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Russia launches "social rating" platform to determine a person’s comparative “social status” (www.themoscowtimes.com)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology

103 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/536301

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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.]

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 5 months ago (1 children)

That's probably the inspiration, but like hell they'll manage to actually build something as functional.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] nexusband 10 points 5 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

Oh that's coming. Stay tuned.

[–] 5too 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Well, until the President decides otherwise, anyway.

[–] nexusband 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Luckily "the West" isn't just the U.S. - it's also France, the U.K., Mexico and even Australia...

[–] 5too 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

True! I've been too focused on our local politics lately!

[–] nexusband 2 points 5 months ago

I've been, too. Even though I'm neither in the US, nor a US citizen... It's scary right now...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

That’s a monopoly I appreciate. Although it’s marginal depending on a number of factors.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Comparing run of the mill government services with something as advantageous as a social credit app is not apples to apples. It’s not like they assign utility administrators to work for GRU hacking units. The people that build this tool will be highly paid technical experts. And there is no shortage of them in Russia. It’s definitely not 100% but there’s a decent chance they can cobble together a working system that tracks social scores for the vast majority of Russian citizens.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Social scores would logically depend on the data sourced from things working as I described.

But you may be right, of course.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Ah I see what you mean(t). You would have to have working systems with clean-enough data in the first place to integrate with in order to develop a system like this. Not just the expertise to develop it.

[–] sfxrlz 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

How do you mean remote payments for utilities. Buying something in Russia from a foreign country or the other way around ? Or just remote payments through Russia ?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I meant - submitting water counters' data and such via their website and paying there. It's not about payments themselves.