Beijing will introduce a social rating for residents of the city in 2020

Social rating system on the Black Mirror series: season 3, episode 1

Chinese authorities have previously announced plans to introduce a social rating for all 1.3 billion citizens of the country in 2020. Obviously, these plans are not destined to be realized, and the implementation of the program on a global scale will take much more time. Nevertheless, the cyberpunk system of social ranking of citizens with a computer-based calculation of the value of each citizen for society, depending on his social behavior, is getting closer.

Recently it became known that the capital of the country, Beijing, is going to introduce a lifetime points program until the end of 2020. Each of the 21.7 million residents of the metropolis will be assigned a social rating. The official plan 中共 北京 市委 北京市 人民政府 民政府 印发 《商 商 进 进 商 营 商 商 行动 计划 (2018 年 - 2020 计划) 的 通知 was published on July 18, 2018 on the website of the Beijing Municipal Government.

The social rating system directly implements social justice in the understanding of the Communist Party. People who have a better so-called social credit, will receive benefits through the "green channel", and those who violate the laws and prevent people from living around will face difficulties in life.
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The Beijing project will improve the “black list” systems in which those who are deemed unreliable “cannot take a single step,” according to the government’s plan, the document quoted by Bloomberg.

China has long experimented with systems that evaluate its citizens by encouraging good behavior by increasing access to services, while punishing bad actions with restrictions and fines. Critics say such steps are fraught with risk. As a result, there may appear a system like Big Brother, where the person’s identity is reduced only to his “report card”.

Beijing’s efforts are the most ambitious among more than a dozen cities that promote similar programs.

Hangzhou launched its personal credit system at the beginning of this year, encouraging “pro-social behavior”, such as volunteer work and blood donation, punishing those who violate the rules of the road and take bribes. According to the National Development and Reform Commission, by the end of May 2018, people with bad credit in China were blocked from booking more than 11 million flights and 4 million trips on high-speed trains. That is, bad citizens need to move around the country on less comfortable transport or on foot.

Among other restrictions for people with a low social rating:

• Internet speed regulation
• Ban on studying in the best schools
• Ban on getting better jobs
• Ban on settling in the best hotels
• Public censure
• Decrease in positions on dating sites

Obviously, the list can be expanded. It seems that studying in the best schools, settling in the best hotels and other benefits will be available only to people with good ratings: volunteers in social organizations, blood donors and other citizens who have shown good behavior for society. In general, citizens are positive about the new system.

In accordance with the plan of the Beijing government, various institutions will link databases to get a more detailed picture of the interaction of each resident across the spectrum of services. The proposal calls on agencies, including tourism authorities, regulating business and transit authorities to cooperate with each other.

Every year it is becoming easier for states around the world to track the individual behavior of citizens thanks to the proliferation of non-cash payments, social networks and other electronic communication methods that are easily controlled by authorities and automated systems. In China, the economic life of citizens has largely moved to the Internet with applications such as WeChat Tencent and Alipay Ant Financial, the central hub for making payments, obtaining loans, and organizing transport. Accounts are usually associated with mobile phone numbers, which, in turn, require government identifiers.

However, the final version of the National System of social crediting of China remains uncertain, Bloomberg writes. But as the rules that force social networks and Internet providers to fight anonymity are increasingly used, and face recognition systems are becoming increasingly popular among police authorities, it is becoming easier for authorities to monitor citizens. Identifying dissenters will be easier than ever before.