesame credit scores to attract potential partners; 15 per cent of its users do so. one woman, who works in advertising but declined to be named to protect her privacy, said she had used baihe for more than two years. looking for people who display good sesame credit scores helps her weed out scammers, she said .
finally, when more friends join sesame credit, your score will go up. a score will not go up or down based on the scores or personal information of your friend group, though .
users are encouraged to flaunt their good credit scores to friends, and even potential mates. china' s biggest matchmaking service, baihe, has teamed up with sesame to promote clients with good credit scores, giving them prominent spots on the company' s website .
beyond sesame credit' s reward offerings, public social credit systems offer good - behavior benefits that can be minor conveniences like enhanced borrowing privileges at a local library, or free loaner umbrellas. but rewards can also have greater financial significance like expediting loan application approvals .
sesame credit, a credit - scoring service from alibaba affiliate ant financial, attributes scores to alipay users who have opted into the program. users with higher scores are able to access benefits that run the gamut from waivers on car rental deposits to expedited airport security checks .
i downloaded this app because i’m working on improving my credit score. instead of getting helpful pointers it tells me to apply for more credit cards to increase my available credit — which i don’t need or want. a better suggestion would pay off more of my credit debt which would also increase my available credit. i don’t need another new credit card account tinging my credit score. i don’t think the developers of the app actually understand what to do and how to be credit worthy. another feature is all the emails telling me my chances of being approved for various credit cards. if the developers had knowledge of things that affect my credit score they’d know that new accounts are a huge factor in determining credit score. i’m deleting the app now .
what makes using alipay even more convenient is zhou' s relatively high sesame credit score — 775 out of a possible 950 — that allows her to access a host of privileges unavailable to those with lower scores .
one of the most high - profile projects is by sesame credit, the financial wing of alibaba. with 400 million users, alibaba is the world' s biggest online shopping platform. it' s using its unique database of consumer information to compile individual
social credit
scores .
sesame credit is just one of several provincial - level or private pilot programs in china' s push to develop a nationwide social credit system — even as experts warn of data privacy and transparency concerns. the current implementations are currently unconnected, but may ultimately be combined under government leadership .
and offers little in the way of specific details. what’s clear amid the muddled language is the government’s merging of politics and finance. it’s possible that the government might at some point alter one’s credit rating based on their “morality” or social status. in other words, while sesame credit doesn’t care if you buy sex toys instead of books, the government’s credit system might .
credit sesame' s mission is to empower you to achieve your financial goals. we provide millions of people access to free credit scores, and coach you to grow your financial potential. no credit card is required, and checking your score will not impact it. here is what you can expect, in addition to your free credit score: • free credit report card - we' ll break down your score, and show you what' s impacting your credit. • free credit strategy - once you know where you stand, we' ll give you a custom action plan to take control of your credit. • enhanced alerts - we' ll monitor your credit 24 / 7, and alert you about any important changes to your credit report. • my borrowing power - get personalized recommendations for the best credit cards, mortgage rates, and refinance options. • free id theft protection - you' re always protected with $ 50, 000 in identity theft protection insurance. as featured in... • the wall street journal • the new york times • nbc’s today show • cnn money • cnbc to learn more, visit creditsesame. com. to learn more, visit credit sesame .
we believe consumers have the right to access their financial information. get your free credit score each month, and monitor your credit report at no cost. we' ll also send you daily monitoring alerts about changes to your credit report .
given its potentially dystopic proposition, reactions to the social credit system have varied .
but just because sesame credit operates independently from the government doesn’t mean the government won’t find a way to use it as a monitoring tool. instead of building out a homegrown social credit system, the chinese government might simply wait for ant financial and its competitors to build out massive pools of user data, and then continue to take that data whenever it wants to. creemers says that the political significance of sesame credit lies in this unique arrangement—private internet companies mine data to make money, but the government can readily access this data when it decides to snoop .
