源点注：本文来自《The Hill》网站（5月7日），作者TYLER GRANT，中文基本上是机器翻译的，适当调整了几处实在看不下去的地方。后附原文，转载本文不代表源点赞同其观点，敬请批判阅读。

中国已成为全球最大的监控国家。仿佛是“Netflix”《黑镜》的现实翻版，中国开始为公民设定分数，决定其旅行能力、社交流动性、教育机会以及他们的生活地点。极权主义的1984原本是臆想中的未来，现在出现在2018年的中国。 

中国已经建立了一个“社会信用体系”来确定这些分数。2014年6月，中国国家发展和改革委员会发布了“国务院通知”，启动了“提高个人诚信和全社会诚信度”，“建设社会主义和谐社会”以及“奖励诚信和惩罚失信“的计划。现在，在中国政府确定的2020年最后期限之前，信用体系的功能除了类似于美国的金融信用评分给人获得信贷额度之外，社会信用评分几乎影响了人生的每一个方面。

迄今为止，该计划的实施和手段仍然基本上是秘密和任意应用的。关于社交评分系统的最佳指导来自2014年的一份通知，该通告更好地定义了几种评分。有几个麻烦的地方。

首先，网上行为受到严格审查。“诋毁”他人的在线言论会导致扣分，同时对同胞进行嘲笑可能会增加分数。通过建立“在线信用黑名单系统”的行为被视为“严重破坏在线信任行为”，该政策比典型的网络犯罪还要进一步。获得黑名单意味着互联网使用限制，公众羞辱或完整的互联网禁令。

其次，银行和社交媒体信息被收集、存储和评估。中国的互联网管制程度很高，但有趣的报道表明，尽管一些规则比较清晰，如遵守中国法律或共产党规则，但其他规则比较暧昧，比如维护“社会诚意”和“和谐”。即使在得分之前，中国的言论受到高度警惕；现在的区别是“坏”言论会带来重大后果。

旅行自由也将受到严格管制。上周二哥伦比亚广播公司纽约报道，记者刘虎目前因未能对他的某些推文表示诚挚道歉而无法飞行。社会信用体系将“公共道路、铁路、水路、航空、轨道交通和其他交通运输市场”的自由与其他评估标准结合起来，形成一个整体的“信任破纪录”。高信用分数的个人将获得内外优惠旅行待遇奖励。想象一下，你的低信用分意味着你不能再乘坐任何公共交通工具。

在大型数据收集公司帮助下，中国收集和计算分数。Wired报道，中国政府征求了优步公司以及其他一些金融公司和其他机构的协助，为海量数据的收集和评分算法打下基础，以监控现代生活的各个方面。

在创造乌托邦的幌子下，中国现在是这个星球上最权威和自由的社会之一。中国捍卫这一体系是“维护稳定”和“加强诚意”的手段。实际上，中国认为控制其人口至高无上的自由。 

世界其他地方不是这样。

态度已经到位。英国人对因仇恨言论或言论而被罚款甚至囚禁的人视为对社会普遍规范的憎恶。美国并不遥远。上周，一名曼哈顿法官裁定一家酒吧可以抛出特朗普支持者的政治观点。近期出于政治动机的抵制泛滥，旨在惩罚“坏”观点; 抗议者急于喊出不正确的言论。在这样的政治气候下，企业或政府不难想象基于各种因素（包括政治言论）来评估社会效益或价值。

通过令人难以置信的数据收集，管道系统已经到位。我们的科技公司为每个人提供大量的数据。正如我们在2016年选举中使用剑桥数据分析所看到的，这些数据可以用来引导特定的观点。想象一下，信息被用来控制观点并不遥远。 

假装美国正在经历1984年的法西斯崛起，这是时髦的事情，但中国实际上正在实施文明史上规模最大的监视，13亿人在其监视之下。如果我们不保护隐私，否定我们的政策制定者扩大政府影响力的欲望，并且抵制商业或社会惩罚那些不同意我们的政治意识形态的人的冲动，那么自由世界就不会落后。隐私和自由永远不会灭绝一代人。

原文

China has become the largest surveillance state on the planet. Taking a page out of the Netflix show Black Mirror, the People’s Republic of China has begun assigning scores that dictate its citizens’ ability to travel, their social mobility, educational opportunities, and where they can live. The totalitarian 1984 of the future is now 2018 China. 

