From Facebook to Orwell’s 1956 – Returning to ethical principles in a digital society.

Alex Gladstein on ‘Digital Society from a Human Perspective’ at the SingularityU Germany Summit 2018.

Our world today is incredibly digitalized, nearly every component of our life has a digital aspect.

Digitization has the potential to simplify our lives and make them more enjoyable, faster, efficient, sustainable and also more autonomous. Every day, data is collected, statistics are compiled, and correlations and causalities are sought to adapt our future actions and activities. Intelligent energy networks inform us about energy consumption in and out of our homes, fitness trackers analyze our physical activities, browsers store and investigate our search behavior, navigation apps guide us to the destination with the fastest route possible, cars warn against fatigue and many social networks can observe signs of depression.

Technology is indispensable, but what if it were to be used against humans?

In 2018, it is quite normal to disclose private information, whether on social networks, payback points, fitness bracelets, search-engines, etc., all our information is saved. Since Snowden’s discovery we’ve learned the dimension of data and just how easily governments can access this information. However, it seems that not everyone views this as a danger.

China plans to introduce the Social Credit System in 2020, and the initial trials have already started. George Orwell’s 1956 prophecy from his book 1984, will soon become reality; the totalitarian state eager to educate the individuals of society, through it’s control. Society should become homogeneous.

The communist idea of ​​equality and protection, against terrorism, are examples of arguments used by the government.

The Social Credit System is a point-based system that scores all aspects of a citizen’s life. Citizens could be rewarded with positive points for paying their bills on time, buying healthy organic products online, and reading the daily party national newspaper. Points could be deducted from citizens who criticize the government, sit too long in front of the computer playing video games and for watching porn.

Scores will make quite an impact to the life of citizens, as a high score, one up to 1.300, could provide rewards in the form of cheap credit, better health insurance and the allocation of study places for children. In contrast, citizens with a low score, one below 600, could expect to lose their job.Court data and certain debt information will also be included in the credit system. And could potentially affect relationships as it is worth having friends with a good score.

In addition to the authorities, banks, employers, landlords, tour operators, shopping platforms, etc., all will have access to the evaluation. Through the use of an app, citizens are able to track their own score as well.

The Social Credit System works on the condition, that the state has full access to the data. Technical providers such Alibaba or the app, WeChat by Tencent, offer the option for collecting data. Around half a billion people use WeChat, a full-service app popular in China that is a copy of WhatsApp. Beyond the news service, users can arrange a doctor, book a trip, order a taxi, as well as use the app for all kinds of online banking. Users agree and understand that their data will be saved, disclosed and used. If Tencent’s ruling Communist Party wants to know what WeChat users do in China, or abroad, all they have to do is ask.

For the Chinese government however, this not enough, they want complete control and could acquire it through the use of facial recognition technology. Cameras will be installed in public, allowing the behavior of citizens to be recorded and evaluated under the critical eyes of the state. Subsequently road traffic offences as well as unruly behavior at the supermarket will also be included in the criteria for scoring points.

The question of freedom arises!

If the system is responsible for the fact that someone has no chance at online dating because their social credit status listed next to their photo is too low, or if a child doesn’t get a scholarship or study place because their parent drove through a red light, or if surfing a political website that is against the government gives you negative points, then human freedom is massively threatened!

It has long been known that digitization is changing the question of autonomy and freedom. As Rafael Capurro, a philosopher and professor of Information Sciences summarizes in 2017,

“When the assumptions and commitments to good living due to technical or social change become problematic, then it’s time for ethical reflection”.

Ethics is a theme of philosophy based on, among other things, democratic, communist and capitalist systems.

About 320 years before Christ, Aristotle coined the concept of ethics. At the center of this philosophical sub discipline is the understanding of moral action and behavior. The ethical aspects of evaluation focus on good and bad behavior, with their motives and consequences based on the principle of reason alone.

What does this mean for digitization in the case of the “Social Credit System”? What would Aristotle say about this complete control?

Ethics, especially the Nicomanic, deals with the highest good, which is realized in a blissful life.

• Among other things, the highest good means that a person is never used as a functional instrument (as a means for a purpose) that is not in the interest of the person himself.
• The second ethical question is about the correct behavior, or to say it in Kant’s words, “What should I do?”.
• The third question of Aristotle’s ethics is based on the first question. It is the most important one for human social life, for each individual with rights, it is the question of “freedom of the will”.

If you look at these 3 basic principles, which are only a fraction of the philosophical approach, it soon becomes clear how strongly a digitized surveillance of society violates the ethical norms. Disguised as protection, data is now traded as a type of “new oil” and is misused as a ‘means to an end’ for political and economic purposes.

Plato once said: “Not life is the highest good, but the good life. ‘Living well’ is as much as ‘noble and just’. ”

The digitization power is a topic about the future: is it possible to live a good life under this kind of complete control?

Is free action and behavior without fear or freedom of expression then still possible? But who threatens this freedom?

Digitization is merely a construct; an instrument of humanity, for only humans can abuse technology for their own purposes.One must not surrender to the digital transformation, but must actively shape it and lead it in the right direction, a direction that benefits the facilitation and support of our lives.

Thus, resistance should not be focused against technology, but against those who abuse it! When people no longer know how to cope with digital life in order to maintain or strive for the highest good, and extract it from the digital potential, well-grounded ethical research is needed. This is a constant and continuous process as thinking takes time.

Maybe the solution — for the digital abuse that could violate human rights — lays within the origin our system, philosophy.

Axel Gladstein, is a human rights activist who is dedicated to the rights and needs of people in the digital society. At the Singularity Summit Germany, he will speak about “Digital Society from a Human Perspective”.