Why the nation’s appropriation of always meddling technology could, incomprehensibly, prompt more grounded common freedoms. By 2020, China’s new arrangement of social credit scoring is relied upon to give every native a dependability rating in light of anything from shopping…
GARY SHTEYNGART’S novel of 2010, “Super Sad True Love Story”, is set in a near future when the Chinese yuan is a global currency and people all wear an “apparat” around their neck with RateMe Plus technology. Personal details are displayed in public on ubiquitous Credit Poles, posts on street corners with “little LED counters at eye level that registered your Credit ranking as you walked by.” The protagonist’s are summed up thus:
LENNY ABRAMOV. Income averaged over five-year span, $289,420 yuan-pegged…Current blood pressure: 120 over 70. O-type blood…Thirty-nine years of age, lifespan estimated at eighty-three…Ailments: high cholesterol, depression…Consumer profile: heterosexual, nonathletic, non-automotive, nonreligious…Sexual preferences: low-functioning Asian/Korean…Child abuse indicator: on…Last purchases: bound, printed, nonstreaming Media artifact” [ie, book].
Chinese social media and big data represent an important share of the global Internet, but have received relatively less attention. This editorial examines three dominant discourses based on China's distinctive and complex political, economic and social realities: “Big Data” (technical focus), “Big Brother” (political focus), and “Big Profit” (economic focus). We argue that the prevailing discourse and practice of big data in China is largely technocentric, decontextualized and nonreflexive, and much less attuned to the social, political, cultural, epistemological, and ethical implications of big data that a humancentric approach would demand. Second, the authoritarian Chinese state poses incredible political challenges to big data research and practice.
Third, the practice of Chinese social media and big data is imbued with a discourse of technological nationalism, driven by a handful of monopolistic “national champions.” Despite contention, the state and market players have formed a largely mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship to maximize their political and economic gains. We argue a comparative perspective to foster a global conversation on social media and big data is necessary in order to formulate collective responses to such challenges.