The New Rules

A tweet from the Washington Post’s @emilyrauhala grabbed our attention this week: “I’m on the Tianjin to Beijing train and the automated announcement just warned us that breaking train rules will hurt our personal credit scores!” In every country, people want access to services and protection from those who break rules.

China has introduced an early-stage social credit system that can use the massive amounts of data it collects from citizens to punish those who cheat, steal, pollute, and otherwise endanger fellow citizens. But the state can also use the information to decide whether it can trust you, and your credit score can determine what sort of future you and your family can expect. Imagine the possibilities.