China bans 23m from buying travel tickets as part of 'social credit' system

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

China bans 23m from buying travel tickets as part of 'social credit' system

People accused of social offences blocked from booking flights and train journeys

Lily Kuo in Beijing
Fri 1 Mar 2019 13.48 GMT Last modified on Fri 1 Mar 2019 23.55 GMT

China blocked 23 million “discredited” travellers from buying plane or train tickets last year as part of the country’s controversial “social credit” system aimed at improving the behaviour of citizens.

According to the National Public Credit Information Centre’s 2018 report, 17.5 million people were banned from buying flights and 5.5 million barred from purchasing high-speed train tickets because of social credit offences. The report released last week said: “Once discredited, limited everywhere”.

The social credit system aims to incentivise “trustworthy” behaviour through penalties as well as rewards. According to a government document about the system dating from 2014, the aim is to “allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step.”

Social credit offences range from not paying individual taxes or fines to spreading false information and taking drugs. More minor violations include using expired tickets, smoking on a train or not walking a dog on a leash.

Local governments and agencies have been piloting aspects of the system, which will eventually give every Chinese citizen a personalised score. Critics saidauthorities in China were using technology and big data to create an Orwellian state of mass surveillance and control.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/01/china-bans-23m-discredited-citizens-from-buying-travel-tickets-social-credit-system

[fierywoman]

1. D'ya think they'd deny spanky trips to Mar al Lago?

[Florida Bull]

2. Yikes!

This seems excessive in government control.

There are some Americans hoping their country loses its global influence, but they should be careful what they wish for. Without a strong U.S. and EU, China and Russia would be in charge. And, they are not as egalitarian and interested in human rights as the countries in North America and Europe are.

[alwaysinasnit]

3. +1000

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. I've been watching this develop ever since I heard about China's 'ghost children"

Briefly, ghost children are those born while china's 2 child per family law was in effect..maybe still is...
So the 3rd or 4th kid was not registered with the state.
Problem was, the parents did not think it all the way through.
If discovered, the only way the kid can become legal is if the parents pay enormous fines, often more money than they will ever make in their lifetime
The extra kids cannot attend school, or hold most jobs, and even run risk of problems when hospitalized because China has increasingly been tracking citizens from birth to death.
once China got the tracking down pretty well, it started "ranking" those they tracked by the "social point" system.

Fascinating system to watch as it develops and a definite warning of how computerized tacking systems can become harmful to a countrie's citizens.

[suffragette]

4. Reminds me of the Black Mirror episode: Nosedive. Except in that, other people gave the ratings.

Not a good way to live.