Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Life on the wrong side of China’s social credit system

inkstonenews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 335 posts

Re: Life on the wrong side of China’s social credit system

#61

Post by AmVess »

btrettel wrote: post #55
AmVess wrote: post #32

USA is heading down this road, too. 21 states will suspend your driver's license if you fall behind on student debt. This is ass backwards and destructive thinking. I am certain this is just the start of greater restrictions on the unfortunate.

Cyclist here. I'm amazed by how much money people spend on their vehicles. I have an expensive bike (about $1000 new), and aside from perhaps $100-$200 on maintenance and equipment per year, I spend nothing else for daily transportation. It's hard for cars to compete with that on cost. I think suspending someone's drivers' license due to debts could help reduce one's transportation spending. Unfortunately, much of th…

It's a horrible idea. Lots of people get laid off or lose their jobs for various reasons. Taking away their transportation is a psychotic approach to debt collection.

In many areas, cities are cutting bus service to poor areas. The city I used to live in removed all but one route which left stranded or made transportation very difficult for a lot of people. The city I live in now simply cancelled their entire bus program.

The war on poverty doesn't mean what a lot of administrators think it means.

Re: Life on the wrong side of China’s social credit system

#62

Post by overthemoon »

AmVess wrote: post #32

USA is heading down this road, too. 21 states will suspend your driver's license if you fall behind on student debt. This is ass backwards and destructive thinking. I am certain this is just the start of greater restrictions on the unfortunate.

21 will suspend your driver's license? What's the source on that? I'm getting that some states will block renewal of professional licenses, not driver's licenses. Still horrible, still a terrible situation, but not the same kind of gut check a driver's license suspension would be.

EDIT: I'm somewhat heartened to see some movement against this practice: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicksibilla/2019/03/04/student-...

Re: Life on the wrong side of China’s social credit system

#63

Post by moosey »

andreilys wrote: post #48

Anytime a criticism of China's social credit score is brought up, there's always a "yeah but US credit score", yet I still don't understand how the two are even in the same ballpark. The social credit score in China is far more invasive and penalizes you for associating yourself with individuals who have low scores. To compare the two is disingenuous and reaks of whataboutism

But do you deny that felons have the same issue? How many felons do we have today that were punished by non-violent drug crimes, by design as far as I can tell.

As a US citizen, I don't believe that pointing out my own faults is "whataboutism". It is self-criticism. "Whataboutism" is a defense. I am not defending China, what they are doing is awful, and we should work to make sure that the systems that we have in our country don't replicate it whatsoever.

Basically, I am taking "Appeal to Hypocrisy" and flipping it on its head. For the most part, I do not have the ability, power, or vote to alter the course of Chinese politics. However, most people on here have the opportunity to do so in the US.

Re: Life on the wrong side of China’s social credit system

#64

Post by PhasmaFelis »

btrettel wrote: post #55
AmVess wrote: post #32

USA is heading down this road, too. 21 states will suspend your driver's license if you fall behind on student debt. This is ass backwards and destructive thinking. I am certain this is just the start of greater restrictions on the unfortunate.

Cyclist here. I'm amazed by how much money people spend on their vehicles. I have an expensive bike (about $1000 new), and aside from perhaps $100-$200 on maintenance and equipment per year, I spend nothing else for daily transportation. It's hard for cars to compete with that on cost. I think suspending someone's drivers' license due to debts could help reduce one's transportation spending. Unfortunately, much of th…

I'm also a cyclist, and spent most of my life biking exclusively, but not everyone is in a position to replace their car. If your car commute is 45 minutes on the highway, a bicycle is not going to help you when you lose your license.

Re: Life on the wrong side of China’s social credit system

#65

Post by maratd »

btrettel wrote: post #55
AmVess wrote: post #32

USA is heading down this road, too. 21 states will suspend your driver's license if you fall behind on student debt. This is ass backwards and destructive thinking. I am certain this is just the start of greater restrictions on the unfortunate.

