With the debut of China’s Social Credit Score on the horizon, the world is watching the country to see what invasive data practice they will implement next. This past weekend a new bout of concerning news made waves across the Twitter where it was ultimately covered by The Verge.
Victor Gevers, a renown security researcher, discovered a database that included information on over 1.8 million women. The database consisted of the women’s addresses and phone numbers, along with other personal information. Perhaps the most disconcerting information was a signifier detailing whether the women were “breed ready”.
Gevers told the Verge:
“We don’t know who is behind this database and what the intention was…that is the part that worries us the most,”
The “breed ready” data point was binary, meaning a yes or no was simply represented by 1 and 0’s – So a 1 if a woman was breed ready and a 0 if the system found that they weren’t. The subset of “breed ready” women ranged from 18 to 39.
As Gevers mentioned, the origin and purpose of the database is a mystery. Many are speculating that it could be part of a government study to track fertile woman. This wouldn’t be surprising for two reasons. One, the Chinese government is already notorious for “scoring” their citizens with the goal of improving their society. Two, China recently experienced a record low birth rate, with the National Statistics Bureau reporting a 2 million dip in births in 2018.
The reports also held information of the woman’s marital, educational and political statuses. There was even a field for “Has Video”, with links implying that this data point was catalogued from the women’s Facebook accounts. While Facebook is banned in China, there are ways for residents to bypass the ban by creating accounts while abroad or through a VPN.
With this amount of invasive databases being available, the Verge asked Gevers how people could keep their information secure.
“I would say not to sign up for Chinese online services because some of them are not so secure. But that’s not very practical and nor is it right to say that all Chinese online services cannot be trusted. Also, Google and Facebook know a lot about people and they sell that data to third parties. So I don’t think I have an answer to this problem, because it extends much further than China. It is a global problem which we need to address. All nations (including China) need to stop this insanity for big data first because this is all going to end in tears if we keep going on this path.”
What This Means For the Digital You
While it is alarming to see these databases existing in China, Gevers raises an excellent point. The reality is that everyday industries and governments around the globe are placing people in scoring systems.
Companies and criminals use the data footprint you leave behind to make decisions about the Digital You. While these systems may not be as tangible as China’s upcoming Social Credit score, they can still have an impact on your life.
At ScoresMatter we teach you about how industries are looking to “score” you. We also provide tools that can help you understand how companies and criminals view your online and financial activity.
Tap into the Digital You at ScoresMatter.