BY: CLAIRE KIM
“Big Brother,” they say…
We’ve all heard of China’s Corporate Social Credit System.
Organized by China’s Communist Party themselves, this system leverages the government to probe all private information of Chinese citizens through the use of big data. It’s complex; points are accumulated based on the merit of one’s actions, leading to rewards, but also punishments. While this system has erupted constant controversy from numerous countries over the government’s lack of hands-off restrictions on the public, ever since the coronavirus pandemic, tensions have eased quite severely as the system seems to prove its ability to track virus-exposed victims. Already registered with IDs of their Chinese citizens, China’s credit system has allowed health officials to virtually track all patients that may or may not be at risk of having the coronavirus through a simple swipe and scan. Along with other factors, this system has given China a huge advantage in the race to stop the domino-effect of the coronavirus, leading some nations to commend their forward-thinking and innovative method. However, what stifles the rest of the crowd from applauding China’s success is the fear of China’s future plans with privacy: an acceleration towards a society that is even more tightly-secured and faceted with techno gear. In short, a society that resembles that of the fictitious world in 1984 led by the one and only, Big Brother.
While the prominence of the coronavirus in China has dwindled in the past few months, the continued use of their strict-credit system has elevated fears from both the Chinese public and the surrounding nations. It’s fair to say that China’s government doesn’t feel the need to withdraw their current provisions; in fact, a prolonging of their highly-obstructive system seems to be a plan intact for their future.
claire kim. 