1 00:00:00,110 --> 00:00:17,870 *34c3 intro* Herald: Okay, so ladies and gentlemen 2 00:00:17,870 --> 00:00:26,720 Katika Kühnreich. So did you all thank the angels today? No, yes, maybe? 3 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:36,620 [Applause] Herald: Did you all took your prosĂm two 4 00:00:36,620 --> 00:00:45,200 today? No? Okay, see, Katika will tell you about the social credit system from China, 5 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:54,570 and will tell you a little bit more about how a human being can be valued. She is 6 00:00:54,570 --> 00:01:00,829 the magista in political science and modern and ancient Chinese science. She 7 00:01:00,829 --> 00:01:04,860 not only has her theoretical knowledge from books, but she always also combines 8 00:01:04,860 --> 00:01:10,360 it with the street study. So please welcome, with a very warm hand of 9 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:21,940 applause, Katika! [Applause] 10 00:01:22,670 --> 00:01:29,700 Katika: Hey guys, I'm happy to be here, and first I want to thank all the people 11 00:01:29,700 --> 00:01:35,770 who made that possible. This conference and this talk; so thanks to all you, and a 12 00:01:35,770 --> 00:01:40,010 special thanks to all the people translating. 13 00:01:40,010 --> 00:01:53,580 [Applause] Katika: Before we start, I like to say a 14 00:01:53,580 --> 00:02:01,030 few points. The first was the thank you, we already have. The second is I have to 15 00:02:01,030 --> 00:02:06,930 apologize: English is not my mother tongue so you will have some funny mistakes that 16 00:02:06,930 --> 00:02:14,390 I make, so the Internet has a bit more fun. Because the world can be (nice). The 17 00:02:14,390 --> 00:02:20,840 second thing, is I will take you on a journey through China's social credit 18 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:27,230 system - its current state. And because we only have half an hour, more or less, 19 00:02:27,230 --> 00:02:32,510 because I'd really like to spend a lot of time with you guys on talks, on discussion 20 00:02:32,510 --> 00:02:39,700 and QA, we have to leave a lot of interesting sites out. So there were some 21 00:02:39,700 --> 00:02:45,160 excellent talks on the CCC about technological aspects of Internet and 22 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:50,980 Internet usage in China. I will concentrate really hard on this social 23 00:02:50,980 --> 00:02:57,270 credit system. But if you have questions, please ask in the Q&A. The Q&A will not be 24 00:02:57,270 --> 00:03:03,019 recorded, so you can feel free. And if you have more questions, just contact me after 25 00:03:03,019 --> 00:03:11,560 the talk. And, it's a China topic and often when you talk about China, people 26 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:19,459 say "oh yeah, oh yeah: that's China." This is no China bashing session - I'm sorry 27 00:03:19,459 --> 00:03:27,950 for anyone who expected that. China has a government, and a government wants to 28 00:03:27,950 --> 00:03:35,440 control something. So this talk is about social credit systems in China but it is 29 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:40,420 about a tendency I see internationally. It's the tendency to answer social 30 00:03:40,420 --> 00:03:47,210 problems with technological solutions, or at least it's the try. So please keep in 31 00:03:47,210 --> 00:03:53,420 mind: it's happening in China, but it's not that we are safe in the West or cozy 32 00:03:53,420 --> 00:04:00,390 or anything else. So it's meant as an example of an international tendency. And 33 00:04:00,390 --> 00:04:05,319 I prepared some cards, so I will stick to the topic. I have to look at them from 34 00:04:05,319 --> 00:04:11,010 time to time. This talk presents my current state of research; it's not the 35 00:04:11,010 --> 00:04:18,279 truth. And this talked sadly represents my current state of my cold as well, so I'm 36 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:27,289 not totally fed please apologized that as well. For a little journey I prepared a 37 00:04:27,289 --> 00:04:34,830 couple of stops. The first one will be a video from 2015 made by Extra Credit on 38 00:04:34,830 --> 00:04:41,139 social credit systems in China. So if you don't like the talk, you have seven and a 39 00:04:41,139 --> 00:04:47,530 half minutes to just vanish - nobody will notice. The next point will be "Updates 40 00:04:47,530 --> 00:04:54,129 and Corrections" - it's a video from 2015, and there's some faulty information 41 00:04:54,129 --> 00:04:59,710 in it. And to do that, I will give you a quick look at the Chinese Internet 42 00:04:59,710 --> 00:05:09,330 landscape. The next point will be the current state of social credit systems. If 43 00:05:09,330 --> 00:05:16,520 I say SCS: it's the same - I'm just lazy. And there's one question often not 44 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:22,800 answered when talking about the Chinese credit system - it's why is it happening. 45 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:27,990 And again it's not because it's an evil government. It's a government. So we'll 46 00:05:27,990 --> 00:05:34,899 dive in some ideological aspects of Chinese politics today. And in the end, 47 00:05:34,899 --> 00:05:38,039 I'm really looking forward to that point because I can shut a bit up and listen to 48 00:05:38,039 --> 00:05:47,569 your thoughts and we're really interested in that. So, everyone ready? Cozy? That's 49 00:05:47,569 --> 00:05:55,289 wonderful, thanks! Then we can start with the video; that isn't it shown right now. 50 00:05:55,289 --> 00:06:10,589 Now we need some technical support. It's much more fun when you see the pictures. 