“first i will look at his photo, then i will look at his profile, ” she said. “he has to use real - name authentication. but i will trust him and talk to him if he has sesame credit. ”
your free credit sesame account not only helps you monitor and manage your credit, it helps you protect it, too. we give you $ 50, 000 in identity theft insurance, along with fraud resolution assistance. in the event you' re ever a victim of identity theft, we' ve got you covered .
critics say the social credit system is
nightmarish
and
orwellian
. however, some believe that some kind of credit system is badly needed in china .
now that sesame credit is tracking and rating one’s purchases and bill payments, is it possible that it will start tracking more? will it move scores up or down based on one’s social media profile? the answer is more complicated than one might think .
more and more of baihe' s 90 million clients are displaying their credit scores in their dating profiles, doing away with the idea that a credit score is a private matter .
in most countries, the existence of a credit system isn' t controversial. past financial information is used to predict whether individuals will pay their mortgages or credit card bill in the future .
track your credit scores, monitor for id theft and find ways to save. it’s free !
while it declined to disclose the number of alipay users who had activated sesame credit, ant financial claimed it maintained strict measures to ensure a
financial level
of data security to prevent potential leaks, saying that 30 percent of ant financial staff are devoted to security - related work .
while inconveniencing some, the social credit system will likely bring about benefits to the chinese financial system .
a search for “马云” on credit china should bring up alibaba founder jack ma, but it doesn’t .
in spite of the ongoing debate concerning data privacy, netizens in china appear to have taken the system' s kinks in stride. a scan of chinese social media site weibo reflected that the most popular discussions about sesame credit involved people brainstorming how scores could be used to improve a shared bicycle scheme .
and, even more concerning, many didn' t know they were being rated by sesame at all. for now, the pilot credit system is voluntary, though it' s difficult to circumvent. online shopping is a part of life in modern chinese cities and alibaba' s financial payment service is ubiquitous .
various organizations, including the american civil liberties union, have argued that sesame credit is more than just a meme or a game— it’s evidence that the chinese government is enacting a scheme that will monitor citizens’ finances. more frighteningly, some have suggested, one’s political views or “morality” might raise or lower one’s score .
for all its authoritarian overtones, the original rationale for creating the social credit system was considerably more benign .
sesame rates the online financial transactions of those using alibaba' s payment system, in addition to data it obtains from its partners including the taxi service didi kuaidi, rating whether users bothered to settle taxi payments .
i received 588 points, which falls in the lower half of the 350 - 950 range. sesame credit politely tells me that it’s “middle - level credit. ” in other words, it sucks. all it entitles me to is a five - day “svip membership” at an online dating app. of course, i need to download the app and sign in before i have any idea just what the hell “svip membership” means .
those with high rankings can rent bikes or cars without leaving a deposit, and skip lines at hospitals by paying after they leave, according to the post. 15% of users on chinese dating site baihe choose to display their sesame credit score, and that some weed out potential dates based on that measure of trustability .
other experts disagreed, arguing that the social credit system had broader objectives than simply assessing creditworthiness. fico is only concerned with financial solvency, creemers said, whereas
the social credit system tries to affect regulatory compliance .
a spokeswoman from ant financial told cnbc that at present, the amount spent by alipay users did not affect their corresponding sesame credit scores as much as their ability to
fulfill promises in a commercial context .
as the scores are holistic in nature, the ability and willingness of users to repay debts had greater significance, she added .
according to the washington post, eight private companies have created pilot
credit databases
that compile information about individuals .
state media has also echoed reassurance that the social credit system was being developed to nurture a business environment where fraud, counterfeiting and intellectual property theft would be more efficiently tackled. still, local news agency xinhua ultimately acknowledged that given how
credit reward and punishment initiatives
were being implemented differently across cities, the social credit system lacked sufficient regulation .
make better decisions to improve your financial life. we' ll show you what' s impacting your credit score, if you are overpaying on your loans and credit cards, and how your financial picture compares to those of your peers .
despite the outcry in suining, the central government seems determined to press ahead with its plans. part of the reason is economic. with few people in china owning credit cards or borrowing money from banks, credit information is scarce. there is no national equivalent of the fico score widely used in the united states, say, to evaluate consumer credit risks .
the private sector has an interest in encouraging rule compliance, she said, because social credit programs could encourage more consumerism .
the central bank has the financial data from 800 million people, but only 320 million have a traditional credit history .
