scholarly journals State Control by Stealth in the Big Data Era – From WeChat to the Social Credit System in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 88-109
Author(s):  
Grace Li
Keyword(s):  
Legal Framework ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Credit System ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
Privacy Laws ◽  
Legal Perspective ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Abuse

This paper begins with a brief study on the development of the Chinese all-in-one app, WeChat, explaining how WeChat secured its popularity as the multi-functional ubiquitous mobile app in China. By using WeChat as an example, this paper further studies how the Social Credit System (SCS) in China was established out of collaboration between the Chinese government and eight entrusted private companies. This paper then analyses and evaluates the SCS from a socio-legal perspective, focusing on two key implications: the opaque algorithms and the potential abuse of power. The paper argues that the SCS needs to first gain trust from Chinese citizens. A starting point would be immediate action to standardise and reduce the opacity of the prototype. To enhance the longevity and effectiveness of the SCS, developing a legal framework to prohibit potential information misuse by the State and the entrusted companies is crucial: it needs to be put in place sooner rather than later. In constructing the much-needed legal framework, developing privacy laws is certainly a core step, but the framework needs more than just privacy laws. One crucial safeguard is the requirement for an independent tribunal or ombudsman to deal with credit-related complaints fairly and efficiently.  

scholarly journals Social Credit System in the People's Republic of China: normative legal framework and principles of functionality

2020 ◽  
pp. 18-53
Author(s):  
Roman Z. Rouvinsky ◽  
Tatiana Komarova
Keyword(s):  
Legal Framework ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Credit System ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
The Social

This article examines the normative legal framework and principles of functionality of the Social Credit System that is currently being implemented in the People's Republic of China. For the first time in legal science, the Social Credit System is viewed not as an organizational and regulatory technique that in one or another way is related to law, but rather as an independent legal institution relevant to the branch of administrative law. The application of formal-legal and comparative-legal methods allows describing the hierarchy of sources of the Chinese law pertaining to social credit mechanisms and procedures, as well as giving characteristics to major provisions of the corresponding normative acts. The peculiarities of legal regulation of the mechanisms and procedures that comprise the Social Credit System in PRC include the following aspects: sublegislative nature of such regulation, prevalence of joint lawmaking, focal role of normative legal acts of the Chinese government, declarative character and ambiguity of multiple legal provisions with regards to the Social Credit System. The author underline the specificity of interpretation of the normative legal acts of the People's Republic of China, usage by the lawmaking branches of moral categories in formulation of provisions for regulation of elaboration and implementation of the social credit mechanisms. The provisions of governmental and departmental normative legal acts pertaining to the Social Credit System are correlated with the provisions of the current Constitution of the People's Republic of China.

The social credit system in China: a model of constitutionalism for the era of crises

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-85
Author(s):  
Roman Ruvinskiy
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
State Power ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Political Subjectivity ◽  
Credit System ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
State Of Affairs

This paper focuses on the probable transformative effects of the application of the Chinese Social Credit System and similar projects in the realm of public administration on constitutional rights and freedoms, balances in citizen-state relations, and the model of statehood. The starting point of the research is the assumption that the Social Credit System, despite its specifically national Chinese peculiarities, can be seen as a reflection of a broader tendency towards the use of reputational information, techniques of ranking (grading) and risk management in the process of exercising the state power. To test this hypothesis, the author analyzes the actual experience of the Social Credit System’s introduction in the People’s Republic of China, compares this project with e-government projects, and proposes the umbrella-term of “social-credit mechanisms” to describe procedures and means of social control, based on the permanent collection and analysis of reputation data relating to persons. It is argued in this paper that the introduction of social-credit mechanisms to the practice of public administration ultimately leads to the emergence of a gap between formally enshrined rights and the actual ability to exercise them, between the legal capacity of a person and the ability to realise this capacity in certain legal relations. Examining the prospects of introduction of reputation-based social-credit mechanisms to the public administration, the author notices the probability of discrimination against persons who took a false step. As is demonstrated in the paper, the use of reputation data and social ratings by state authorities may result in the gradual differentiation in quality and scope of public services depending on social ratings (grades) of their addressees. This state of affairs may signify the birth of a new caste society and the end of the principle of equality before the law. According to the conclusions made in the paper, projects akin the Chinese Social Credit System reflect the global tendency towards the formation of a new type of constitutionalism. In the framework of this new constitutionalism the main emphasis will be shifted from citizens’ democratic participation in the execution of state power and the citizenry’s political subjectivity to ensure public safety and social stability. The issue of social-credit mechanisms’ introduction to the process of public administration is de facto an issue between the values of freedom and the values of security — the issue of choosing between political subjectivity and guaranteed biological existence.