51 00:06:10,589 --> 00:06:15,469 But we have time, so. Herald: Do we have the (tv guys) here? 52 00:06:15,469 --> 00:06:20,089 Katika: We got free water! Herald: Gentlemen, I think we have a 53 00:06:20,089 --> 00:06:26,610 technical problem here, so while the VOC and my stage manager is trying to get some 54 00:06:26,610 --> 00:06:33,460 people from there. Yes he will do this - he's a good guy. He's the best guy! 55 00:06:33,460 --> 00:06:39,059 Gentlemen, ladies, applause for the VOC! [Applause] 56 00:06:39,059 --> 00:06:48,690 Herald: So while we're waiting to have the video; and trust me it looked really good 57 00:06:48,690 --> 00:06:55,389 from here. Let's play a little game - later we will have a Q&A session but 58 00:06:55,389 --> 00:07:01,259 unfortunately we are not allowed or we we can't record the Q&A session, and we will 59 00:07:01,259 --> 00:07:08,939 also not video stream the Q&A session. So I would like you to have a quick hand of 60 00:07:08,939 --> 00:07:14,770 applause for all of you, because you will have a great discussion with this nice 61 00:07:14,770 --> 00:07:21,969 lady and therefore we try to make applause - we test the applause. 62 00:07:21,969 --> 00:07:26,069 Katika: Okay [Applause] 63 00:07:26,069 --> 00:07:32,819 Herald: No no no, that should be louder - come on! 64 00:07:33,399 --> 00:07:43,599 [Applause] Herald: Okay we still have no video, but I 65 00:07:43,599 --> 00:07:48,580 think over there I did not hear any applause. Could you, could you please try 66 00:07:48,580 --> 00:07:51,520 it again? [Applause] 67 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:57,740 Herald: Yeah, better, better. I think these guys are way better. Are they? Come 68 00:07:57,740 --> 00:08:04,740 on! [Applause] 69 00:08:04,740 --> 00:08:09,259 Katika: Otherwise I can use the time to give you some information I'd present you 70 00:08:09,259 --> 00:08:17,139 after the video. Thank you. The information you get in the video is based 71 00:08:17,139 --> 00:08:25,899 on a press release of the American Civil Liberties Union, and that contains some 72 00:08:25,899 --> 00:08:31,630 mistakes. One thing - when you want to know something about China, the government 73 00:08:31,630 --> 00:08:37,130 is really open in publishing what they're doing, and what they're planning to do. 74 00:08:37,130 --> 00:08:46,980 And it's seems to be much more comfortable to just copy, but maybe have a look into 75 00:08:46,980 --> 00:08:51,339 what the government says because it's a good way to find out what they are doing 76 00:08:51,339 --> 00:08:58,550 and they're scaring the open. It works with a lot of governments. And I realized 77 00:08:58,550 --> 00:09:03,860 that because this video had a lot of impact, and there was a lot of news report 78 00:09:03,860 --> 00:09:08,649 on that scary system in China but when you looked at the news report and you had the 79 00:09:08,649 --> 00:09:16,740 video before, you found out that it was more or less the same, the very same, as 80 00:09:16,740 --> 00:09:21,880 in the video even years later. So please if you want to find something out - check 81 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:30,180 for facts. They might be online too. So that's the picture, and that's my break. 82 00:09:30,180 --> 00:09:33,779 Video: Okay, so one you recently brought this to our attention, and when we first 83 00:09:33,779 --> 00:09:37,399 started looking into it, we couldn't believe it. Even now looking at this I 84 00:09:37,399 --> 00:09:40,290 keep thinking that there's got to be something about this that I just don't 85 00:09:40,290 --> 00:09:44,509 understand, like, I must be reading this wrong. It's just so clearly something out 86 00:09:44,509 --> 00:09:48,769 of dystopian science fiction. And yet, here it is in our world, and people are 87 00:09:48,769 --> 00:09:54,070 actually embracing it. Apparently China has gamified being an obedient citizen. 88 00:09:54,070 --> 00:10:00,850 [Music] Video: Going under the innocuous name of 89 00:10:00,850 --> 00:10:06,250 Sesame Credit, China has created a score for how good a citizen you are, and that's 90 00:10:06,250 --> 00:10:10,420 one of the scariest things I've heard in quite a while. It's jointly run by 91 00:10:10,420 --> 00:10:14,440 Tencent, yes that Tencent - the one that owns Riot Games and has a significant 92 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:18,709 share in Epic and Activision-Blizzard, and also the ascendant Chinese competitor to 93 00:10:18,709 --> 00:10:23,230 Amazon, Alibaba, hence the name Sesame. So the owners of China's largest social 94 00:10:23,230 --> 00:10:26,149 networks have partnered with the governments to create something akin to 95 00:10:26,149 --> 00:10:30,149 the US credit score. But instead of measuring how regularly you pay your 96 00:10:30,149 --> 00:10:34,860 bills, it measures how obediently you follow the party line. They dredge data 97 00:10:34,860 --> 00:10:38,470 from your social network, so if you post pictures of Tiananmen Square, or share a 98 00:10:38,470 --> 00:10:42,310 link about the recent stock market collapse, your Sesame Credit