just around the corner for the rest of us - China: real life Big Brother ("1984") digital dictatorship - [MINISTRY]

[Zenaan Harkness]

Folks, this is getting down to the wire. I am not aware of any silver
bullets to forestall or stop 1984 - quite likely Google's spearhead
in China shall be transplanted at "an appropriate moment" into 'the
West' - forewarned is as close to forearmed perhaps, yet civil
disobedience - i.e. conscientious objection - is going to be required
big time from the sounds of the following China reality today:



 Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2018 09:56:14 +1000 (AEST)
 Subject: China - real life Big Brother ("1984") digital dictatorship

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-18/china-social-credit-a-model-citizen-in-a-digital-dictatorship/10200278?pfmredir=sm

Naive "good" citizen Dandan says “If, as our government says, every corner of
public space is installed with cameras, I’ll feel safe.” OMG!
Meanwhile, Liu Hu, who is "an investigative journalist who has uncovered
corruption at the top levels of the Party and solved serial murder cases", has
"lost his social credit when he was charged with a speech crime and now finds
himself locked out of society due to his low score. It’s destroyed his career
and isolated him, and he now fears for his family’s future. The social credit
system has closed down his travel options and kept him under effective house
arrest in his hometown of Chongqing. In an apartment above the streets of
Chongqing city, Hu tries to use a phone app to book train tickets to Xi’an. The
attempt is rejected. '[The app] says it fails to make a booking and my access to
high-speed rail is legally restricted,' he explains. Hu’s social media accounts,
where he published much of his investigative journalism, have also been shut
down. Hu claims his combined Wechat and Weibo accounts had two million followers
at their peak but are now censored."
 
...and of course the rest of our world is gradually heading the same way.