- included more actions and ideas for you to take to improve your credit score. - see them immediately after you log in .
sesame credit, a subsidiary of e - commerce giant alibaba, is already running a social credit system. according to the bbc, the company determines people' s scores by incorporating a number of factors into its algorithms, including whether someone has gotten traffic tickets, if they' ve paid their taxes, and what they buy online. if you' re constantly buying video games, for instance, you' ll be seen as idle. if you' re buying diapers, you could be considered a responsible parent .
under government - approved pilot projects, eight private companies have set up credit databases that compile a wide range of online, financial and legal information. one of the most popular is sesame credit, part of the giant alibaba ecommerce company that runs the world' s largest online shopping platform. tens of millions of users with high scores have been able to rent cars and bicycles without leaving deposits, company officials say, and can avoid long lines at hospitals by paying fees after leaving with a few taps on a smartphone .
sesame credit’s origins lie in china’s once - barren consumer finance industry. compared to the united states, china’s financial institutions have done little to serve consumers and small businesses. the people’s bank of china— the central bank—runs the country’s only official credit rating system, and as of 2014 it serves only about 300 million people. that’s less than 25% of the total population. in the us, by contrast, 89% of the adult population has a credit score (pdf, pg 24). as a result, many chinese consumers have been saving rather than borrowing or investing. that in turn stunts domestic consumption, a worrying factor amid china’s slowing economy .
my credit is bad so obviously i downloaded this app to keep track and work on it. my score is displayed as “532”. and has been for a month and a half. i went to the bank 2 weeks ago and got a real credit report that said my actual score was 565. i then purchased the “refresh whenever for a week $ 1. 99” option and refreshed everyday and saw no changes. i also paid off a good 60% of my credit usage in the first days of may, and it still tells me i’m utilizing 90% of my credit which is incorrect (last update on may 30). if you’re truly worried about your credit, you should contact your bank. also do not download if you’re expecting an accurate reading of your credit score. : - )
instead, their spokeswoman issued a statement, discounting persistent rumours that the organisation monitors users' social media activity when assessing their social credit .
earlier this year, the bbc reported the chinese governmennt was building a
social credit
system to rate each citizen' s trustworthiness .
zhou, the frequent alipay user, put it this way :
i think it' s a great service … to generate a direct credit score can produce lots of value in different areas, like borrowing money on certain days interest free (and) applying for credit cards .
a report in the washington post in late october stated that a rating involving a loss of points could determine “whether you can borrow money, get your children into the best school or travel abroad; whether you get a room in a fancy hotel, a seat in a top restaurant—or even just get a date. ” it adds that a popular online dating site “encourages users to display their sesame credit scores to attract potential partners. ”
my credit is bad so obviously i downloaded this app to keep track and work on it. my score is displayed as “532”. and has been for a month and a half. i went to the bank 2 weeks ago and got a real credit report that said my actual score was 565. i then purchased the “refresh whenever for a week $ 1. 99” option and refreshed everyday and saw no changes. i also paid off a good 60% of my credit usage in the first days of may, and it still tells me i’m utilizing 90% of my credit which is incorrect (last update on may 30). if you’re truly worried about your credit, you should contact your bank. also do not download if you’re expecting an accurate reading of your credit score. : -) forgot to mention i paid off all of a car loan ($ 3000 +) at the end of april and it still hasn’t changed on this app .
proponents of the plan, like chinese blogger wenquan xin, say the system is needed because many of china' s 1. 3 billion citizens don' t own a credit card, and the country lacks an equivalent system to the us' fico credit score. that means bankers and loan providers don' t have much to go on .
current tentative steps to test the new system have raised questions about its implementation and reach. obvious issues include defining the criteria that would be applied to rate citizens, the government and social institutions that would perform the ratings, and the impact of those ratings on citizens’ business and professional activities and on their lives in general. a key component of the new system will be taking traditional credit - scoring and adding other data points. sesame credit, an affiliate of e - commerce titan alibaba, currently surveys online shopping habits and, if users consent, posts their education levels and legal records. businesses and some individuals such as lawyers, accountants, teachers and journalists would receive closer scrutiny of their professional behavior .
while the actual workings behind the development of the system remain opaque, the idea of building trust is a common thread that runs through planning reports on social credit across multiple government agencies. the state council, effectively china' s cabinet, described social credit as an
important component of the socialist market economy system … (for) establishing the idea of a sincerity culture
in a planning outline published in 2014. it said this was necessary so that
the honest mentality and credit levels of the entire society
could be raised .
someone who plays video games for 10 hours a day, for example, would be considered an idle person, and someone who frequently buys diapers would be considered as probably a parent, who on balance is more likely to have a sense of responsibility ,
li yingyun, sesame' s technology director told caixin, a chinese magazine, in february .