score goes 99 00:10:42,310 --> 00:10:45,670 down. Share a link from the state- sponsored news agency about how good the 100 00:10:45,670 --> 00:10:49,709 economy is doing and your score goes up. The Alibaba and Tencent are also the 101 00:10:49,709 --> 00:10:53,949 largest online retailers in China so Sesame Credit is also able to pull data 102 00:10:53,949 --> 00:10:57,680 from your purchases. If you're making purchases the state deems valuable like 103 00:10:57,680 --> 00:11:02,370 work shoes or local agricultural products, your score goes up. If you import anime 104 00:11:02,370 --> 00:11:06,339 from Japan, though, down the score goes. And this score has real-world 105 00:11:06,339 --> 00:11:10,399 consequences. Like many games, Sesame Credit has tiers and levels, and having a 106 00:11:10,399 --> 00:11:14,310 high score gives you special benefits - like making it easier to get the paperwork 107 00:11:14,310 --> 00:11:18,380 you need to travel. Or making it easier to get a loan. Now currently, there are no 108 00:11:18,380 --> 00:11:21,980 consequences for having a low score but there's been talk about implementing 109 00:11:21,980 --> 00:11:26,510 penalties once the system becomes mandatory in 2020. Penalties like slower 110 00:11:26,510 --> 00:11:30,550 Internet speeds for low scoring citizens. Or even restricting the jobs that a low 111 00:11:30,550 --> 00:11:34,490 scoring person's allowed to hold. But there's one more layer to Sesame Credit, 112 00:11:34,490 --> 00:11:38,250 and here's where this goes from being repulsive to downright insidious. Because 113 00:11:38,250 --> 00:11:41,870 this is all part of a social network it also scans your friends - 114 00:11:41,870 --> 00:11:46,190 so you will lose points for having friends with low obedience scores. And it tells 115 00:11:46,190 --> 00:11:50,540 you this. At any point, anybody can check anyone elses score. And when you check 116 00:11:50,540 --> 00:11:54,540 your own score, Sesame Credit provides a handy map of your friends to show you who 117 00:11:54,540 --> 00:11:58,440 is dragging your score down. Have you ever had that thing where you play a game with 118 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:01,980 somebody who wasn't doing very well and you've tried to change their behavior to 119 00:12:01,980 --> 00:12:05,450 make them do better? Or maybe after a while you just sort of stopped playing 120 00:12:05,450 --> 00:12:09,170 with the people who are holding you back. That's at the heart of how this system 121 00:12:09,170 --> 00:12:12,680 works, and it's also what makes this one of the most terrifying tools of 122 00:12:12,680 --> 00:12:17,220 authoritarian oppression I've ever read about. Because like mass censorship, jail 123 00:12:17,220 --> 00:12:21,459 time, assassinations - those are all big messy implements for keeping a population 124 00:12:21,459 --> 00:12:26,300 in line. That messiness and severity foster resentment - eventually rebellion. 125 00:12:26,300 --> 00:12:29,889 They're expensive, they're unwieldy - in the end, those tools are impossible to 126 00:12:29,889 --> 00:12:34,459 maintain. But social pressure? Ostracization? Those things are free - 127 00:12:34,459 --> 00:12:37,899 they happen on their own. And as a government tool they don't have nearly the 128 00:12:37,899 --> 00:12:42,519 same potential for going embarrassingly disastrously wrong. With a system like 129 00:12:42,519 --> 00:12:46,379 this in place, a government doesn't even have to tell neighbor to spy on neighbor; 130 00:12:46,379 --> 00:12:50,870 to rat each other out. Because that's all built into a seemingly innocuous game 131 00:12:50,870 --> 00:12:55,230 system. The government need not step in. Re-education will be handled for them by 132 00:12:55,230 --> 00:12:59,439 friends, classmates, and relatives who want to maintain a high score. And if that 133 00:12:59,439 --> 00:13:02,970 doesn't work then potentially dangerous ideas still end up quarantined by the 134 00:13:02,970 --> 00:13:08,129 social isolation this game system causes. Express or help to spread to many radical 135 00:13:08,129 --> 00:13:11,889 ideas, and people will stop associating with you. And not because some jackbooted 136 00:13:11,889 --> 00:13:15,620 thugs showed up at the door with threats, but simply because associating with 137 00:13:15,620 --> 00:13:19,350 somebody with those ideas will lose them all the privileges they've worked so hard 138 00:13:19,350 --> 00:13:23,819 to obtain. It recontextualizes obedience to an authoritarian regime. 139 00:13:23,819 --> 00:13:28,100 In the past, you obeyed such powers because you were afraid. Fear kept you 140 00:13:28,100 --> 00:13:31,810 motivated. But fear is negative. It fosters resentment. The world we're 141 00:13:31,810 --> 00:13:35,870 stepping into instead uses positive reinforcement to promote being subservient 142 00:13:35,870 --> 00:13:40,159 to the will of the regime. It's Big Brother's kinder, gentler hand. And the 143 00:13:40,159 --> 00:13:44,899 things that make this scary is that we've seen the efficacy of this only too well in 144 00:13:44,899 --> 00:13:48,329 games. You may not actually know this, but when World of Warcraft was in its early 145 00:13:48,329 --> 00:13:52,629 stages of development, it had an unrested penalty mechanic that started limiting 146 00:13:52,629 --> 00:13:56,749 experienced gains for players who had played too much. And players hated it - 147 