scholarly journals The internet is leading the world towards forms of totalitarianism: How to fix the problem

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Solberg Söilen
Keyword(s):  
Personal Data ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Western World ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Credit System ◽  
The West ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
Pull Out ◽  
The Government ◽  
The 1960S

It is difficult to imagine intelligence studies as separate from information technology as we enter thethird decade of the 21st century. The current issue of JISIB bears witness to this integration with a strongfocus on big data applications.Hardly anyone today would or could do without the internet, but the project that started with USgovernment financing in the 1960s, with packet switching, and in the 1970s with ARPANET and sawcommercial light in the 1990s is helping countries turn into totalitarian systems where totalitarianism isdefined by a high degree of control over public and private life.Public life is influenced by hacking, troll factories, fake news/propaganda, and interference inelections. Private life is influenced by massive surveillance. To borrow the title of the book by Zuboff(2019) we now live in “the age of surveillance capitalism”. Business intelligence systems lie at the heartof this transformation, but so do artificial intelligence and robotics. And the trend is global.In the West the suppressors are mostly private monopolies (e.g. Google, Facebook), while in the Eastit is primarily the government that is snooping (e.g. China’s Social Credit System). Face recognition islikely to become as popular in the West as it is in the East. It is also easily forgotten that no city wasbetter surveilled than London, which started to build its CCTV technology in the 1960s. The system isnow being updated with facial recognition, just like the one we are criticizing the Chinese for having.Some forms of surveillance may also lead to great advances in our societies, like access to governmentforms and statements electronically and a non-anonymous Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), whichpromises to reduce corruption and tax fraud, and could be used for easy distribution of universal basicincome (UBI) . Fintech promises to be highly disruptive.We are moving into an Orwellian world of surveillance more or less voluntarily, often applauding it.“I have nothing to hide” the young man says, but then he later becomes a minister and starts to worryabout the traces he has left on keyboards. The Five Eyes intelligence alliance, or any other major service,can pull out extensive analyses of behavior and personality on most of us now as we continue to exchangeour personal data for access to searches and social media, but also subscription-based services. MostChinese think that the social credit system is a good thing. This is for much of the same reason: theybelieve it will not be used against them and think that they will do well. We all tend to be overoptimisticabout our abilities and opportunities. It’s not before we fail that the full implications of the system arefelt: lack of access, credit, housing, and no more preferential treatments. The result threatens to worsenthe lack of social mobility and increase the growing conflict between the super-rich and those hundredsof millions who risk slipping from the middle class to being counted among the poor, many of whom livein the Western world.

scholarly journals Transforming Society for the Better?

MaRBLe ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadja Aldendorff
Keyword(s):  
Moral Virtue ◽  
The State ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
State Council ◽  
Credit System ◽  
The West ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
The Government ◽  
Social Sorting

In 2014, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China released a document that called for the construction of a nationwide Social Credit System (SCS) with the goal to encourage sincerity and punish insincerity. The system uses blacklists that citizens land on for various cases of misbehavior, ranging from failing to pay a fine to being caught Jaywalking. This research explains the design process behind the SCS and in particular why many Chinese citizens are embracing this form of surveillance. It focuses on three topics to answer this question: the historical roots underlying the system, the perceived lack of trust in Chinese society and the comparison with concepts from surveillance theories developed in the West. From the analysis, following conclusions could be drawn: Historically, the state has often acted as a promoter and enforcer of moral virtue. The SCS fits perfectly into this tradition. The most prominent reason for the positive Chinese reaction is the lack of institutions in China that promote trust between citizens and businesses. There is a severe trust deficit which the government had to find a solution for. Regarding surveillance theory, Foucault’s concept of ‘panopticism’ shows similarities with the SCS and underlines its effectiveness in changing and steering people’s behavior while Lyon’s notion of ‘social sorting’ is used to demonstrate the potential dangers of the Chinese system.

scholarly journals Transforming Society for the Better?