but china is taking the whole concept a few steps further. the chinese government is building an omnipotent
social credit
system that is meant to rate each citizen' s trustworthiness .
that system isn' t in place yet. for now, the government is watching how eight chinese companies issue their own
social credit
scores under state - approved pilot projects .
the company refused to give an interview to the bbc, citing concerns that the government would refuse to grant a permanent licence to issue credit scores if it engaged with the foreign media .
ahmed, the doctoral candidate at berkeley, said social credit relied on input that was too loosely - defined, which could result in
culturally specific restrictions
baked into the system .
the suining government later told state media that it had revised the project, still recording social credit scores but abandoning the a - to - d classifications. officials declined to be interviewed for this article .
after the project met with domestic backlash, local authorities adapted the system by removing the letter grade classification. the social credit scores, however, continue to be recorded, according to the washington post .
the government and private companies have jumped into the void. beijing has given 10 private companies hoping to launch internet - based credit ranking systems the green light, including ant financial and tencent (paywall) .
many people don' t own houses, cars or credit cards in china, so that kind of information isn' t available to measure ,
explains wen quan, a blogger who writes about technology and finance .
and those rules are not just hypothetical. parts of the social credit mechanism have already been put into practice, according to rogier creemers, a researcher specializing in chinese law and governance at the van vollenhoven institute at leiden university .
the ambition is to collect every scrap of information available online about china' s companies and citizens in a single place – and then assign each of them a score based on their political, commercial, social and legal “credit. ”
a planning document from china' s state council explained the credit will
forge a public opinion environment that trust - keeping is glorious
and warned the
new system will reward those who report acts of breach of trust
.
another story about suining demonstrates that development of the social - credit - rating system is still in an experimental stage. late last month an article in the global times, which is published by the state - run people’s daily, criticized the washington post report for misinterpreting the system as “orwellian. ” the global times argued that the aim is to establish a “well - functioning credit system” that is needed for “a mature economy [ and ] is an assertive move for the common good. ”
perhaps it is good for all citizens to learn quickly about the concept of a
social credit
score, while it is still partly voluntary. within five years, the government' s mandatory system will rank everyone within china' s borders .
a lengthy planning document from china' s elite state council explains that social credit will
forge a public opinion environment that trust - keeping is glorious
, warning that the
new system will reward those who report acts of breach of trust
.
and as for me? even if my crappy credit score doesn’t mean much now, it’s in my best interest i suppose to make sure it doesn’t go too low. so—why not? —i’ll start buying more stuff on taobao. hmm, perhaps this book :
the chinese government is planning on implementing a system that connects citizens' financial, social, political, and legal credit ratings into one big social trustability score. the idea would be that if someone breaks trust in one area, they' d be adversely affected everywhere .
the global times labels the suining experiment a “flash in the pan” that “met with public backlash” and is a warning to chinese authorities. the inclusion of “people’s political positions, which have nothing to do with credit” led to the need for revision, and suggests that the system needs to be “meticulously restricted. ” it should touch on the people’s economic activities and “part of their social life that are clearly defined and widely recognized. ” it concludes that setting up a credit system “needs more wisdom to do it well at low political and economic risks. ”
without a system, a conman can commit a crime in one place and then do the same thing again in another place. but a credit system puts people' s past history on the record. it' ll build a better and fairer society ,
she promises .
under the social credit plan, the punishments are less severe – prohibitions on riding in “soft sleeper” class on trains or going first class in planes, for example, or on staying at the finer hotels, travelling abroad, or sending children to the best schools – but nonetheless far - reaching .
despite the directive, not much has come in the way of implementation. on june 1, the state information center introduced a website where people can search for the credit histories of individuals and enterprises, along with information on who has dodged taxes and failed to follow court rulings. the website, called credit china (link in chinese), introduces itself as a window for the government to “praise honesty [ and ] punish dishonesty. ” china’s central bank and top planning agency are behind it. tech giant baidu, which runs the country’s most popular search engine, is in charge of the technical support and maintenance .
part financial credibility indicator and part compliance mechanism, the social credit system aims to generate a score for individuals and institutions in china based on data like tax filings and driving demerits. and while consumers may reap rewards, the score also functions as a signal mechanism for authorities about whom or what deserves to be penalized .
that result works on two levels. firstly, social credit serves as a means of allaying purchasing fears since
trust - breakers
would be removed from the marketplace thanks to penalty mechanisms. that' s pertinent given china' s patchy history of legal compliance, which has seen luxury goods and even baby formula counterfeited .