00:13:56,749 --> 00:14:01,120 they resented it they complained about it every day. So after brainstorming on this 148 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,470 for a while, Blizzard had the idea to simply change how the mechanic was 149 00:14:04,470 --> 00:14:08,540 presented. Without changing any of the existing numbers or systems, they started 150 00:14:08,540 --> 00:14:14,649 referring to the unrested experience state as normal, and made it the default. And 151 00:14:14,649 --> 00:14:18,400 they started calling the original normal experience gained state as rested. That's 152 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:23,339 all they changed, and everybody loved it. People would log on every day just to get 153 00:14:23,339 --> 00:14:28,400 that bonus. Positive reinforcement works wonders. But unlike World of Warcraft, 154 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:31,900 which built a system just to get people to embrace meaningless grinding, Sesame 155 00:14:31,900 --> 00:14:36,480 Credit has built a system to get people to enjoy falling into line. Now the system's 156 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:41,400 not mandatory yet - it's opt-in right now. But it's going to be mandatory in 2020, 157 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,759 and there's a terrible brilliance to phasing that in. The early adopters are 158 00:14:45,759 --> 00:14:49,389 going to be people excited about this system. People who are already patriotic 159 00:14:49,389 --> 00:14:53,280 and are eager for anything that'll help display that patriotism to the world. And, 160 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:56,639 as early adopters they're gonna talk it up. They're gonna give it an air of being 161 00:14:56,639 --> 00:15:00,329 positive and fun. Then it'll be foisted on the society as a 162 00:15:00,329 --> 00:15:04,259 whole. More than that though, the early adopters are gonna compete. Already you 163 00:15:04,259 --> 00:15:08,360 can see hundreds of thousands of tweets displaying people's high scores or showing 164 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:12,220 off the new milestones they've hit. Giving a hard numbers to their patriotism and 165 00:15:12,220 --> 00:15:16,300 giving them bragging rights for being the most patriotic, most right-thinking person 166 00:15:16,300 --> 00:15:20,220 they know. And that's gonna set the tone for how Sesame Credit is intended to be 167 00:15:20,220 --> 00:15:24,519 used - as a competition to see who can agree with the government the most. We've 168 00:15:24,519 --> 00:15:28,050 talked about propaganda games on this channel before but for all the time we've 169 00:15:28,050 --> 00:15:32,170 spent examining and deconstructing terrible games that espouse hate and for 170 00:15:32,170 --> 00:15:36,300 all the studies on propaganda games James has done, this is the use of game systems 171 00:15:36,300 --> 00:15:40,129 that frightens me the most. Because to most people Sesame Credit will seem 172 00:15:40,129 --> 00:15:43,899 benign. Perhaps even fun - it's a conversation starter, something to share 173 00:15:43,899 --> 00:15:47,930 with your friends. But it's making heavy use of all the psychological motivators 174 00:15:47,930 --> 00:15:52,269 that we Gamemakers deploy in scoring systems, and ladders and levels. Systems 175 00:15:52,269 --> 00:15:56,430 that we built to shape play habits and to keep people coming back. Like I said, I'm 176 00:15:56,430 --> 00:15:59,530 still kind of in a state of disbelief looking at this. If any of you are 177 00:15:59,530 --> 00:16:03,100 watching this from China, please tell me if I'm misunderstanding this thing, 178 00:16:03,100 --> 00:16:07,410 because I would love to be wrong about it. If not, well, I hope this episode can do 179 00:16:07,410 --> 00:16:10,860 some small amount to help the fight to keep such a system from becoming 180 00:16:10,860 --> 00:16:14,619 mandatory. For everyone in the rest of the world, I hope this helps remind us all how 181 00:16:14,619 --> 00:16:18,829 important it is to be aware and to be vigilant. All of these gamification 182 00:16:18,829 --> 00:16:22,410 techniques we've learned through making games offer incredible opportunities for 183 00:16:22,410 --> 00:16:26,880 making this world a better more engaging place. But every great tool carries with 184 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:30,779 it the potential for misuse. And it's on us as a community who understands this 185 00:16:30,779 --> 00:16:35,530 amazing new medium, to do what we can to stop that. We'll see you next week. 186 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:52,150 [Applause] Katika: So, we had the shedule, and thank 187 00:16:52,150 --> 00:16:58,790 you to Extra Credit for this video, and thank you for concentrating on 188 00:16:58,790 --> 00:17:05,559 gamification. Because a lot of time, when I talk to social scientists, without a lot 189 00:17:05,559 --> 00:17:12,470 of technological knowledge, it was like okay - it's a new system. And the whole 190 00:17:12,470 --> 00:17:19,839 gamification thing triggered me, and I wondered about a lot of people who didn't 191 00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:26,800 seem too interested in it. Because I said that the video contains some faulty 192 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:33,030 information. First, I'd like