China's Giant New Gamble With Digital IDs (economist.com)
- Reference: 0178255994
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/07/02/1827222/chinas-giant-new-gamble-with-digital-ids
- Source link: https://www.economist.com/china/2025/07/01/chinas-giant-new-gamble-with-digital-ids
The system currently remains voluntary, though officials and state media are pushing citizens to register for "information security." Companies will see only anonymized character strings when users log in, while police retain exclusive access to personal details. The program replaces China's existing system requiring citizens to register with companies using real names before posting comments, gaming, or making purchases.
Police say they punished 47,000 people last year for spreading "rumours" online. The digital ID serves a broader government strategy to centralize data control. State planners classify data as a production factor alongside labor and capital, aiming to extract information from private companies for trading through government-operated data exchanges.
[1] https://www.economist.com/china/2025/07/01/chinas-giant-new-gamble-with-digital-ids
Papers Please (Score:3, Insightful)
Having to show ID to access free speech online is the surest sign that US is sliding towards a China style dystopia. Thanks Supreme Court.
Re: Papers Please (Score:3)
You sure you are old enough to be here? I need to see your ID.
Re:Papers Please (Score:5, Informative)
> Having to show ID to access free speech online is the surest sign that US is sliding towards a China style dystopia. Thanks Supreme Court.
Or simply walking/driving...
[1]US citizen detained by immigration officials who dismissed his Real ID as fake [theguardian.com]
[2]Family members outraged as U.S. citizen detained by federal agents in downtown LA on way to work [cbsnews.com]
Even after proving they're U.S. citizens, many are still detained because they "assaulted" the usually masked, unmarked officers refusing to identify themselves as LEO and/or their agency, which make things seem more like a kidnapping. The "they assaulted/resisted us" excuse is getting a bit old, especially when there are usually 5-10 "officers" attacking someone. But, you know, as long as they're only going after "very bad criminals", and not people going to work, simply because they're brown ... /s Stephen Miller, with his 3,000 people/day quota, is the worst.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/24/us-citizen-detained-ice-real-id
[2] https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/family-members-outraged-u-s-citizen-detained-federal-agents-downtown-la/
Donnie jealous of Xi, Kim, and Putie (Score:2)
> Police say they punished 47,000 people last year for spreading "rumours" online.
Rumors such as Xi is a ruthless dictator.
("Rumours" is the UK spelling.)
Re: (Score:2)
> ("Rumours" is the UK spelling.)
It's also the spelling in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and probably among English speakers in India.
Re: (Score:1)
> I know this is super 'not-for-slashdot' community, but damn, I love this shit. Imagine everyone who posted antivax stuff online going to prison. Everyone on twitter saying the 'n-word' or harassing trans people going to prison.
Except, none of those things are crimes, so why would you go to prison for doing those activities?
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Harassing people certainly is, as well as fraud/scams, but a proper country would ensure the others are also crimes.
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Harassing people MAY POSSIBLY be a crime, depending on the circumstances.
As for proper countries...,they don't throw people in jail for expressing an opinion.
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> Everyone on twitter saying the 'n-word' or harassing trans people going to prison... That would fucking rule. The internet would be so much better.
And what about people who use the word 'fuck'? That offends a lot of people, and by your wishes YOU would be on your way to prison for what you just wrote. Is that really the world you want to live in?
Take your time. But not too much time, because you never when they'll come for YOU.
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Last time I checked, no one died by the word fuck.
However tens of thousands and more died because of covid misinformation
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> However tens of thousands and more died because of covid misinformation
I don't see any evidence of that. Perhaps the CDC telling people they shouldn't wear masks because they didn't know how to wear them properly. Unlike the hospital staff the masks were being reserved for. Or telling people that once they were vaccinated it was safe for them to stop wearing a mask or social distancing. But the reason the United States lead the world in COVID deaths likely had nothing to do with "misinformation" spread online. For that you can probably point the finger at our crappy health ca
Re: (Score:2)
Unvaccinated people died at over twice the rate of vaccinated.
If we assume that availability of healthcare was the same for both groups, this isolate the vaccine as a variable.
We also KNOW that smallpox was eliminated thanks to vaccines, and the large increases in mumps, rubella, measles, etc in unvaccinated groups.
Re: Not for slashdot (Score:4, Insightful)
Right up until someone else gets into power, pardons them all, and decides a different set of ideas get you locked up.
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I lived with the great firewall of China for 2 years and it was a big part of the reason that I refused to renew my contract and stay in China. I'm not really political so not being able to be critical of the government there didn't really worry me. I had no motivation or desire to stir social unrest so in theory the great firewall should not be an issue. However in practice it was hugely annoying. Firstly you didn't always know if something was actually being blocked. Pages would often start loading,
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Sadly, american companies don't wanna follow these rules; they weren't banned, they simply didn't set up shop in China, as far as I know. Honestly a good thing, overall.