the third and fourth categories measure timely payments on bills and credit cards, respectively. many alipay users pay their bills through the mobile app and receive reminders through push notifications on their phones. failing to pay a bill on time will cause one’s score to go down, and is probably the most important category, the spokeswoman implied: “we
in addition to a numerical score, users can see via a diagram (below) roughly how well they did in the various categories. this is shown with a pentagon - shaped diagram. going clockwise from the top, the categories are personal identity, contract payments (bills), credit card payments, social engagement, and shopping habits .
this is a good free service if youre just starting to focus on your credit. most of the information for my debts and accounts are fairly accurate. however, i also have access to my fico score through my car note holder. . and their score is 60points higher! of course this may not reflect as much because i dont pay for the premium services, but basically if you have a good score here - you might have an even higher score in all actuality. thats why i keep the app to have a reference point if i can get this score to reflect the fico then my score should be substantially better! i will credit this app with helping me make a 457 into a 650 in under one year! with help getting a secure card, and knowing whos holding my debts and what exactly i had to pay. they make this information very easy to understand. i had a lot of misconceptions about the reporting process, and this is a very clear concise way to help learn what makes a credit score .
but the narrowing of that distance raises expectations, says creemers, who adds that the party could be biting off more than it can chew. assigning all of china' s people a social credit rating that weighs up and scores every aspect of their behaviour would not only be a gigantic technological challenge but also thoroughly subjective – and could be extremely unpopular .
the chinese government is taking the first steps in an evolving plan to employ big data to establish a nationwide system of mass surveillance of the entire population. this “social - credit system” would mobilize technology to collect information on all citizens and use that information to rate their behavior, including financial creditworthiness and personal conduct. the local experiments have provoked mixed reactions .
china has gamified being an obedient citizen with the creation of sesame credit. it creates a social score that pushes people to behave the way the government wants. though currently opt - in, it will become mandatory in 2020. subscribe for new episodes every wednesday! urltoken (- - - more below) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ get your extra credits gear at the store! urltoken play games with us on extra play! urltoken watch more episodes from this season of extra credits! urltoken contribute community subtitles to extra credits: urltoken... talk to us on twitter (@ extracreditz): urltoken follow us on facebook: urltoken get our list of recommended games on steam: urltoken _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ would you like james to speak at your school or organization? for info, contact us at: contact @ urltoken _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ♪ intro music :
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even though the technology in
nosedive
isn' t here yet, china' s social credit scores could one day contribute to the sort of culture we saw in
black mirror .
and if the episode' s finale is any good predictor of the outcome, the system might not end happily for those who step out of line with popular opinion .
a bigger issue could be that the social credit system could fail to address the very problem it was created to tackle. the system was built on the idea that the more known about individuals, the easier governing becomes, but creemers suggested it could actually be more difficult to assess what a single score stands for when it encompasses such a wide scope of data .
a substantial proportion of china' s population remains unbanked and parts of the economy are largely cash - based: some 21 percent of the population did not have an account at a financial institution in 2014, according to the world bank. a social credit regime could strengthen the credibility of the chinese financial system by enforcing legal compliance and ultimately, building trust in the marketplace .
despite that, backlash to the social credit system has been fierce with many western media outlets highlighting the dystopian - sounding nature of the state taking a role in monitoring and policing citizen behavior. in response, state - run tabloid global times ran an op - ed that the system
won' t be orwellian
and such an interpretation by the west was
warped .
but so far credit china hasn’t compiled enough data to serve as a useful reference in most cases. searching the site reveals mostly small businesses and random individuals, but it’s not clear how many. clicking on the name of an individual or business reveals two categories titled “positive record, ” and “negative record, ” but all of the fields were empty for every business and name we examined .
this is not the dystopian superstate of steven spielberg' s minority report, in which all - knowing police stop crime before it happens. but it could be china by 2020. it is the scenario contained in china' s ambitious plans to develop a far - reaching social credit system, a plan that the communist party hopes will build a culture of “sincerity” and a “harmonious socialist society” where “keeping trust is glorious. ”
the declared aim of this ambitious plan for a social - credit system is to build a “culture of sincerity. ” at this stage in china’s history, it is questionable whether the party - state can build any kind of culture. the center cannot effectively control local governments, a large share of economic profits is going to the wealthy, corruption remains widespread and neither the economy nor the populace will tolerate the absence of rule of law indefinitely .
