OVERVIEW OF SCS
The Social Credit System--social management
programme launched by the CCP, which aims to
stimulate “sincerity” and “trustworthiness” in society
(State Council, 2014).
Plans to launch the comprehensive system nation-wide
by 2020, with pilot plans established in different
provinces of China starting from 2014.
By July 2018, more than 40 municipal and provincial
governments have launched SCS pilot, creating
“blacklists” and “redlists”for individuals and
organisations based on the trustworthiness of their
behaviors (Kotska, 2019).
Mechanism: Reward-and-punishment system
Citizens rated based on their daily behaviors
Purchase behavior, posts on social media, financial
records, etc.
Scores decide whether they would receive sanctions
or rewards
Sanctions: Limited access to transportation and
financial services
Rewards: Tax reduction or priorities and privileges in
governmental services.
While the Central People’s Government claimed the sole
aim of the system to be raising sincerity and
trustworthiness, many argued that it would be used as a
tool for authoritarian resilience in social management
(Kostka, 2019), and for the government to expand and
uphold its power. Moreover, the restrictions that the SCS
have imposed on blacklisted individuals are often
considered as exploitation and infringement of
freedoms and rights.
BACKGROUND
Beginning of July--> Working group promoting
infrastructure and development in the Greater
Bay Area has proposed a three year plan (20182020), with one of the goal being the
implementation of the Social Credit System in
both Hong Kong and Macau (People’s
Government of Guangdong Province, 2019).
Induced various reactions--anger, fear and
dissent. The issue also inspired immense public
discussions on the systems controversiality.
Although both the Hong Kong Government and
the National Development and Reform
Commission has reassured that the SCS will not
be implemented in Hong Kong due to the
difference in Hong Kong’s and China’s political
system (Apple Daily, 2019; RTHK, 2019), and the
Credit China official website (creditchina.gov.cn)
has removed Hong Kong from the website, public
discussion does not seem to have died down,
especially with the appearance of several
installations of smart lampost in Hong Kong
which are suspected to be surveillance tools.
FACIAL RECOGNITION
TECHNOLOGY, DRONES,
VIDEO SURVEILLANCE AND
SOCIAL NETWORKING
SURVEILLANCE.
SOCIAL CREDIT
SYSTEM IN HKPOSSIBILITIES AND
CHALLENGES
Kon Lam Louisa
Leung Wing
Mok Sze Wai
THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
01 PANOPTICON
Pan(all)-opticon(observing)
Based on a prison architecture invented
by the Bentham Brothers
A circular prison in which prisoners are
placed separately at the periphery and
constantly visible whereas wardens are
invisible, which creates a constant
liability to supervision
"The major effect... is to induce in the
inmate a state of conscious and
permanent visibility that assures the
automatic
functioning
of
power"
(Foucault, 2012 p.195)
02 SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY
A surveillance society is a society
which is organised and structured
using surveillance-based techniques
On behalf of governments, one’s
movements and activities are recorded
by technologies (Wood, et al., 2006)
One's information is then used as a basis
for decisions which affect one's life
chances (e.g. entitlement and access to
benefits, work; movement
through
public and private spaces)
Key characteristics: use of numerous &
new technology, data flow, convergence
of system & data ; social sorting (of
risky populations) ; technological lockin and failure (over-dependence)
03 SCS AS A STATE SURVEILLANCE
INFRASTRUCTURE ?
“Panoptic model” to a “Panspectric model"
because “information is now actively
generated by multiple sensors scattered
across the lives of its subjects” (Creemers,
2017, p. 96)
Employs big data which “Track Everything
about Everyone at All Times.”; blurs the
Interplay Between State and Commercial
Sectors; lead to sanctions predictive
decisions
about
individual
citizens
(Andrejevic & Gates, 2014).)
Three phrases: data collection, data
aggregation, data analytics
Data
collection
stage:
involves
multistakeholder mechanisms by which
public and private data are gathered from
various sources; combination of (giant)
government database and private sector
data sets
Data aggregation: building of several data
platforms for integrating separate data into
a state surveillance infrastructure
Data analytic: allow the evaluation of every
actor in the society and the establishment
of reward and punishment system
Concerns (Liang, Kostyuk & Hussain, 2018):
1. It is unknown whether the data collected will
be used solely for security reasons or for
political ones
2. Risks of data security when personal
information becomes easily obtainable
3. Information asymmetry between those
holding the data and ordinary people
(increased
difficulty
for
countersurveillance)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANDREJEVIC, M., AND K. GATES. 2014. “BIG DATA
SURVEILLANCE: INTRODUCTION.” SURVEILLANCE &
SOCIETY 12 (2):
185–96.
APPLE DAILY. (2019, JULY 21).
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HTTPS://HK.NEWS.APPLEDAILY.COM/LOCAL/DAILY/AR
TICLE/20190721/20734474
控
社會信⽤系統 ⼤灣區港⼈照監
CREEMERS, R. 2017. “CYBER CHINA: UPGRADING
PROPAGANDA, PUBLIC OPINION WORK AND
MANAGEMENT FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY.”
JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY CHINA 26 (103): 85–100.
SOCIAL
CREEMERS, R. (2018). CHINA'S SOCIAL CREDIT SYSTEM:
AN EVOLVING PRACTICE OF CONTROL. AVAILABLE AT
SSRN 3175792
FOUCAULT, M. (2012). DISCIPLINE AND PUNISH: THE
BIRTH OF THE PRISON. VINTAGE.
KOSTKA, G. (2019). CHINA’S SOCIAL CREDIT SYSTEMS
AND PUBLIC OPINION: EXPLAINING HIGH LEVELS OF
APPROVAL. NEW MEDIA & SOCIETY, 21(7), 1565-1593.
LIANG, F., DAS, V., KOSTYUK, N., &
HUSSAIN, M. M. (2018). CONSTRUCTING A DATA‐
DRIVEN SOCIETY: CHINA'S
SOCIAL CREDIT SYSTEM AS A STATE SURVEILLANCE
INFRASTRUCTURE. POLICY & INTERNET, 10(4), 415-453.
PEOPLE’S GOVERNMENT OF GUANGDONG PROVINCE.
(2019). GUANGDONG YINFA TUIJIN YUEGANGAO
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德權澄清絕無此事
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C. (2006). A REPORT ON THE SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY.
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