Debt Shaming: New "social rating" system and the (dystopic) future of Black Mirror become a reality
ΜIt may sound like a dystopian future from a Black Mirror episode, but it's absolutely true.
Authorities in the Chinese province of Hebei (now a province… with a population of 75 million!) Have announced the launch of a new WeChat application, which will identify anyone in debt(either to the State or to individuals), as broadcast by China Daily.
The program, which has rightly been called the "Debtor's Map", flashes a warning light when someone in debt is within 500 meters of the user - with the app even indicating the exact location of the… indebted debtor, as shown in the following screenshot!
Whether the application reveals the name as well as photos of the debtor is still unclear, while China Daily also does not specify whether it will be published and how much money it owes and to whom - however, according to the newspaper, the app allows people to pay off debtors who are able to pay their debt.
In other words, if you know the "culprit" and believe that he is normally able to repay his debts, you can hand him over to the government to settle him properly.
"It's part of the measures to put our policies into action for a more socially credible environment," said a spokesman for the Hebei Supreme People's Court, which is behind the implementation.
The "Debtors Debt Charter" is China's most recent attempt to develop a "social rating" system based on shame, which is already "running" in much of the country. According to an earlier government report in November, Beijing has an ambitious plan to control China's citizens through a "social score" system that punishes any behavior it disapproves of.
Debt Shaming
Unofficially, the application is called "Debt Shaming" (from debt = debt and shaming = shame) and has already sparked the outcry of the internet in the rest of the world, while in China, at least for now, there does not seem to be any popular reaction.
And in case you're wondering if they will actually use this app, the Chinese so far do not seem to have any problem (or at least seem compatible with it) with using the native communication app (and not only, payments etc) WeChat, which is officially controlled by the government. Any message that offends the government is censored and can even lead to the arrest of the "perpetrator".
However, critics of the Debt Shaming application warn that this new system is full of risks and threatens to shrink human existence, limiting it to nothing more than a… reference card, as noted by Bloomberg.
The good, the bad and the ugly
Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, launched the social rating system earlier this year, rewarding "good social behaviors that benefit society", such as blood donation, healthy lifestyles, volunteer work, and punishing those who break the traffic code, smoke and drink, or speak ill of the government..
By mid-2018, China had blocked more than 11 million flights and 4 million high-speed train journeys to those who scored "poorly" on the social score, according to the relevant Commission.
According to the Beijing plan, various organizations in the country will link their databases in order to have a more detailed record of the socio-economic interactions of the inhabitants.
Talk to the hand
In March, China launched an advanced face recognition system with an even more intimidating name - the so-called SkyNet (as in the well-known movie "The Exterminator"), for the "safety and protection" of the country, as reported by Worker's Daily.
This network of cameras (and not only) is able to scan and identify a person with a success rate of 99,8%, as well as cross it with incredible speed with databases in order to locate a suspect.
From SkyNet to Debt Shaming, China has really taken big steps towards a, if nothing else, dystopian future.
Terminator - 1984