a prominent example of business fraud that is noted by the wall street journal article is frequent violation of food - safety regulations, which are now experimentally monitored on touch - screens in restaurants in the shanghai district mentioned above. at the same time, the experiment demonstrates some of the difficulties in creating the social - credit system: in one restaurant, the touch - screen was intentionally obscured—because the restaurant’s health rating had been erroneously downgraded, but the error had not been corrected .
xuecun' s criticism of the government won him millions of followers on weibo, china' s equivalent of twitter, until the censors swung into action. he fears the new social credit plan could bring more problems for those who dare to speak out. “my social - media account has been cancelled many times, so the government can say i am a dishonest person, ” he said. “then i can' t go abroad, and can' t take the train. ”
at the heart of the social credit system is an attempt to control china' s vast, anarchic and poorly regulated market economy, to punish companies selling poisoned food or phony medicine, to expose doctors taking bribes and uncover con men preying on the vulnerable. “fraud has become ever more common in society, ” lian weiliang, vice chairman of the national development and reform commission, the country' s main economic planning agency, said in april. “swindlers have to pay a price. ”
china is launching a comprehensive “credit score” system, and the more i learn about it, the more nightmarish it seems. china appears to be leveraging all the tools of the information age—electronic purchasing data, social networks, algorithmic sorting—to construct the ultimate tool of social control. it is, as one commentator put it, “authoritarianism, gamified. ” read this piece for the full flavor—it will make your head spin. if that and the little other reporting i’ve seen is accurate, the basics are this :
the experiment has already encountered criticism and resistance. a project in suining county in jiangsu province awarded citizens with points for good behavior (including being classified as a model citizen or worker) and assigned demerits for bad behavior such as causing a disturbance that blocks party or government offices, running red lights, driving while drunk, paying a bribe or falsely accusing others. citizens were classified according to four levels ranging from a to d. the a - to - d classifications were abandoned after citizens objected, but social - credit scores are still being recorded under the plan .
the new social - credit system may include “black marks for infractions such as fare cheating, jaywalking and violating family - planning rules, ” according to an article in the wall street journal. the article quotes planning documents stating that the system would “allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step. ” it is no wonder that one chinese human rights - activist is quoted as saying “tracking everyone that way, it is just like ‘1984’. ” (the famous novel published in 1949 by george orwell imagines a mythical regime that spies on all of its citizens using omnipresent surveillance. )
the united states is a much different place than china, and the chances that our government will explicitly launch this kind of a program any time in the near future is nil, but there are consistent gravitational pulls toward this kind of behavior on the part of many public and private u. s. bureaucracies, and a very real danger that many of the dynamics we see in the chinese system will emerge here over time. on the government side, for example i have written about how the tsa’s airline passenger “whitelist” system could evolve in this direction. in the private sector, frank pasquale notes that elements of its judgment - and - reward system already exist in the u. s. private - sector credit scoring infrastructure .
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warning: this post contains slight spoilers for the first episode of
black mirror
season 3 .
in the third season of popular british television series
black mirror ,
the first episode features an eye - embedded app that lets people rate their interactions with one another and share status updates. it' s like facebook, instagram, and yelp combined — with serious stakes .
characters who act nice and don' t appear smarmy can get five stars. but if they act negatively, they' ll face one - star reviews. if someone drops too low, they become a kind of second - class citizen — they' re socially shunned, shuttered out of workplaces, forced to pay a premium on leases, and penalized in myriad other ways .
like many
black mirror
episodes, this one takes a present tech - related paranoia to its extreme. but in china, a similar system could soon become a reality .
this preferential treatment for higher - rated people is very similar to the scenario depicted on
black mirror .
the chinese plan for a more widespread scoring system has been in the works since 2015. but in september, the government released bullet points of proposed penalties for those who
breaks social trust
( which could be done by defaulting on a loan, for example, or voicing a dissenting opinion against the government online) .
in the
black mirror
episode, titled
nosedive ,
the purpose of a universal ratings system is ostensibly to incentivize untrustworthy individuals in a society to shape up to what other members consider good .
but the irony in the episode is that the system ends up creating a culture of disingenuity — a
numbers game
where people kiss up to popular folks to raise their social standing, rather than simply striving to be a better person .
