cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/536301
The Russia’s State Social University (RSSU) has launched a “social rating” platform that claims to build a person’s “social portrait” with possible applications in future government policies.
Named “We,” the platform promises to determine a user’s comparative “social status” based on a survey that includes questions about income, family status, benefits, creditworthiness, criminal record, lifestyle and state awards, among others.
“The social rating figures don’t affect [a person’s] life, the availability of services or the career trajectory in any way,” RSSU said on the platform’s website. “But who knows what these figures will mean for you in the future?”
Observers on social media compared the platform’s name “We” to the highly influential 1921 dystopian novel of the same name by Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin. [The novel “We” describes a world of harmony and conformity within a united totalitarian state. It inspired British author George Orwell to write his own novel, “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, which was published in 1949.]
Well this sounds a bit familiar…
Next step is adding a scoring system with penalties for certain behavior and it will be quite similar to the social system that is rolling out in China…
That’s probably the inspiration, but like hell they’ll manage to actually build something as functional.
I wouldn’t underestimate the engineering competence of Russians especially when it comes to autocratic surveillance tools. There are plenty of Russian-built tools and web apps that function quite well - Yandex, VK, etc. The west does not have a monopoly on innovation.
The west does not have a monopoly on innovation.
Nope - but it does look like we have the “monopoly” of being able to call out bullshit openly and not fear falling out of a window. Or being stabbed.
Yandex is a good example, VK - I’m not certain of that.
Anyway, what I meant is that such kind of social rating needs to source data from somewhere. That means integration with quite a lot of systems built for the Russian state, which often suck a lot. It’s normal that half the time remote payments for utilities don’t work, for example.
I mean, yeah, they can. But if it’s going to be some nation-wide system for the government, the bureaucracy will practically kill this.
Observers on social media compared the platform’s name “We” to the highly influential 1921 dystopian novel of the same name by Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin.
They actually couldn’t choose a different name than the novel that was written specifically about this very dystopian subject? Did they use it as inspiration? Because that seems more than coincidence…
It’s a blocking method. If 90% of the people who search a term are looking for the social platform it becomes much harder to find the book. Think of it like trying to find archival news articles about a perennial topic. You have to wade through all the recent shit and then there’s 2 hits from the time period you’re checking.
The social rating figures don’t affect [a person’s] life, the availability of services or the career trajectory in any way
unless you’re gay…
This is literally the plot for a Black Mirror episode.
I think for was actually the right word choice there, because Black Mirror in no way came up with the concept