Cyclist here. I'm amazed by how much money people spend on their vehicles. I have an expensive bike (about $1000 new), and aside from perhaps $100-$200 on maintenance and equipment per year, I spend nothing else for daily transportation. It's hard for cars to compete with that on cost. I think suspending someone's drivers' license due to debts could help reduce one's transportation spending. Unfortunately, much of th…

I'm glad you like to bike. Bikes don't go 60 miles an hour, which is necessary for some individuals who work an hour or more from their residence. And no, people don't do that sort of thing because they enjoy it. They do it because they have to. Please don't ruin people's lives with your ideas.

Re: Life on the wrong side of China’s social credit system

#66

Post by mindslight »

shereadsthenews wrote: post #27

Yes, spending 30 hours on a train and getting 900 miles down the track sounds like a fate worse than death. -Confused American

CHI->LAX is 2000 miles in about 45 hours, so still about 40% slower than even US rail travel. I did appreciate the quip though.

Re: Life on the wrong side of China’s social credit system

#67

Post by godelski »

r00fus wrote: post #56
andreilys wrote: post #48

Anytime a criticism of China's social credit score is brought up, there's always a "yeah but US credit score", yet I still don't understand how the two are even in the same ballpark. The social credit score in China is far more invasive and penalizes you for associating yourself with individuals who have low scores. To compare the two is disingenuous and reaks of whataboutism

The US had the social credit system up and running for years before China did. You can think of China's currently state of totalitarianism as a metastasis of what started in the US.

What's the US's social credit system? I mean the social part.

Re: Life on the wrong side of China’s social credit system

#68

Post by ceejayoz »

andreilys wrote: post #48

Anytime a criticism of China's social credit score is brought up, there's always a "yeah but US credit score", yet I still don't understand how the two are even in the same ballpark. The social credit score in China is far more invasive and penalizes you for associating yourself with individuals who have low scores. To compare the two is disingenuous and reaks of whataboutism

> The social credit score in China is far more invasive and penalizes you for associating yourself with individuals who have low scores.

The US is toying with going in that direction.

https://money.cnn.com/2013/08/26/technology/social/facebook-...

> One such company, Lenddo, determines if you're friends on Facebook (FB) with someone who was late paying back a loan to Lenddo. If so, that's bad news for you. It's even worse news if the delinquent friend is someone you frequently interact with.

Fully expect to see this sort of thing incorporated in credit scores barring legislation to restrict it. We've got even less ability as individuals to stop Equifax from doing this sort of stuff than we would versus a government.

Re: Life on the wrong side of China’s social credit system

#69

Post by btrettel »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #64
btrettel wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cyclist here. I'm amazed by how much money people spend on their vehicles. I have an expensive bike (about $1000 new), and aside from perhaps $100-$200 on maintenance and equipment per year, I spend nothing else for daily transportation. It's hard for cars to compete with that on cost. I think suspending someone's drivers' license due to debts could help reduce one's transportation spending. Unfortunately, much of th…

I'm also a cyclist, and spent most of my life biking exclusively, but not everyone is in a position to replace their car. If your car commute is 45 minutes on the highway, a bicycle is not going to help you when you lose your license.

> not everyone is in a position to replace their car

I agree, which is why I said taking away someone's license is net counterproductive.

Also, I'm not suggesting that people should become cyclists, just that driving is expensive.

Re: Life on the wrong side of China’s social credit system

#70

Post by btrettel »

maratd wrote: post #65
btrettel wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cyclist here. I'm amazed by how much money people spend on their vehicles. I have an expensive bike (about $1000 new), and aside from perhaps $100-$200 on maintenance and equipment per year, I spend nothing else for daily transportation. It's hard for cars to compete with that on cost. I think suspending someone's drivers' license due to debts could help reduce one's transportation spending. Unfortunately, much of th…

I'm glad you like to bike. Bikes don't go 60 miles an hour, which is necessary for some individuals who work an hour or more from their residence. And no, people don't do that sort of thing because they enjoy it. They do it because they have to. Please don't ruin people's lives with your ideas.

> Bikes don't go 60 miles an hour, which is necessary for some individuals who work an hour or more from their residence. And no, people don't do that sort of thing because they enjoy it. They do it because they have to. Please don't ruin people's lives with your ideas.

Reread my post, as I don't think you're responding to what I wrote. I don't advocate taking away someone's license because of debts, which I believe I made clear in the last paragraph.

Post reply on HN