One of my earliest post 3 years ago concerned the Chinese Social Credit System and the real and terrible risk is represented for privacy. (https://phil-data-blog.blogspot.com/2019/03/should-we-care-about-our-citizen-score.html) Since, our worst fears have been confirmed as the virus scare was used as a convenient justification to implement and harden the negative aspects of such a scoring system.
Scoring systems have been implemented in finance for over 50 years to classify risk and clients. In the US, Experian, Equifax and TranUnion have been providing banks with a credit score which is used to calculate the cost of credit. The lower your score, the higher the interest rate. It makes sense to some extent as it is just an "information" with limited applications to Credit mostly, and it has therefore been both widely accepted and used since its inception.
The Chinese scoring system, coming 50 years later is a product of our time, taking full advantage of the integration of diverse database to calculate a dynamic and flexible score which can be modified in its calculation or result anytime and implemented through an app on anybody's smartphone. As such, the potential for control is almost absolute. Worse, the system doesn't need to be perfect from the beginning since it can be "improved and adjusted over time.
What is possible in a Chinese-like society is not, or rather was not thought possible in Western societies. The uproar would have been too loud. That is of course until the advent of Covid-19 in early 2020. We can still vividly remember the comments in February 2020 when China started implementing strict restrictions in its largest cities that such a move was impossible in Europe. Then of course, Italy tried some limited confinement "on a temporary basis to flatten the curve" in the Alps and the rest is history. The problem was not a problem of policy but of implementation.
This is why, today, what is being tested in Hong Kong is so important. Hong Kong has changed a lot since 1997, but the level of freedom remains higher than in mainland China and consequently what is being done in Hong Kong is a much more accurate barometer of what is possible in the West over time.
The intentions of the Davos crowds are clear as they have been consistently explained and consist over time in building and implementing a Chinese-like credit score which advantages from a political point of view are simply irresistible. The difficulty is of course that people understand the risks of such a system and do not want anything to do with it.
Whence the convenience of the Virus scare. If people won't do it for themselves, maybe they can do it for the sake of society? their neighbors? Creating the virus "pass" or certificates was relatively straightforward and implementation with some mild resistance was also to some extent easy. What has been more difficult subsequently was to keep the system is place (It was just prolonged for another year by the European Community and conversely rejected by the the French assembly two weeks ago.) Likewise, linking "other" information to the system, the real goal, is technically very easy but practically proving more difficult than expected.
Which is once again why Hong Kong if so important. If Hong Kong finds the right balance to actually expend such a system and make it more like the Chinese based Social Credit Score, this will be THE blueprint that almost all governments around the world can follow with acceptable chances of success.
25 years ago, when Hong Kong's rule reverted to China, the city was for a brief instant the center of the world. The following quarter of a century marked the integration of the Chinese market and consequently the parabolic rise of the Chinese economy. Once again after 25 years, what is taking place in Hong Kong may be just as important. Although this time, the question is: Will the rest of the world follows Hong Kong lead and implement a more Chinese type of controlled economy? In other words, the exact opposite of what took place in 1997.
Authord by Niee Law and Ying Cheung via The Epoch Times
Since the new chief executive, John Lee Ka-chiu took office; he has been ready to do whatever it takes to please the CCP.
The Hong Kong government (HKgov) has been proactively seeking ways to reopen cross-borders with China.
Hkgov plans to enforce the CCP’s Health Code tracking into Hongkongers’ pandemic life. Commentators and netizens are nervous about losing personal freedom and privacy under the regime.
HKgov has plans to add the COVID-19 Color Code system to the current LeaveHomeSafe App. Doing so will further restrict citizens’ movements. This app is a HKgov-made mobile vaccine passport for tracing and tracking COVID-19 patients and their public visits.
Lo Chung-mau, Secretary for Health Authority (HA), said the Information, Technology and Industry Bureau (ITIB) and HA had concluded an evaluation of LeaveHomeSafe just half a month after the new government took office on July 1.
Lo claimed that Hong Kong must mirror the CCP’s Dynamic-Zero Policy to ease pandemic cases, as it is a good policy. “Any policy which eliminates high-risk patients’ public visits is a good policy we should learn from.” His comments confirmed citizens’ concern about real-identity-based registration on the app.
Limitation of Movement or Under Surveillance
Hong Kong has been quietly running a similar system since 2021. Nevertheless, the Hong Kong code had only been applied to those who cross the borders of Guangdong Province, China, or Macau under quarantine exemptions. The color code allowed both cities to watch their Covid-19 cases.
Hong Kong Code is essentially based on the PCR Test Pass, with PCR short for polymerase chain reaction-based nucleic acid test for COVID-19.