the communist party wants to encourage good behaviour by marking all its people using online data. those who fall short will be denied basic freedoms like loans or travel
imagine a world where an authoritarian government monitors everything you do, amasses huge amounts of data on almost every interaction you make, and awards you a single score that measures how “trustworthy” you are .
in this world, anything from defaulting on a loan to criticising the ruling party, from running a red light to failing to care for your parents properly, could cause you to lose points. and in this world, your score becomes the ultimate truth of who you are – determining whether you can borrow money, get your children into the best schools or travel abroad; whether you get a room in a fancy hotel, a seat in a top restaurant – or even just get a date .
a high - level policy document released in september listed the sanctions that could be imposed on any person or company deemed to have fallen short. the overriding principle: “if trust is broken in one place, restrictions are imposed everywhere. ” a whole range of privileges would be denied, while people and companies breaking social trust would also be subject to expanded daily supervision and random inspections .
the government hasn' t announced exactly how the plan will work – for example, how scores will be compiled and different qualities weighted against one another. but the idea is that good behaviour will be rewarded and bad behaviour punished, with the communist party acting as the ultimate judge. this is what china calls “internet plus, ” but critics call a 21st - century police state .
harnessing the power of big data and the ubiquity of smartphones, ecommerce and social media in a society where 700 million people live large parts of their lives online, the plan will also vacuum up court, police, banking, tax and employment records. doctors, teachers, local governments and businesses could additionally be scored by citizens for their professionalism and probity .
“china is moving towards a totalitarian society, where the government controls and affects individuals' private lives, ” said beijing - based novelist and social commentator murong xuecun. “this is like big brother, who has all your information and can harm you in any way he wants. ”
yet in communist china, the plans inevitably take on an authoritarian aspect: this is not just about regulating the economy, but also about creating a new socialist utopia under the communist party' s benevolent guidance.
sesame credit is a social credit scoring system being developed by ant financial services group , an affiliate of the chinese alibaba group and associate of the chinese government . it uses data from alibaba 's services to compile its score , which include two services that have been described as the equivalents of twitter and facebook in china and another service that has been described as the equivalent of amazon and ebay . the score is used to rank citizens of china based on a variety of factors like loyalty to the chinese government and loyalty to chinese brands based on social media interactions and online purchases . the rewards of having a high score include easier access to loans , easier access to jobs and priority during bureaucratic paperwork . likewise , the immediate negative consequences for a low score , or being associated to someone with a low score , range from lower internet speeds to being denied access to job offers , loans and bureaucratic paperwork . the system has been labeled a mass surveillance tool and mass disciplinary machine by organizations specialized in human rights . baihe.com , a chinese matchmaking company , uses sesame credit data as part of its service . 
sesame credit is a social credit scoring system being developed by ant financial services group, an affiliate of the chinese alibaba group and associate of the chinese government. it uses data from alibaba's services to compile its score, which include two services that have been described as the equivalents of twitter and facebook in china and another service that has been described as the equivalent of amazon and ebay. the score is used to rank citizens of china based on a variety of factors like loyalty to the chinese government and loyalty to chinese brands based on social media interactions and online purchases. the rewards of having a high score include easier access to loans, easier access to jobs and priority during bureaucratic paperwork. likewise, the immediate negative consequences for a low score, or being associated to someone with a low score, range from lower internet speeds to being denied access to job offers, loans and bureaucratic paperwork. the system has been labeled a mass surveillance tool and mass disciplinary machine by organizations specialized in human rights. baihe.com, a chinese matchmaking company, uses sesame credit data as part of its service.
sesame credit is a social credit scoring system being developed by ant financial services group, an affiliate of the chinese alibaba group and associate of the chinese government. it uses data from alibaba's services to compile its score, which include two services that have been described as the equivalents of twitter and facebook in china and another service that has been described as the equivalent of amazon and ebay. the score is used to rank citizens of china based on a variety of factors like loyalty to the chinese government and loyalty to chinese brands based on social media interactions and online purchases. the rewards of having a high score include easier access to loans, easier access to jobs and priority during bureaucratic paperwork. likewise, the immediate negative consequences for a low score, or being associated to someone with a low score, range from lower internet speeds to being denied access to job offers, loans and bureaucratic paperwork. the system has been labeled a mass surveillance tool and mass disciplinary machine by organizations specialized in human rights. baihe.com, a chinese matchmaking company, uses sesame credit data as part of its service.