Human rights and biometric data. Social credit system

2020 ◽  
pp. 36-50
Author(s):  
Olga O. Bazina
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Credit System ◽  
Biometric Data ◽  
General Data Protection Regulation ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
The Social

Biometrics, as a field of science, analyzes the physical and behavioral characteristics of people in order to identify their personality. A huge amount of technology in the field of biometric data collection is developed by IT giants like Google, Facebook, or Alibaba. The European Union (EU) took an important step towards biometric data confidentiality by developing a unified law on the protection of personal data (General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR). The main goal of this action is to return control over personal data to European citizens and at the same time simplify the regulatory legal basis for companies. While European countries and organisations are introducing the GDPR into force, China since 2016 has launched a social credit system as a pilot project. The Social Credit Score (SCS) is based on collecting the maximum amount of data about citizens and assessing the reliability of residents based on their financial, social and online behavior. Only critical opinions can be read about the social credit system in European literature, although the opinions of persons being under this system – Chinese citizens – are quite positive. In this context, we should not forget about the big difference in the mentality of Asians and Europeans. The aim of this article is to compare EU law and the legislation of the People's Republic of China regarding the use and storage of biometric data. On the basis of statistical data and materials analysed, key conclusions will be formulated, that will allow to indicate differences in the positions of state institutions and the attitude of citizens to the issue of personal data protection in China and the European Union.

The Fourth Internet: The Beijing Paternal Internet

2021 ◽  
pp. 125-144
Author(s):  
Kieron O’Hara
Keyword(s):  
Government Policy ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
Internet Governance ◽  
Credit System ◽  
Security Technology ◽  
Technology Infrastructure ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
The Social ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Belt And Road

This chapter describes the Beijing Paternal Internet. The ideal consists of respect for public values. The exemplar is China, whose Confucian heritage values hierarchy and social stability. China’s Communist Party asserts legitimacy via its claimed technocratic efficiency, and aims to restore China’s position as a regional and global superpower; it is playing more of a role in global Internet governance. Much of the Chinese Internet is run by private-sector giants like Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu, but their activities have to align with government policy. The rule of law is weak, surveillance and censorship ubiquitous, and data-protection laws keep data about Chinese citizens available for government use. Citizens cooperate in monitoring, for example with the social credit system. The Belt and Road Initiative, a global technology infrastructure strategy, helps export Chinese ideas, including surveillance and security technology. Many governments other than China’s have paternal intentions for the Internet.

Social mobility will fall for China’s disadvantaged

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Credit System ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
High Level

Subject Social mobility in China. Significance So far, the Communist Party leadership has only addressed the most extreme manifestations of inequality -- high-level corruption and rural poverty. It has not tackled a wide range of social, economic and institutional barriers to social mobility that affect hundreds of millions of people across the country. Impacts Members of China’s middle class are already approaching the limits of their upward mobility. The social credit system could evolve in a way that exacerbates the divide between the economically advantaged and disadvantaged. The campaign to eliminate absolute poverty will do little to address the problem of relative poverty in urban areas.

scholarly journals A NOVEL DECISION-MAKING FRAMEWORK BASED ON PROBABILISTIC LINGUISTIC TERM SET FOR SELECTING SUSTAINABLE SUPPLIER CONSIDERING SOCIAL CREDIT

