Nov 21, 2018

Beijing social credit

Beijing plans to roll out an individualized social credit system by 2021:

... Beijing [is] set to adopt a lifelong points program by 2021 that assigns personalized ratings for each resident.

The capital city will pool data from several departments to reward and punish some 22 million citizens based on their actions and reputations by the end of 2020, according to a plan posted on the Beijing municipal government’s website on Monday. Those with better so-called social credit will get “green channel” benefits while those who violate laws will find life more difficult.

Some of the darker implications may not seem so dark to the Beijing government:

The Beijing project will improve blacklist systems so that those deemed untrustworthy will be “unable to move even a single step,” according to the government’s plan.

I sure hope someone involved in this has heard of Goodhart's Law (a).