Answers from Page 29
Chilling Big Brother fear as China trials ‘social credits’
1 A, 2 B, 3 D, 4 A, 5 A, 6 C, 7 C, 8 D, 9 B, 10 B, 11 A, 12 D, 13 D, 14 C. 10-14 CORRECT: You’re sucking diesel and in line for a promotion, sonny. 6-10 CORRECT: You’re on your final warning, fella. Shape up or ship out. 0-6 CORRECT: Mother of God, ATT (at this time) you are not AIO (all in order). My office — now!
IMAGINE being banned from taking a train because you once played music too loudly, or not being able to board a plane because you’ve racked up too many parking tickets.
That’s the chilling world facing China’s residents as a socalled ‘social credit’ system is rolled out.
Beijing’s subways are to begin trials that allow well behaved citizens to board trains before other passengers.
The system ranks each person according to their behaviour – rewarding those who are ‘good’ with the likes of shopping discounts and punishing the ‘bad’ with the loss of access to trains.
Individuals are evaluated in four areas: administrative affairs (such as paying taxes), commercial activities (shopping and credit card bills), social behaviour and the judicial system.
In the Beijing subway trial, passengers will be able to skip mandatory security checks if they qualify for a ‘fast pass’ via good behaviour in public life, according to officials.
Commuters can download the pass on to their phones and facescanning cameras in stations will recognise who should be boarding trains first. But access to the pass can also be lost if passengers engage in ‘uncivilised behaviour’ such as eating on trains or carrying prohibited items.
Xie Yongjiang, head of internet management and legislation research at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication, told state-run newspaper Global Times that the system aims to ‘inspire social trust and improve governance’.
The newspaper said a similar system has been in place in the city of Guangzhou since 2018.
Beijing’s Fuchengmen station has also been trialling the system since 2019, the Times said.
But plans call for the idea to be rolled out across Beijing’s entire subway network which serves around 12million each week. In China’s wider ‘social credit’ system examples of ‘bad’ behaviour include failing to pay bills, getting parking tickets and ‘maliciously’ switching jobs.
Critics say the system is Orwellian, lacks transparency and accountability, and represents a terrifying attempt by the state to interfere in lives. They also point out that it will likely be used to crack down on political dissent.