Signal #3. Smart Cities Gone Wrong: Chinese Dystopian Surveillance

The new surveillance system in China uses big data to punish citizens for “bad” behavior with blacklists preventing them from traveling, getting loans or jobs, or even by limiting internet access. The Communist Party calls it “social credit” and, despite dubious technical feasibility, says it will be fully operational by 2020. This system makes us question who is the end user: society or solely the retention of power.

Certainly, data can make cities more efficient, but can also make cities more centralised. Those in power tend to abuse big data, but in authoritarian states the abuse is even worse as critics aren’t allowed. While trends in modern cities move towards civic engagement, the mass surveillance comes as a dystopian concept found in Orwellian novels.

So, to what extend should others infiltrate our data? Governments, as brokers of urban data, should empower citizens. I believe the criteria of such platforms should be decided by people. At the same time, technologies like blockchain could help democratisation, avoid discrimination, and return the control to the citizens.

Cities should not only have open data, but also they should have feedback mechanisms and customer services like chatbots to transform data into action. Above all, the goal is to make governments and citizens work together.

References

Carney, M. (2018, September 29). Leave no dark corner. Retrieved from ABC — Foreign Correspondent: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-18/china-social-credit-a-model-citizen-in-a-digital-dictatorship/10200278

Taxation, G. O. (2014, July 8). Honest Taxpayer on Honor List and Illegal Taxpayers on Blacklist (2014). Retrieved from State Administration of the People’s Republic of China: http://www.chinatax.gov.cn/eng/n2367726/c2371772/content.html

The Data Republic. (2016, March 26). Retrieved from The Economist: https://www.economist.com/special-report/2016/03/23/the-data-republic