MaRBLe ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadja Aldendorff
Keyword(s):  
Moral Virtue ◽  
The State ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
State Council ◽  
Credit System ◽  
The West ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
The Government ◽  
Social Sorting

In 2014, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China released a document that called for the construction of a nationwide Social Credit System (SCS) with the goal to encourage sincerity and punish insincerity. The system uses blacklists that citizens land on for various cases of misbehavior, ranging from failing to pay a fine to being caught Jaywalking. This research explains the design process behind the SCS and in particular why many Chinese citizens are embracing this form of surveillance. It focuses on three topics to answer this question: the historical roots underlying the system, the perceived lack of trust in Chinese society and the comparison with concepts from surveillance theories developed in the West. From the analysis, following conclusions could be drawn: Historically, the state has often acted as a promoter and enforcer of moral virtue. The SCS fits perfectly into this tradition. The most prominent reason for the positive Chinese reaction is the lack of institutions in China that promote trust between citizens and businesses. There is a severe trust deficit which the government had to find a solution for. Regarding surveillance theory, Foucault’s concept of ‘panopticism’ shows similarities with the SCS and underlines its effectiveness in changing and steering people’s behavior while Lyon’s notion of ‘social sorting’ is used to demonstrate the potential dangers of the Chinese system.

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.

scholarly journals Freedom of expression and protection of personal data on the Internet: The perspective of Internet users in Serbia

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (47) ◽  
pp. 5-34
Author(s):  
Marta Mitrović
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

The paper examines the views of Internet users concerning the protection of their rights on the Internet. The Web survey, conducted by the snowball sampling, included 783 Internet users who expressed their views regarding the ways the state (Serbia) and private agents (Facebook and Google) relate to the right of freedom of expression and privacy on the Internet. Also, the survey was used to examine the individual responsibility of users when it comes to the use of Internet services. Several hypotheses suggested that Internet users in Serbia do not have confidence in the country and private actors on the issue of protecting their rights. However, users also do not demonstrate a satisfactory level of individual responsibility. The most important findings indicate that: 1) only one-sixth of the respondents consider that the Government of the Republic of Serbia does not violate the privacy of Internet users; 2) almost half of the respondents do not feel free to express their views criticizing the government; 3) almost 90% of users are not satisfied how Facebook protects their privacy, while it is 1% lower in the case of Google; 4) a third of respondents answered positively to the question whether they had read terms of use of the analyzed companies, but half of them did not give a correct answer to the main questions; 5) only 8.9% of respondents who claimed to have read terms of use are aware of the fact that Facebook shares their data with third parties.

scholarly journals Public perception of the practices of digital profiling and social score: the situation in Russia and China

2021 ◽  
pp. 56-76
Author(s):  
Roman Z. Rouvinsky ◽  
Ekaterina Rouvinskaya ◽  
Tatiana Komarova
Keyword(s):  
Public Perception ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Credit System ◽  
Chinese Youth ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
Written Form ◽  
The Government ◽  
High Level ◽  
Web Platform ◽  
The Web

This comparative research is dedicated to the attitude of the residents of PRC and Russia towards the practices of digital profiling and social score (ranking / grading) that are currently being implemented worldwide. Analysis is conducted on the results of interviewing the Chinese citizens, as well as sociological survey carried out among the Russian residents. The interviewing of the Chinese citizens was conducted in two stages: September 2020 via questionnaire in a written form; and March 2021, through the web platform CrowdSignal. The survey of the Russian residents was carried out from September 8, 2021 to October 26, 2021 in the form of filling out a printed questionnaire, as well as through the web platform. The conducted interviews demonstrate a high level of confidence of Chinese youth in the practices of collecting and processing personal information that were adopted in China, as well as the government initiatives on implementation of the score mechanisms in public administration. Unlike the Chinese citizens, the Russian residents including youth, to a considerable extent are inclined towards distrust in the government and namely private commercial companies with regards to their method of collecting and use personal information. A significant part of the Russian residents have not yet made up their mind on digital profiling and social credit system, or are cautious of such innovations.

scholarly journals Social credit mechanisms and modern standards of legal protection of personal data: correspondence problems