to concentrate on key aspects they told us in 193 00:17:33,030 --> 00:17:39,950 with this video. There is a social rating system in China now. The system will 194 00:17:39,950 --> 00:17:48,800 become mandatory in 2020. That's all right. It works on Big Data algorithms, 195 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:59,320 artificial intelligence, and your online and offline data. And it uses technologies 196 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:04,399 like gamification and nudging. And if you hear it's an Orwellian system - no it's 197 00:18:04,399 --> 00:18:18,620 not. 1984 was about force. Gamification is about feeling good and cozy. So, in the 198 00:18:18,620 --> 00:18:22,940 updates and corrections, I promise you a quick look at the end Chinese internet 199 00:18:22,940 --> 00:18:30,080 landscape. What most people already know. From the beginning the Chinese government 200 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:38,940 started to control the internet as much as it could and its users. So some 201 00:18:38,940 --> 00:18:45,650 vocabularies you might have heard are the Great Firewall, or its new extra the 202 00:18:45,650 --> 00:18:50,730 Golden Shield, the Great Cannon, which is a DDoS weapon. It would be really 203 00:18:50,730 --> 00:18:56,580 fascinating to dive in there, but we have to watch from far. Another point that's 204 00:18:56,580 --> 00:19:01,730 really interesting for us looking Social Credit System is true name or real name 205 00:19:01,730 --> 00:19:06,919 registration. Which means you can't use a lot of services if you don't give them 206 00:19:06,919 --> 00:19:14,720 your ID number. And the mandatory system in 2020 will work on ID numbers as far as 207 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:20,899 we know. So, we watched the other side: the users, their millions of users - it's 208 00:19:20,899 --> 00:19:30,910 one more than 1.4 billion people in China. And ICTs are really popular. Much more 209 00:19:30,910 --> 00:19:37,080 than in Germany, for example. And another thing that please keep in mind - cash is 210 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:41,179 vanishing in China. A couple of years ago, for example, when I 211 00:19:41,179 --> 00:19:49,189 lived in China 2004: I paid my rent in cash half a year in advance. When I paid 212 00:19:49,189 --> 00:19:55,809 for anything I paid cash. You could couldn't find a lot of places accepting 213 00:19:55,809 --> 00:20:02,419 cards. But now China didn't have this development of cards - they just jumped 214 00:20:02,419 --> 00:20:08,530 right through paying with mobile apps. And you can buy noodles or snack or magazine 215 00:20:08,530 --> 00:20:15,120 with your mobile phone. And the Chinese users found multiple ways to deal with 216 00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:22,279 censorship, and to trespass it. It's a wonderful thing to look up. 217 00:20:22,279 --> 00:20:27,600 And now, the big players of the Chinese Internet, because we learned some names in 218 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:34,390 the film. I made something very Chinese - I made something colorful. Okay, you have 219 00:20:34,390 --> 00:20:41,630 three big players: its Alibaba and Tencent - we heard about them, and Baidu is the 220 00:20:41,630 --> 00:20:48,549 third biggest player. Each millions of users, or billions. So to explain this, I 221 00:20:48,549 --> 00:20:57,600 will use some American companies names to help understanding. And Baidu is known for 222 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:05,270 that; was the wrong; yeah, Baidu is known for Baidu Barker - this is like the 223 00:21:05,270 --> 00:21:11,620 Chinese Wikipedia, it's just a bit much controlled. And a have Baidu Pay, and 224 00:21:11,620 --> 00:21:18,399 Baidu is huge in artificial intelligence. So the next one is Tencent - we learned 225 00:21:18,399 --> 00:21:24,549 about the gaming thing. And developed QQ - this is a messenger than some of you might 226 00:21:24,549 --> 00:21:33,860 remember: ICQ. Yeah, it's just a bit bigger. Another app a lot of people don't 227 00:21:33,860 --> 00:21:38,890 think it's Chinese, it is Chinese, it's called WeChat. It's I can say they even 228 00:21:38,890 --> 00:21:47,279 mmm WhatsApp, right? And guess what WeChat developed - WeChat Pay. And there's 229 00:21:47,279 --> 00:21:52,320 another little company Tencent holds some parts in its SnapChat - it's twelve 230 00:21:52,320 --> 00:22:00,320 percent owned by Tencent. Alibaba has Alipay which is one of the biggest payment 231 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:07,960 apps. And you can even use it in Germany now I think, in some shops. It's running 232 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:16,490 Taobao Wang, which is like eBay just a bit bigger. And Sina Weibo. Weibo mains micro 233 00:22:16,490 --> 00:22:26,029 blogging or twittering. And Sina is the biggest company in China, and they hold 234 00:22:26,029 --> 00:22:31,680 more or less a third. Now we come to something really interesting - it's Ant 235 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:39,970 Financials. Because Ant Financials created something called Sesame Credit. Sesame 236 00:22:39,970 --> 00:22:45,269 Credit is Ali Baba's child, not Tencent, and Ali Baba's. Tencent developed their 237 00:22:45,269 --> 00:22:56,240 own system. So, updates and corrections without colors. 