I’m just learning about a Chinese government plan to rate every citizen on the basis of their behavior and attitudes. By 2020, the government plans to collect data from multiple points to create a social behavior rating. It is something like what credit agencies do in the United States or how the NSA looks for bad guys. But in the case of China, the additional piece is that the government will clearly rate people for what they write or say on social media sites about the government and other sensitive political topics. Hence, this could become a powerful tool to root out citizens whose patriotism falls short. There’s no way for us in the world outside of China to stop them from doing this. All we can do is call attention to it and hope that the authorities can be persuaded to delay it or modify it. Spread the word.
