BEIJING - China is funnelling vast amounts of public and private data into huge databases aimed at tightening its control over its nearly 1.4 billion people.
It was aimed at replicating the credit scoring system common in the United States and other places, as well as taming behaviour in a country where laws are inconsistently enforced. "It's supposed to affect the decision-making of businesses to conform to what the party wants," said Ms Samantha Hoffman, a fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think tank.
Representatives of United, Delta and American Airlines confirmed changing their websites but declined to comment specifically on the matter. For instance, Ms Fei said that for years her family's silk factory had been given dispensation to break environmental rules by local government authorities eager for economic growth. It was finally shut down for environmental reasons.
"They put pressure on us in the supply chain to sort out the environmental challenges," said Mr Jorg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, who is also the chief representative of BASF in China."That's a definite shift that puts a lot of pressure on us." China began to detail its ambitions for the social credit system six years ago, saying it could be a reality by 2020. While some critics saw it as a form of total social control, it was primarily envisioned as a tool for a country where people often break the law in big and little ways without consequences.
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