China officially legalized the “Social Credit System”

In China, on January 1, 2021, the country’s first Civil Code entered into force, which enshrines the so-called “Social Credit System”.

Law-abiding, honesty, even consumer behaviourur – the most diverse aspects of a citizen’s life are monitored by the Chinese Social Rating System. In China, on 01.01.2021, a new civil code was adopted, which officially legalized the “System of Social Credit”.

The essence of the idea of Chinese specialists was a proposal to endow the inhabitants of the conditional city N with a certain number of points. This initial number, which guaranteed equal starting conditions for all residents, could either increase or decrease, depending on what the owner “wallet” did useful or harmful.

“A similar system applies to legal entities – companies are checked for compliance with environmental and legal standards. Working conditions and safety at enterprises, their financial statements are also assessed”, – say Reuters journalists.

Now every citizen has a starting rating of 1000 points. A single information centre analyses each of 160 thousand different parameters from 142 institutions. If the rating is more than 1050 points, then you are an exemplary citizen and are marked with the AAA index. From 1000 points you can count on A +, and from 900 – on B.

If the rating fell below 849, you are already a suspicious carrier of category C, who can easily be fired from state and municipal structures. Those who have 599 points and below fall into group D, this is comparable to the “black mark”, since they will not be hired even as taxi drivers.

People with a D rating cannot get a normal job, they are not given loans, they cannot buy tickets for transport, and may even be denied a bicycle rental. For comparison, a person with an A + rating will be given a bike for free and will be allowed to ride it for another half hour without a single yuan. A person with an average rating of C may rent a bike only with a 200 yuan bail.

Majority of citizens are afraid even to talk to people from category D, because someone can tell the authorities about communication with a person from the “black list” and their rating may be lowered. A low rating also will lead to public censure and ridicule: the disclosure of the names of the guilty up to personal informing of friends, colleagues and relatives.

Infographics from historyinfographics.com

Under the new code, the Chinese will receive points for:

• participation in charity activities,
• caring for elderly family members,
• good relations with neighbours and helping the poor,
• donating blood,
• government support on social media,
• having a good financial credit history,
• committing any heroic deed.
• etc.

Citizens can deduct points for:

• violation of traffic rules,
• participating in a protest against the authorities and posting anti-government messages on social networks,
• unsatisfactory care for aging parents,
• spreading rumours and fakes on the Internet,
• insincere apologies for the crimes committed,
• engaging in sectarian activities and cheating in online games.
• etc.

As a reminder, Russia and China residents will not be able to occupy positions in Gitlab that provide access to customer data. China proposes to replace TCP/IP with New IP.