2014 was the year the 238 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:01,399 Chinese state council released a planning outline on the construction of social 239 00:23:01,399 --> 00:23:08,990 credit systems in China. And it gave us a lot of information but only very few 240 00:23:08,990 --> 00:23:18,740 specific information. So, they started, and in 2020 it will be managed mandatory. 241 00:23:18,740 --> 00:23:23,289 But they worked on for as long as at least 2005. 242 00:23:24,559 --> 00:23:32,010 It allows governmental and private SCS. So you have both. And eight companies are 243 00:23:32,010 --> 00:23:39,809 allowed to form their own private social credit systems. We learned Tencent and 244 00:23:39,809 --> 00:23:44,890 Alibaba are two of them. In different regions, Hainan for example, it's an 245 00:23:44,890 --> 00:23:52,409 island - you have social credit systems run by the government. So you see you have 246 00:23:52,409 --> 00:23:57,909 a lot of different systems running at the same time in different regions and 247 00:23:57,909 --> 00:24:05,140 sometimes you can choose between different social credit systems at the same place. 248 00:24:05,140 --> 00:24:15,240 And Sesame Credit we have learned is the biggest and run by Alibaba. And Sesame 249 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:21,170 Credit is not the one who will be mandatory. I have one other point that I 250 00:24:21,170 --> 00:24:33,750 forgot it might come back later. So, to give you a bit more information, let's 251 00:24:33,750 --> 00:24:38,220 have a quick look at recent developments that I thought of would be really 252 00:24:38,220 --> 00:24:46,560 interesting for you when you have that scenario of a society that is formed by a 253 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:55,459 writing system. In 2016 there were some new guidelines on the SCS. New 254 00:24:55,459 --> 00:25:00,019 cybersecurity laws and you might expect it they are getting a bit harder and harder 255 00:25:00,019 --> 00:25:04,600 every time. And there was a police robot - I don't know if you heard about it I was 256 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:08,029 going to write an article but then we had a really nice conference that made us a 257 00:25:08,029 --> 00:25:14,240 lot of work and my article died in the way. So you might have watched Wall-E - 258 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:18,429 what was the movie couple of years ago. You might remember Eve - there was a 259 00:25:18,429 --> 00:25:24,250 little cute white robot that had a specialty - it could taser. Someone in 260 00:25:24,250 --> 00:25:29,689 China must have watched that movie too, because guess what - it looks like Eve and 261 00:25:29,689 --> 00:25:38,120 it can tazer. You find pictures and clips online. And the People's Bank of 262 00:25:38,120 --> 00:25:44,299 China announced its own digital currency to come soon. They are working on it for 263 00:25:44,299 --> 00:25:51,090 years. And the real name registrations for online comments. So no real name 264 00:25:51,090 --> 00:25:59,480 registrations, no online comments. And in 2020 - the mandatory Social Credit System. 265 00:26:00,330 --> 00:26:09,110 The next question is usually: how does the social criticism work? And we take a quick 266 00:26:09,110 --> 00:26:15,570 look at Sesame Credit because they added more and more services that Extra Credit 267 00:26:15,570 --> 00:26:22,690 guys could know about. So we learned a lot of data mining they do. 268 00:26:22,690 --> 00:26:28,070 For example, when you use AliPay it goes to your scores. So your score gets higher 269 00:26:28,070 --> 00:26:35,830 and higher the more you shop with AliPay. Then other Alibaba services - we know 270 00:26:35,830 --> 00:26:41,250 there are different and millions of services. And now it's getting special 271 00:26:41,250 --> 00:26:47,070 because it draws information from officials as well. So we have information 272 00:26:47,070 --> 00:26:55,130 from courts, debtors registries, and because love always makes everything 273 00:26:55,130 --> 00:27:01,159 better, you get your data from the biggest dating app in China - it's Baihe. So you 274 00:27:01,159 --> 00:27:08,249 can see if the person you want to fall in love with have a good score. And of 275 00:27:08,249 --> 00:27:16,790 course, they're including more and more services. And there are penalties now. If 276 00:27:16,790 --> 00:27:23,460 you forgot to pay your child support for a couple of month or years or; I have heard 277 00:27:23,460 --> 00:27:29,820 people can forget that for quite a long time. There are penalties: for example, 278 00:27:29,820 --> 00:27:36,480 you can't take high-speed trains or first- class flight tickets. Which is a very 279 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:43,559 intelligent way. Again, it's a very intelligent way to add penalties because 280 00:27:43,559 --> 00:27:52,460 if you start with people nobody likes, nobody likes openly, it's clever. And of 281 00:27:52,460 --> 00:27:59,799 course, the companies do not tell you a lot about the technologies like they use 282 00:27:59,799 --> 00:28:08,139 in the systems. So and then people want to know about the mandatory system, what it 283 00:28:08,139 --> 00:28:14,120 can do, how will it look and so on, and there's a very simple answer - we don't 284 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:20,190 