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> the idea of 'alternative facts', there is no such thing, facts are facts and that is a fact.
"alternative facts" are things that contradict people's world view. Facts are either accurate or inaccurate, but I suppose you can argue that a fact that is inaccurate isn't a fact. But accuracy is usually not the problem.
For instance, "Ivermectin was shown to kill the coronavirus" is an accurate statement, but it isn't really true since it was in a lab petri dish. So do you punish someone for saying it even though its accurate? That "Ivermectin is a horse dewormer" is also accurate, but its not really tr
Re: (Score:2)
Facts can be difficult because there are shades of grey, semantics and subtly, but let me be pedantic. I would say that the "The White House is painted white" and state that as a fact. You could then state an alternative fact that "The White House is painted black, and was painted that colour by white people, hence the name". Then we coulds get into a stupid flame war about the photos of it are CGI. Alright, a stupid example to make a point given how stupid some alternate facts are and how easily they c
the Nazis forced the jew's to register (Score:2)
the Nazis forced the jew's to register
Re: (Score:2)
> It didn't take long before the Jews took over the oppression themselves.
"The Jews" aren't responsible for Israel going rogue. The claim that criticizing Israeli genocide is somehow antisemetic is Israeli propaganda. There are plenty of Jews who don't support it's genocide even if they continue to support Israel. Expecting anything else is sort of like asking a mother to abandon their wayward child.
Gamble? (Score:2)
What is the 'Gamble' here? The upstream story is paywalled so I couldn't see why the title claims this a gamble. Its China, the citizens do what they are told when it comes to these things. So what is gamble here, that citizens rise up over this? I doubt it. There are things the Chinese government could try to do that could cause people to rise up, but this is not it. The people in Chine are not stupid, they know everything they post online is monitored and tracked, so just being more format about tha
Re: (Score:2)
[1]Non paywalled version [archive.today]
[1] http://archive.today/NcFoA
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Thanks for that. While a reasonably written piece the word gamble is 100% click bait. It appears nowhere in the body and there is nowhere where there is any mention of risk in what they are doing.
I did laugh at the usual report mistake that Chinese companies willing cooperate with the government, in this case writing "Firms help with gusto". Chinese companies have zero choice. For example they don't have to supply data to the government as is often claimed, because the government can simply take it u
Social credit score and Internet License (Score:3)
Any free country would be doing EXACTLY the opposite of what China is doing right now. Unfortunately, both UK and Germany have people getting arrested and jailed for posting mean messages online, just like China.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
History teachers can get arrested in FL for pointing out LGBTQ+ people exist.
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Nope. Stop spreading obvious FUD.
I would LOVE an internet license (Score:2)
Much like a driver's license. There could be variations of it, where an A-license would allow you the bare minimum (banking, whatsapp, google maps, email access, etc.). A B-license could allow for specialist forums and a C-license could allow for actual social media. Finally a D-license allows everything.
Then there'd be tests in order to see whether you'd be suited to be allowed on the internet. Those with shit for brains would only get an A-license, where actually intelligent people could get a B-, C-, or
Re: I would LOVE an internet license (Score:2)
A lot of guys would want a Double D licence. Would that cost more? For access to the dark web, I guess.
Note to self: post anon more often.
Re: (Score:2)
What would you need to do to earn a D license?
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> Those with shit for brains would only get an A-license...
And here's your sign...err...A-License.
That is a ridiculously, tremendously stupid idea (even though I can completely understand the reason for the suggestion). There can never be appointed a group of people who get to decide what ideas are true and false under the force of law. The desire to do so is so strong, and the ramifications so profoundly harmful, that the U.S. Constitution was written to make sure that never happens.
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Why would you want a driver's license or a license plate? After all, the former is merely a way to track you and the latter is so an agent of the state can find your vehicle.
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The police "technically" are limited in what they collect, how they collect and when they can access.
That being said, there are instances where police bypass the constitution and law buy purchasing from 3rd party this information.
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Like my momma used to always say, if someone tracks you 24-7 and someone pays for that information, they're paying them to track you.
Just because the US judges are in bed with the cops, doesn't make the logic behind it any different.
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Exactly!
The police seem to think that if they purchase the data, it's somehow not "collecting it".
The courts disagree, but the police don't care.
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You already do it all the time in america. It just isn't overt. The police track you 24-7. They just do not tell you. If in court, they'll lie about it or refuse to disclose. It's all ok, since they buy the data from a third party.
At least the CCP aren't cowards about it. I never thought id see the day where i call american police more cowardly than the CCP. America, how low can you go?
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Keep it coming, troll.. nom nom nom nom!!!
Re: (Score:1)
You already do it all the time in america. It just isn't overt. The police track you 24-7. They just do not tell you. If in court, they'll lie about it or refuse to disclose. It's all ok, since they buy the data from a third party. At least the CCP aren't cowards about it. I never thought id see the day where i call american police more cowardly than the CCP. America, how low can you go?