2021 ◽  
pp. 174-189
Author(s):  
Roman Z. Rouvinsky
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Credit System ◽  
General Data Protection Regulation ◽  
Social Credit

The subject of this article is the problem of correspondence of the practices of digital profiling and social score, which imply collection and analysis of biographical (reputational) information, to the worldwide-accepted standards of protection of personal data and privacy. Analysis is conducted on the legislation of the People's Republic of China – the country that in recent years has implemented the “Social Credit System” in the sphere of public administration. This project consists of management practices, which are viewed through the prism of the legal model of personal data protection formed by the Law in Protection of Personal Information adopted in 2021. The peculiarity of this research is its comparative legal nature: the provisions of China’s legislation are juxtaposed to the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation adopted in the European Union and Russia’s Federal Law “On Personal Data”. Assessment is given to the European and Russian models of regulation of operations with personal data in the context of possible implementation of digital profiling practices, social score (ranking, grading), and automated law enforcement decision-making. Having determined the gaps in the current Russian and EU legislation on personal data, and indicating the risk caused by the presence of blanket rules, the conclusion is made according to which the modern legislation on personal data can be an obstacle for arbitrary use of such data; however, it cannot stop the implementation of innovative technologies, mechanisms and practices that suggest using registry and biographical information of individuals for the purpose of social control into the public administration.

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.

scholarly journals We’re just data: Exploring China’s social credit system in relation to digital platform ratings cultures in Westernised democracies

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Li Xan Wong ◽  
Amy Shields Dobson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Credit System ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Credit Score ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Government

Social media platforms and apps have become increasingly important tools for governance and the centralisation of information in many nation states around the globe. In China, the government is currently piloting a social credit system in several cities in an ambitious attempt to merge a financial credit score system with a broader quantification of social and civic integrity for all citizens and corporations. China has already begun to experiment with metrics and quantification of the value and virtue of its citizens, going beyond the function of measuring workplace performance and health-related self-tracking to measuring one’s purchasing and consumption history, interpersonal relationships, political activities, as well as the tracking of one’s location history. China has also already begun to apply a reward and punishment system that rewards those who comply with the Chinese government’s ideals and punishes those who deviate from them. Although there are no such ambitiously unified systems currently proposed in Western liberal democratic countries, some aligned structures and cultures of social media use are already well in place. This article seeks to offer a comparative examination of the structures and cultures of China’s social credit system with those which are already present and in place in Western liberal democratic countries. While it may be convenient to digitise everyday social, political and economic life, China’s social credit system brings about a vision of what may be to come, should democratic countries continue to do so without stricter data use policies in place.

Cyberstalking: public danger, key factors and prevention

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-53
Author(s):  
Peter Kobets ◽  
Kristina Krasnova
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Private Life ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Large Area ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social

Cyberstalking has become a new form of crime and deviant behaviour. The authors research the problem of cyberstalking and intimidation via the Internet in details. These concepts are used interchangeably because all forms of stalking are threatening or have the purpose of distressing the victim (victim stress exhaustion). The authors tried to draw attention and show the interconnectcion between the social danger of cyberstalking and the violation of private life boundaries. The consequences of such interference can cause the significant harm to man interests, material harm; threaten the physical and mental health of a person. The authors in this article draw attention to the activities of people who use the Internet to threaten (intimidate) others. The phenomenon of cyberstalking constitutes one of the main aims of the analysis because it includes a rather large area of behavior performance (starting with the expression of threats to the theft of personal data). The main question of this research is simple: what makes an intelligent and law-abiding person in the offline world (outside the Internet), take part in anti-social or criminal activities online? The basic reason is the fact that the combination of technological and social factors encourages people to participate in crime or antisocial acts, such as incitement to violence against other people. The originality of the study is that the authors analyzed the public danger of cyberstalking and the consequences of privacy infringement by the negative impact on a person through the Internet. Authors highlight trends and developments, and give recommendations on how cyberstalking prevention matters can be improved.

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