Source: Fossbytes
Black Mirror , the dystopian Netflix series based on the terrible path that technology is leading us down, has been prescient more than once . Whether it was successfully predicting ex UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s intimate relations with Pigs or showing a driverless pizza van buzzing around town , many things featured in the show have either shown up in popular culture or are well on the way to becoming a reality. Unfortunately for Chinese citizens one of the most terrifying concepts shown in Black Mirror will soon be true for them.
The idea of a social credit score , as seen in Black Mirror, put all citizens at the mercy of a score made up of an amalgamation of ratings that were given to you whenever you interacted with other people . The episode that described this idea showed an unfortunate woman’s life spiral out of control as she stumbled from one social car crash to another. As her social credit score dropped, so did her access to certain products, services, and even social circles . On May 1 st , this terrifying concept will become a reality in China when bad social credit scores start having a tangible effect on people’s lives .
China’s social credit score is based on social and financial behavior . The first series of acts that’ll have a negative effect on your score include spreading false information, causing trouble on public transportation, using expired travel tickets, failing to pay social insurance, and smoking on trains . Rather terrifyingly the guiding principle behind the scheme is “Once untrustworthy, always restricted.” Those restrictions become real on 1 st May when people with low social credit scores will be unable to travel via plane or train for up to a year.