[jr2]

... and those of your friends.


https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2015/10/in-china-your-credit-score-is-now-affected-by-your-political-opinions-and-your-friends-political-opinions/

http://reddit.com/r/technology/comments/3nh3vy/in_china_your_credit_score_is_now_affected_by/

[karajorma]

I'm not entirely sure I buy that explanation of how it works though. It's possible it's true, it's possible it's reading way too much into what might be possible.

Putting the score down for buying things like computer games would be Alibaba cutting their own throat. People who don't live in China don't realise quite how much Chinese people use online shopping. It's huge over here because it is cheaper than shopping offline. But if they start putting the score down for buying stuff like that, people will just go back to buying that stuff offline with cash (Chinese people barely use credit cards, it's a pretty much everyday experience to see people buying things with a fat stack of notes here). And with cash, there's not much of a paper trail.

[Mika]

Hello identity thefts!

I don't think it is this far yet, it could be possible, but also quite difficult to implement something like this that doesn't have large rates of backfire. I don't know whether it is even possible to draw a connection between political view point and whether somebody should be allowed to buy something. I mean, the guy could have not so nice opinions of the government, but he still could be buying something that benefits the government.

That and the fact it is difficult to prove somebody's identity in the internet. I don't know how's the China's current Great Firewall working with respect to identity, 10 years ago I had to install a program to my computer to access the internet (world wide access and probably ten Chinese following everything I did there).

Then again, never underestimate the stupidity of politicians

[AtomicClucker]

America maybe terrible, but China's government is still an authoritarian douchebag.

[jr2]

America maybe terrible, but China's government is still an authoritarian douchebag.

...aaaand, you just doubled the interest on karajorma's car loan  (j/k)

[Bobboau]

yeah, hope you weren't planning to make any major purchases.

I guess this actually makes a certain degree of sense, if you are not subservient to the authority in China there is a fairly decent chance you are going to end up in a state where you will be unable to repay your loan.

[karajorma]

I don't buy the original argument. Sure it could be used for that. I just don't agree with the author when he says it IS or WILL BE used for that.

If you’re buying things that the regime appreciates, like dishwashers and baby supplies, your credit score increases. If you’re buying videogames, your score takes a negative hit.

Based on what? Where does it say that? This is a very, very important statement but I don't see any references that back it up. I've already pointed out that I don't believe it cause Chinese people will just take their business elsewhere if they lose credit score just because they bought something online instead of going to a shop. So even if a system is already in place to decide which things the regime doesn't like (And I ****ing doubt it considering that they couldn't stop people selling "Let's **** in the Uniqlo changing room" T-shirts), it's ultimately going to fail cause people will quickly figure out what is on the list and stop buying those things online.

But the kicker is that if any of your friends do this — publish opinions without prior permission, or report accurate but embarrassing news — your score will also deteriorate. And this will have a direct impact on your quality of life.

   

“Sesame Credit, however, also uses other data to calculate the scores, such as a person’s hobbies, interaction with friends, shopping habits and lifestyle.” — Quote from China Daily Asia

This time they at least attempt to backup their rather sweeping statement. But doesn't anyone else see that as over-reach? The "interaction with friends" could mean a **** load of things, I suspect it's going to have a lot more to do with giving out WeChat hongbaos than who says what on WeChat moments. Why is the writer so insistent that it means "You're going to pay for their political views"?

[jr2]

*karajorma's credit now reflects his most informative and factual post.  The Communist Party of China expresses its appreciation and reminds all that listening to far fetched capitalist fabrications is not helpful and is in bad taste.*



   j/k

Yeah, perhaps the article could have just brought up possibilities as to the use of the credit system by the government, instead of making sweeping statements.