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Yuanxiang Dong ◽  
Xumei Zheng ◽  
Zeshui Xu ◽  
Weijie Chen ◽  
Hongbo Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Credit System ◽  
Probabilistic Linguistic Term Set ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
Sustainable Supplier Selection ◽  
Linguistic Term ◽  
Decision Making Framework

Sustainable supplier selection (SSS) has become an essential task for decision-makers in competitive environments. We construct a new decision-making framework for SSS. First, classical SSS usually includes fixed factors in environmental, social and economic dimensions. Differently, we adopt new social factors from credit perspective with corporate social credit system being promoted vigorously by the Chinese government. Next, we employ probabilistic linguistic term sets (PLTSs) to collect experts’ judgments about interactive influence between factors. Third, we combine PLTSs with Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method to identify critical success factors (CSFs) for improving decision-making efficiency. And we also give definition to relative importance degree, standard relative importance degree, deviation of importance degree and influence degree to reflect the interactive influence between factors. To eliminate subjective influence, we combine entropy weighting approach and DEMATEL to compute weights. Fourthly, we redefine dominance degree and apply it into TODIM method for SSS. Finally, the proposed decision-making framework’s effectiveness is verified by using the case study of a new energy vehicle (NEV) company. Based on this, sensitivity analysis and comparison of methods are conducted. The results verify that the decision-making framework is valid and effective for SSS.

Datafication, dataveillance, and the social credit system as China’s new normal

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 952-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Seungeun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Credit System ◽  
New Normal ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Credit Score ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
The Social ◽  
Chinese State

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to explore how China uses a social credit system as part of its “data-driven authoritarianism” policy; and second, to investigate how datafication, which is a method to legitimize data collection, and dataveillance, which is continuous surveillance through the use of data, offer the Chinese state a legitimate method of monitoring, surveilling and controlling citizens, businesses and society. Taken together, China’s social credit system is analyzed as an integrated tool for datafication, dataveillance and data-driven authoritarianism. Design/methodology/approach This study combines the personal narratives of 22 Chinese citizens with policy analyses, online discussions and media reports. The stories were collected using a scenario-based story completion method to understand the participants’ perceptions of the recently introduced social credit system in China. Findings China’s new social credit system, which turns both online and offline behaviors into a credit score through smartphone apps, creates a “new normal” way of life for Chinese citizens. This data-driven authoritarianism uses data and technology to enhance citizen surveillance. Interactions between individuals, technologies and information emerge from understanding the system as one that provides social goods, using technologies, and raising concerns of privacy, security and collectivity. An integrated critical perspective that incorporates the concepts of datafication and dataveillance enhances a general understanding of how data-driven authoritarianism develops through the social credit system. Originality/value This study builds upon an ongoing debate and an emerging body of literature on datafication, dataveillance and digital sociology while filling empirical gaps in the study of the global South. The Chinese social credit system has growing recognition and importance as both a governing tool and a part of everyday datafication and dataveillance processes. Thus, these phenomena necessitate discussion of its consequences for, and applications by, the Chinese state and businesses, as well as affected individuals’ efforts to adapt to the system.

Challenging Western Legal Orientalism

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Marta Infantino ◽  
Weiwei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Legal Framework ◽  
State Council ◽  
Credit System ◽  
The West ◽  
Chinese Cities ◽  
Chinese Law ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
Pilot Programs ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Measurement Practices

Abstract In 2014 the Chinese State Council announced the establishment of a nationwide comprehensive social credit system. Western narratives often describe the initiative as a technologically enhanced tool of autocratic control for scoring people. Yet, as the paper aims to show, similar accounts are tainted by several misunderstandings which perpetuate Western orientalist postures towards Chinese law.For the purpose of comparatively assessing the Chinese social credit system, the paper analyses the pilot programs set up to monitor people and enterprises’ behaviour by twenty-eight Chinese cities. The analysis will demonstrate that these pilot programs rely on low-tech methodologies, have limited strings attached, and are based on a relatively transparent legal framework. From a comparative perspective, our findings suggest that Chinese cities’ experiments raise problems that are similar to those posed by measurement practices widely employed in the West.

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