PerspectiveChina’s Orwellian war on religion

Published 23 May 2019

China is experimenting with Orwellian surveillance technology, including the Ministry of Public Security’s mass surveillance system and a “Social Credit System” that can create a blacklist for those who don’t pay debts or who cheat on taxes, break traffic rules or attend an unofficial church. Nicholas Kristof writes in the New York Times that blacklisted individuals can be barred from buying plane or train tickets: Although the system is still being tested in different ways at the local level, last year it barred people 17.5 million times from purchasing air tickets, the government reported. It could also be used to deny people promotions or assign a ring tone to their phone warning callers that they are untrustworthy.