know. The Chinese government doesn't give you a lot of information on how it will 285 00:28:20,190 --> 00:28:27,960 look. But we can guess. In having a look on how the government worked in the last 286 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:38,090 20-30 years. So, we can have a look how they prepare the mandatory system. Like I 287 00:28:38,090 --> 00:28:44,220 said, different systems at the same time, and they will learn from this. And my 288 00:28:44,220 --> 00:28:50,060 guess is they will have like a little medley of the best features of the 289 00:28:50,060 --> 00:28:58,389 existing systems and get rid of the faulty ones. So, by best, I mean best from the 290 00:28:58,389 --> 00:29:04,980 point of view of the government of course. So now we are bit later because of our 291 00:29:04,980 --> 00:29:12,419 technological difficulties, thanks again for solving. Why do you have a Social 292 00:29:12,419 --> 00:29:17,380 Credit System? Let's dive a bit back in history. Some 293 00:29:17,380 --> 00:29:22,269 people might remember the year 1989. Before you had a lot of countries that 294 00:29:22,269 --> 00:29:28,170 called themselves socialists. But after, you had only a few and China is one of 295 00:29:28,170 --> 00:29:35,649 them. And how did they make it? In the 80s they had something called the era of 296 00:29:35,649 --> 00:29:41,440 reform and opening-up, where they opened up to the West mostly, and to capitalism. 297 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:48,759 And you might know what that means. China's called the transformation society. 298 00:29:48,759 --> 00:29:53,299 And with some people getting rich quickly, and a lot of people getting poorer and 299 00:29:53,299 --> 00:29:59,990 poorer and watching the rich - you have a lot of social tension. And remember, China 300 00:29:59,990 --> 00:30:06,110 is a huge country. A vast amount on people, and know people are really good in 301 00:30:06,110 --> 00:30:13,000 getting on each other's nerves. So you have problems. I give you one number that 302 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:20,380 I really like - in 2014, the official count of mass incidents everyday was 303 00:30:20,380 --> 00:30:29,130 nearly 250. And the number is rising, so it will be much more today. And a mass 304 00:30:29,130 --> 00:30:35,380 incident can be anything from pensioners holding up banners demanding more money 305 00:30:35,380 --> 00:30:40,010 because they worked their whole lives, I'm sorry, I really have to concentrate on not 306 00:30:40,010 --> 00:30:47,850 swearing, to like, riots, full-grown riots, petrol bombs, burning buildings. 307 00:30:47,850 --> 00:30:53,899 For example, G20 in Hamburg, you might have heard. That's a mass incident. That's 308 00:30:53,899 --> 00:30:59,539 nothing to get crazy about, that's just a little thing that happened. Hamburg is 309 00:30:59,539 --> 00:31:06,609 still standing. And, thank you, hello Hamburg. 310 00:31:06,609 --> 00:31:12,330 [Applause] And keep in mind organized societies are 311 00:31:12,330 --> 00:31:19,210 controlled on different levels. That's not only China. And social control is usually 312 00:31:19,210 --> 00:31:25,460 done by groups, so it's much easier if we control each other. And it has the long 313 00:31:25,460 --> 00:31:31,370 history in China too, and a lot of socialist countries develop new forms of 314 00:31:31,370 --> 00:31:36,279 social control. So in China, you have a Hukou - that means you can only get social 315 00:31:36,279 --> 00:31:43,380 services where you're permitted to live. I just give you a really really short 316 00:31:43,380 --> 00:31:47,940 version of everything it's not it's a bit more complex as you know. The Tang on 317 00:31:47,940 --> 00:31:52,919 which you can say it's an analog version a lot of your stuff what you've done goes in 318 00:31:52,919 --> 00:31:58,210 there. You needed a marriage permit if you wanted to get married and it wasn't easy 319 00:31:58,210 --> 00:32:05,149 to live without a married permit and as China became more and more digitized you 320 00:32:05,149 --> 00:32:13,519 might know what comes next. Oh too anyone control became digitized as well and as 321 00:32:13,519 --> 00:32:19,949 people are using ICTs more and more they create a huge amount of data. And the 322 00:32:19,949 --> 00:32:28,729 bloody thing with data is you don't feel, smell or see anything vanishing, do you? 323 00:32:28,729 --> 00:32:33,390 And people it's helpful as humans to 324 00:32:33,390 --> 00:32:42,970 develop something towards something we can't see smell or fear. And more and more 325 00:32:42,970 --> 00:32:49,889 technologies are used in civilians and social control. But that still leaves the 326 00:32:49,889 --> 00:32:58,960 question: why is China doing it? Let's go to another point I'd really interested 327 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:06,409 in: ideological influences the way we see the world and the way we think about it 328 00:33:06,409 --> 00:33:15,039 is formed by theories, by ideologies and what's the Chinese flag ? You see it 329 00:33:15,039 --> 00:33:19,850 again, maybe you remember, some of you, it's red with yellow stars - that usually 330 00:33:19,850 --> 00:33:32,759 is a code for socialists and this is Mao Zedong. He was kind of big in China. And 331 00:33:32,759 --> 00:33:39,710 so you have - here you have three socialist symbols. It really helps to 332 