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Comment by aasjdfiaspud | Hacker News Reader

Isn't advocating for this just the same as setting up US's own social score?

They already have one, it's called a credit score

Pretty delusional to compare credit score with the Chinese social credit score.

Looking at https://socialcredit.triviumchina.com/wp-content/uploads/201... , pg 11 with a table of information collected on individuals.

These categories are collected by a US credit score:

* BASIC IDENTITY INFORMATION

* FINANCIAL INFORMATION

These categories are collected by a US background check:

* EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION

* LEGAL HISTORY

* REGULATORY AND LEGAL VIOLATIONS

These categories are unique to the Social Credit Score system:

* POLITICAL DATA

* CIVIC BEHAVIOR

* OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT RECORDS

So, about 2/3rds of the data is very similar to the data that employers gather about their employees, and 1/3rd is the overbearing Chinese state. To me, the political stuff seems to make the economic usefulness of the score weaker -- does being a member of the CPC really reduce your default risk on your credit card?

Looking at the list of infractions that reduce points, it seems that China is trying to systematize punishment for social problems by restricting access to credit. I went into this comment thinking that the US credit score system and the SCS system were similar, but I leave thinking that the Chinese one is the same as the US one, with a bolt on authoritarian layer.

Civic behavior, and political data are encapsulated in the US by criminal record (unequal enforcement of laws based on demographic and political alignment), 'basic identity information' (primarily location which is used as a proxy for demographic and socio economic status)

also all of those last categories are monotored by US employers and used to make hiring and firing decisions (which affect your credit score)

adding a single layer of indirection at each end doesn't fundamentally change anything

Social score is based on the score of your friends and family no matter what your own individual efforts are. Thats what makes it dangerous because it adds strong social pressure to isolate from and report others. The credit score system has no such feature.

Can we really make the claim that a social score is safe as long as it exclude family and friends?

What makes social score dangerous is the power imbalance when a position of authority is attempting to dictate social behavior by punishing deviation and dissent outside of democratic laws. A society that don't allow any deviation or dissent is an authoritarian society.

A credit score system has nothing to do with social behavior unless they get combined. The dangers of a credit score system occurs when social behavior becomes proxies for creditworthiness, in which case the credit score system also becomes a social score system that hands out punishment based on deviation and dissent.

Do you want to list out the reasons why china's social credit score is bad, and whether they're present in the american credit score system? As far as I can tell the similarities are "score to incentivize behavior", but that's about it. China's system allegedly dings you points for "spreading misinformation", FICO doesn't.

Are you arguing with me? You must be argumentative. I'll bet you go to school board meetings. That makes you more likely to cause an incident on the plane. You must go on the list. Expect a visit from CPS to check on the welfare of your children. They may be in danger. /s

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