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Comment by Analemma_ | Hacker News Reader

A bunch of people have pointed out that, for all the criticism we’re leveling at China’s nightmarish social credit system, we’re well on our way to building the exact same thing but with corporations in charge. And while you can talk about how this is totally different because the corporations can’t put you in jail, that really doesn’t matter at all if I have to constantly self-censor all my words and thoughts or lose my health insurance. That’s an equally shitty outcome.

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True, I never show my real name in any public platform unless it's my "official" one, which is whitewashed. I go through pseudonymous accounts every 2 years for my privacy. We already do have social credit, it's called your credit score. Self-deception is a powerful force. Everybody rise up to the polls! Oh wait, it's both sides that are abetting this crap. Just vote with the closest to freedom (including a social safety net) and don't worry, cause you can't control it.

Unless I’m mistaken, your credit score is your financial credit rating, not your social. It isn’t affected if you get a ticket jaywalking, or acting like a jerk.

There are interconnections between the two, but there are pretty clear distinctions.

A matter of time, I guess. Your "insurance score", as seen by insurance companies, provides information on how likely you're to be able to pay back a long-term loan, or even to be alive long enough to pay it back. And "insurance score" is based on increasingly deep insight into your lifestyle. It's only a matter of time before someone will have the bright idea to use "insurance score" as an input to credit score - and then, suddenly, you have social credit (sans the politics part).

Jail and losing health insurance are not equally shitty outcomes.

Correct. The latter is a lot more likely to kill you.

This story is about life insurance, not health insurance.

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