00:33:39,710 --> 00:33:47,559 know a bit about Marxism in researching China and especially in Mao Zedong 333 00:33:47,559 --> 00:33:52,490 thought it's not called maoism it's called more Zedong thought it's about what 334 00:33:52,490 --> 00:33:58,583 he thought and in this reform of opening up - I'm trying to feed you a bit of 335 00:33:58,583 --> 00:34:05,639 Chinese history - the Chinese government opened up to more. For example they opened 336 00:34:05,639 --> 00:34:10,810 up to nationalism. And if you know a bit about socialism, usually you wouldn't 337 00:34:10,810 --> 00:34:16,190 put socialism and nationalism in one room, because they didn't like each other. The 338 00:34:16,190 --> 00:34:24,840 Chinese government found a way they like each other. They got really interested 339 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:32,020 in PR and they really research other countries how governments there stood in 340 00:34:32,020 --> 00:34:40,630 power. And some are not so well known to most of us this is Confucius. 341 00:34:40,630 --> 00:34:46,250 Confucianism shaped and molded the Chinese societies for more than 2,000 342 00:34:46,250 --> 00:34:52,989 years. And if you have that big influence, you can't just get rid of it. 343 00:34:52,989 --> 00:34:58,580 It's in people's memories. It's in the whole society, and Confusianism came back 344 00:34:58,580 --> 00:35:07,080 as an ideology, where some parts of the Socialists ideology vanished. Confucianism 345 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:14,130 came back and Confucianism is about a society where everyone is on her or his 346 00:35:14,130 --> 00:35:22,970 place and her place is always below. And with all these new ideological 347 00:35:22,970 --> 00:35:29,430 influences, the way of communication changed as well. 348 00:35:29,430 --> 00:35:37,610 Before it was the masses and now it's the public. All campaigns and programs had 349 00:35:37,610 --> 00:35:43,120 revolutionary names or poetic forms like hundred flowers yet the Great Leap 350 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:49,990 Forward, and all these campaigns molded our picture of China, or the picture 351 00:35:49,990 --> 00:35:57,680 most people have in their hearts people in bloom, red flags. But now it's changed you 352 00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:03,360 have new campaigns and programs and they have other names as well. You have 353 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:10,360 socialist harmonious society as a goal for the society and a couple of years ago 354 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:16,220 before, you couldn't put socialism and harmony in one room either. And you have 355 00:36:16,220 --> 00:36:25,700 the Chinese dream. Yes, it sounds a bit like American dream, yeah. And we learned 356 00:36:25,700 --> 00:36:30,680 that all governments are interested in control and feedback because you can't 357 00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:36,140 control something, if you don't pay attention and can't blow up anyway. So 358 00:36:36,140 --> 00:36:43,330 like we have an autonomous nervous system that tells every part what's going on, you 359 00:36:43,330 --> 00:36:48,350 have one electronic autonomous nervous system now in many societies not only 360 00:36:48,350 --> 00:36:53,500 China. People using ICTs and a social credit 361 00:36:53,500 --> 00:37:01,440 system just creates a wonderful opportunity of feedback and on the same 362 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:18,700 time on influence. So, we come to the end of this talk and to the summary. So, again 363 00:37:18,700 --> 00:37:24,530 this I think is really important: it's an international tendency to solve social 364 00:37:24,530 --> 00:37:32,890 problems with technological solutions. And as far as I am concerned this is not the 365 00:37:32,890 --> 00:37:42,300 best way maybe. And the Chinese government - they do not count and think in years, 366 00:37:42,300 --> 00:37:48,570 they think in decades at least. And they looked at the internet and found out 367 00:37:48,570 --> 00:37:58,170 that this is a good tool and they're using it. Successfully. But we know at least 368 00:37:58,170 --> 00:38:02,860 since Edward Snowden, that other governments are capable of using the 369 00:38:02,860 --> 00:38:09,210 Internet as a tool as well. A social credit system exists of the use of big 370 00:38:09,210 --> 00:38:20,981 data, algorithm, ICTs and gamification. And it will become mandatory. And this 371 00:38:20,981 --> 00:38:28,460 game, when it becomes mandatory, will define your life. And not only your life, 372 00:38:28,460 --> 00:38:34,200 it will define the life of the people surrounding you as well. The schools your 373 00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:43,920 children for example will go to will be chosen on your rate. And there's the 374 00:38:43,920 --> 00:38:53,250 opportunity to put this together with a national cryptocurrency. So, thank you 375 00:38:53,250 --> 00:38:56,960 all for listening that what's my current state of research and my current state of 376 00:38:56,960 --> 00:39:03,340 my code, we both presented to you this talk and I'm really looking forward to QA 377 00:39:03,340 --> 00:39:13,210 and discussing. Thanks. *34c3 outro* 378 00:39:13,210 --> 00:39:30,000 subtitles created by c3subtitles.de in the year 2018. Join, and help us!