China has established a “social credit system” to assign these scores. In June 2014, the National Development and Reform Commission of China issued a State Council Notice initiating the development of a program to “raise the honest mentality and credit levels of the entire society,” “build a Socialist harmonious society," and “encourage keeping trust and punish breaking trust.” Now fully implemented ahead of the 2020 deadline by the Chinese government, the credit system functions like financial credit scores in America except rather than dictate one’s ability to obtain a line of credit, the Chinese social credit score impacts nearly every aspect of one’s life.

To date, the implementation and instrumentality of the plan remains largely secret and arbitrarily applied. The best guidance of what to expect from the social score system comes from the 2014 Notice, which better defines several categories of scoring. There are a few troubling areas.

First, online behavior is subject to intense scrutiny. Online speech that "denigrates" others results in score deductions while tattling on fellow citizens can increase scores. The policy goes further than typical online crimes by establishing “online credit black list systems" for behavior considered "grave acts of breaking trust online." Getting blacklisted means Internet usage limitations, public humiliation, or a complete internet ban.

Second, banking and social media information are collected, stored, and evaluated. China has a highly regulated Internet, but anecdotal reports suggest that while some rules are relatively clear like adherence to Chinese law or Communist Party rules, others are more ambiguous such as upholding "social sincerity" and "harmony." Even before scoring, speech in China was highly policed; the difference now is that "bad" speech carries significant consequences.

The freedom to travel will also be highly regulated. Last Tuesday, CBS New York reported that journalist, Liu Hu, is currently unable to fly for failure to sincerely apologize for some of his tweets. The social credit system integrates freedom to use "public roads, railways, waterways, aviation, channels and other such transportation markets" with the other assessment standards to create a holistic "trust-breaking record." High credit score individuals will be rewarded with preferential travel treatment within and out of China. Imagine your low Uber rating means you can no longer take any public transportation.

China collects and calculates scores with the help of large data collection firms downloading on the Chinese people. Wired reports the Chinese government conscripted the assistance from China’s Uber equivalent, along with finance companies and others, to create the infrastructure for mass data collection and score algorithms to monitor nearly every aspect of modern life.

Under the guise of creating a utopia, China is now one of the most authoritarian and liberty bereft societies on the planet. The Chinese defend the system as a vehicle to “maintain stability” and "strengthen sincerity.” In reality, China views control over its population paramount to liberty. 

It’s tempting to think this government overreach is purely reserved to China, after all they did just forfeit significant freedom by electing Xi Jinping president for life. This is incorrect thinking. 

The rest of the world is steps away from trailing the Chinese into a surveillance state.

The attitudes are already in place. The U.K. fines and even imprisons people for hate speech or speech deemed abhorrent to the prevailing norms of society. The U.S. is not far behind. Last week, a Manhattan judge ruled a bar can toss Trump supporters for their political viewpoints. A recent proliferation of politically motivated boycotts seeks to punish "bad" viewpoints; protesters are eager to shout down incorrect speech. In this political climate, it’s not difficult to imagine businesses or the government assessing social benefit or worth based upon a variety of factors including political speech.

With incredible data collection, the plumbing is already in place for such a system to take hold. Our tech companies catalogue large quantities of data on everyone. As we saw with Cambridge Analytica in the 2016 election, this data can be used to steer particular viewpoints; it’s not a far cry to imagine information being used to control viewpoints. 

It’s trendy pretending America is enduring a 1984 fascist hellscape, but China is actually implementing the largest surveillance state in the history of civilization with over 1.3 billion people under its watchful eye. The free world is not far behind if we don’t protect privacy, deny our policymakers’ desire to expand the reach of government, and resist the urge to commercially or socially punish those who don't share our political ideology. Privacy and liberty are never more than one generation away from extinction.