When George Orwell symbolized a dystopian society as a result of omnipresent governmental surveillance in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, he might have been too optimistic of the technological advancements that would happen over the span of 30 years. Over the past decade, however, we have seen the gap between fiction and reality of this society lessen around the world, as global superpowers have been advancing in their citizen-monitoring capabilities.
While certainly not the first superpower to do so, China has been implementing an incredibly detailed “Social Credit” system in order to monitor and track the status of its 1.4 billion citizens. It keeps an extensive profile on every individual, and monitors their behavior through cameras spread around all of the big cities detecting behavioral patterns through AI algorithms, and through transactions done online and at POS locations. Additionally, it looks at factors such as having a bad credit score, or being late on bills, but even their behavior in traffic, interactions with others on the street, and whether someone visits their parents enough. This mass of generated data is processed to review an individual score of a person, which is used to determine whether a person is eligible for a loan, but even whether he/she is allowed to live in a certain neighborhood, buy plane or train tickets, visit certain locations, have access to specific dating websites with others of a certain score, and many other restrictions in their daily lives. Even playing a video game like Counter Strike Global Offensive will influence a person’s rating, namely, when found cheating in the game, a subject will be punished by having their rating lowered. Social gatherings have even been banned between people of certain scores, to control the civil society and prevent the formation of “illegal governmental organizations.”
Of course, the ethical controversies that stem from this are obvious, but it has been met with surprisingly many supporters in the country. They believe it significantly contributes to a better society, and even state that they themselves have become better people as a result of it.
The United Kingdom, United States, and even The Netherlands have been making use “Predictive Policing” in their own cities, by using algorithms to detect suspicious behavior of people, and keeping profiles on people who have frequently been seen conducting questionable acts. The UK has the most cameras per capita of any country to ensure surveillance is on every corner. While I do believe the benefits outweigh the costs of such an implementation, I can understand why people have trouble accepting the infiltrating feeling such measures have on their daily lives. That does not go for China’s current practice that will be fully implemented in 2020, however, as it goes far beyond the safety of the people zaps the central reason for using such technologies in day to day lives. Where should the line be drawn before we impose a lifestyle where Big Brother is always watching you?
Sources:
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit
https://nos.nl/artikel/2250867-misdrijven-oplossen-met-data-geen-filmscenario-maar-realiteit.html