Unlike the current Hong Kong Code, which only traces a small group of exempted visitors, HKgov is now discussing tracking everyone in Hong Kong.
Three color indicators will be added to the existing vaccine pass by bracketing media reports, and standards of both PCR and Hong Kong vaccine passes.
Code Red represents COVID-19 confirmed patients, close-contact persons, any coronavirus-positive patients within 14 days upon discharge, persons who are undergoing compulsory COVID-19 test, and anyone who had reported symptoms of the virus within the past 14 days.
Code Yellow symbolizes anyone who has visited or is currently living in the high-risk areas, those who are waiting to be tested. Public places such as restaurants and gyms will not grant entry to anyone with Code Yellow.
As for Code Green, anyone is tested negative—but the green code is only valid for one day.
Lo claimed that the new rule “has nothing to do with wanting to reopen cross borders with China.”
Hongkongers and critics are worried about Hong Kong becoming another CCP surveillance city.
Public Opinions Are Loud and Clear
As soon as the news broke, Hongkongers’ criticism and queries buzzed.
Some said that the new code could ban them from dining in restaurants even if they had been vaccinated. Other citizens criticized HKgov for being ignorant. One of the netizens expressed, “Does HKgov realize how many people still don’t own or know how to work a smartphone? Asking them to learn how to use your app sends them to their graves.”
The general public is also wondering: Why would Hong Kong copy a failed policy of Dynamic-Zero from the CCP?
One of the netizens raised a worrying question. “Will the government turn our Health Code to Code Red one day as they did in Henan Province? Will our banks ban us from withdrawing our money?”
A Blow to Personal Privacy
Sam Ng Chi-sum, the former RTHK host of Headliners, commented during his online program that HKgov had never been able to eliminate privacy concerns of LeaveHomeSafe.
Ng continued, “Many Hongkongers are still hesitant to install LeaveHomeSafe. If HKgov pushes for the real-identity registration policy, Hongkongers will have zero privacy.”
Ng emphasized the Beijing regime has been using the Health Code to control and track the people of China around the clock. Ng said, “The CCP has been using Code Red against human rights and political activists. Who can explain that?”
In November 2021, Chinese human rights lawyer Xie Yang was about to fly to Shanghai to visit the mother of the citizen journalist Zhang Zhan. When he arrived at the airport, Xie was unexpectedly banned from flying as his PCR Test Pass turned red. Once he got home, the code became green again.
The public’s concerns are not groundless.
Ng mentioned, “If the regime is turning Hong Kong into a surveillance city, LegCo will not stop that from happening.”
Health Tools Become Surveillance Tools.
The Beijing government launched the Health Code nationwide in early 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only those with Code Green can get a pass. Compulsory PCR tests or self-quarantine are required for everyone else, and they must remain home until Code Green is signaled.
Many other cases have proven that the authorities use the Health Code to restrict personal freedom.
In Henan Province, certain banks in rural areas have frozen customers’ assets since April 2022. Villagers could not withdraw their savings.
In June 2022, when hundreds of frustrated villagers planned to partake in a protest in Zhengzhou, everyone‘s original health code turned from green to red. No one could attend the rally as everyone had to stay home.
Other bank account holders also said they encountered the same issue despite their negative PCR Test.
Mainland media outlet Caixin reported that these customers’ Health Code going red is not pandemic-related.
Those customers were the victims of frozen savings accounts by Henan banks.
The Supervisory Committee of Zhengzhou Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection later announced that the involved officials had been penalized, demoted, or dismissed from their positions in the CCP.
In the Henan village bank incident, 1317 villages were red-coded and blocked from withdrawing their savings by the banks.
On June 24, 2022, the Disease Control Bureau of the National Health Commission of China announced that any change in Health Code’s colors except for COVID-19 will be forbidden.
Face Recognition Revealed by Hong Kong Media
So when people under the Beijing regime had no control over their money or personal freedom, the public’s concerns about being watched were not groundless.
In May 2022, FactWire, a Hong Kong investigative news agency, reported that the Android version of LeaveHomeSafe had a built-in face recognition module.
The Office of the Government Chief Information Center admitted that the app development contractor had included a pre-existing facial recognition module during the development stage of LeaveHomeSafe. The office also claimed that the facial recognition function was “never activated.”
Freedom Has limits
Secretary for Health Authority Lo Chung-mau justified this in response to movement restrictions. “Freedom would be limited for the uninfected if sick people were allowed the freedom to roam.” Lo also claimed, “Freedom has limits. At risk, people should not be allowed to go out and endanger others.”
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