Social scoring: is the West following in China’s footsteps?

The Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner has criticised the polarisation in Western countries and warns that it could pave the way for a social scoring system. But researchers behind a Swiss study on social scoring take a different view. Are Western societies following in China’s footsteps? Adrian Lobsiger, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, sounds the alarm that social scoring poses a growing threat. In his latest activity report, he conveys that “democratic societies of the West” would already have the means “to turn the private and self-determined lives of their citizens which are protected by liberal constitutions into the opposite”. Lobsiger’s interpretation of the legal framework is also surprisingly clear. Switzerland’s technology-neutral data protection law effectively bans “nationwide face recognition and social scoring”, although this ban is not formally established in legislation. When asked by Swissinfo, Lobsiger explained he ...