Beijing to Start Trialling Social-Credit Based Subway Access

Beijing to Start Trialling Social-Credit Based Subway Access
Mar 12, 2021 By eChinacities.com

Beijing is to begin trialling a system whereby passengers with good social credit ratings are exempt from security checks at the city’s subway stations. The controversial social credit system, which has been likened to dystopian TV series Black Mirror by Western media, would be used to give “honest” passengers perks, according to an article in the Global Times.

Beijing subway
Source: 維基小霸王

As part of the trial, which will apparently be taking place at several Beijing subway stations, passengers pre-approved by an app will be able to pass through security with small bags without the need to have them scanned.

Passengers who have used the subway system more than 10 times can apply to take part via the Yitongxing app, which will scan their face and check their credit score before approving or rejecting them for the fast-track system. Any passenger found to have engaged in “uncivilized behavior” on public transport, such as eating or carrying prohibited items, would be rejected.

An anonymous Beijing subway staff member told the Global Times that the system is still in its testing phase and under discussion. A similar scheme is believed to have already been trialed at the city’s Fuchengmen station in 2019 and at Guangzhou stations in 2018, however.

Xie Yongjiang of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication denied that the proposed system is an abuse of big data and insisted it would help ease congestion at stations. He conceded, however, that legal clauses on the app should be carefully followed to avoid privacy violations and data leaks.

Beijing subway served 12 million passengers per weekday before the Covid-19 outbreak, according to official data.

Warning:The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement, and legal action can be taken.

Keywords: China vaccination certificates

6 Comments

All comments are subject to moderation by eChinacities.com staff. Because we wish to encourage healthy and productive dialogue we ask that all comments remain polite, free of profanity or name calling, and relevant to the original post and subsequent discussion. Comments will not be deleted because of the viewpoints they express, only if the mode of expression itself is inappropriate.

pearlachaab

Thank you

Mar 15, 2021 19:27 Report Abuse

pearlachaab

Hello, i have a question and it's not related to the article. I wanted to know if job ads are pulled down after the employer has employed the suitable candidate for the job. And of there's any way we could be notified before job ads are posted. Please help a frustrated jobless person.

Mar 14, 2021 19:00 Report Abuse

andybrocks2012

god luck with that

Mar 15, 2021 10:54 Report Abuse

andybrocks2012

the security is a waste of time in the first place

Mar 12, 2021 15:26 Report Abuse