When Bentham Meets Big Data in Times of COVID-19

2020 has been marked by a ‘once in a century crisis' that influenced the dynamics of the globe deeply. Soon after the COVID-19 pandemic, most daily practices had to be transferred to online platforms as humanity was supposed to adopt social and physical distancing to avoid the risk of infection. Even technologically illiterate people were abruptly charged with online tasks as part of their jobs or responsibilities. It suddenly turned out to be high time to go online and have a digital identity to keep pace with the new normal life. Thus, internet has taken its place among the basic needs more specifically than before. This chapter is about the technology-driven supervisory social credit system which is said to have contributed to Chinese state to manage the COVID-19 crisis in a short time. Exploring the foundations, motives, and highlights of the system, this chapter proposes a framework for a potential digital governance model coined as the Cyber Leviathan and bears importance in terms of crisis management.

The Dehumanising Consequences of Gamification

While gamification represents one of the largest technology trends of the last decade, only a limited selection of literature exists that explores the negative outcomes of contemporary gamified services, applications, and systems. This chapter explores the consequences of gamified systems and services, investigating contemporary implementations of gamification and acknowledging the ethical concerns raised by researchers towards contemporary gamified services. This chapter further explores these ethical concerns through a critical instance case study of China's Social Credit System and arrives at informed observations on the potential for gamified cycles of reward and punishment to encourage unethical activity within organisations as well as legitimise ideological objectives that violate fundamental human rights. Recommendations are then made for researchers to explore this potential further, while recognising how gamification may justify the authority and practices of organisations, particularly those engaged in unethical and dehumanising behaviour.

Research on the Impact of Social Credit Improvement on the Debt Financing of Agricultural Enterprises

This study takes China’s A-shares agricultural companies as the research subjects and examines the influence of social credit environment on the debt financing of agricultural enterprises. This study has found that the improvement of social credit environment can significantly increase the debt financing scale of agricultural enterprises. After a placebo test, the replacement of explained variables, and the control of industry fixed effects, the results obtained are still significant. The mechanism test found that the scale of the enterprise has a complete intermediary effect; that is, the social credit environment can increase the scale of external financing of agricultural enterprises by increasing the scale of the enterprise. This article focuses on the impact of informal institutions on corporate debt financing, which is conducive to enriching relevant research on agricultural enterprises and has important practical significance for promoting the development of the agricultural industrial chain as well as “village revitalization.”

Human rights during the mass introduction of artificial intelligence and robotic systems into public life

Purpose: This article considers legal approaches to implementing human rights during the mass exploitation of artificial intelligence and robotic systems in public life. Methods: Within the framework of this study, an emphasis is placed on the legal regulation of artificial intelligence systems and robotics used for remote biometric identification of a person and the creation of social credit systems. This study analyzes different models of legal regulation that are typical of certain countries and regions, including the UK, USA, China, and the EU. Results: In the UK, it is allowed to use real-time face recognition systems in public spaces but the set of scenarios and situations for their use is significantly limited by legislation and law enforcement. The legal regulation of these systems in each state is based on a constant dialogue between state and civil society. The use of artificial intelligence and robotic systems to create social credit systems is tested in some countries. Modern states have formed several approaches to the creation of such systems: some of them completely prohibit these systems, while others develop a technological and regulatory framework for the creation of national systems.

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

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.

From Datafication to Data State: Making Sense of China’s Social Credit System and Its Implications

We live in an age of datafication wherein nearly all aspects of our lives can be transformed into data and evaluated. The authors seek to make sense of the heightened datafication-enabled social control under China’s Social Credit System (SCS) by developing the concept of the data state. A “data state” is defined as a governance model enabling the state to comprehensively monitor, evaluate, and control its subjects through datafication, leaving them little room to defend their autonomy. We identify the multiple functions of the SCS in its development up to 2020 and analyze its inherent defects, including the decontextualized evaluation of individuals and the semi-automated imposition of disproportionate punishment. We argue that, if the SCS were to fully integrate its functions and connect to other data-driven governance initiatives, it would eventually allow the data self, carefully groomed by the state, to dominate the bio-self and turn China into a data state. Whereas China’s SCS may be unique and not easily replicated elsewhere, understanding its intricacies helps to enable the citizens of democratic societies to guard against the relentless growth of datafication that may result in an invincible and irreversible ecosystem for the emergence of a data state.

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

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.

Who Supports Expanding Surveillance? Exploring Public Opinion of Chinese Social Credit Systems

In recent decades, debates on surveillance in society have been mounting, yet they largely concentrated on ethical discussions and lack sociological examination. Drawing on innovative national survey data as well as fieldwork observations and interviews, this study analyzes public opinion about social credit systems (SCSs), an emerging infrastructure that expands the depth and breadth of surveillance in China. Overall, I find high support for the expanding surveillance and punishment. Political trust in the state is positively associated with higher support for SCSs. Counterintuitively, political elites do not wholly embrace the expanding surveillance and punishment. For example, Chinese Communist Party members are less likely to support SCSs compared to the general public. Higher socioeconomic status is consistently correlated with higher support, while different media consumption showed limited correlations. This study enriches our understanding of the heterogeneity of the state, public, and surveillance and their dynamic relationship in the authoritarian regime.

Sesame Credit: Social Compliance Gamification in China

Sesame Creditis the gamified Chinese social credit. It aims at monitoring and controlling the behavior of more than a billion citizens until 2020. Basing itself on the distribution of rewards and punishments to individuals, upon scoring based on the compliance of the aforementioned citizens towards laws and government interests. The present study probes Sesame Credit from data collected from academic papers, Chinese government official documents, as well as media articles.An interpretative analysis is conducted based on the Octalysismethod of gamification and the motivational method known as the Self-Determination Theory. Residing as main conclusions: a) the efficiency of the Sesame Credit depends on extensive and continual monitoring of the population by the Chinese government; b) despite the coercive aspects, such gamification is observed to be as popular in China, due to a millenary tradition of people’s compliance to the social and those of authority obedience