...aiming for a nation of Uriah Heeps, highly unlikely as that is.
How long before we get a system like this in the West? Compare this: http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/26/technology/social/facebook-credit-score/index.html We're tracked constantly. What you say, who you say it to, what you buy and where you go - these are all known by many entities, both government agencies and private corporations. Who knows what the data points are that eventually find their way into the algorithm for calculating a credit score? There'll be some kind of demographic classification being made, and it probably can't be entirely politically neutral. Indeed your political views might tell a credit company a lot about how much money they're likely to make off you, so if they can figure that out from other data points that'd be great for them. How long before governments and corporations team up to use such insidious pressure to coerce people away from inconvenient behaviours?
And let's not forget that credit scores as an entity are already bullshit. Fun fact: asking for a hard check on your credit (needed to get a mortgage, often to rent, big loans/purchases etc) negatively impacts your credit automatically. So far I've gotten by in life credit card-less, and when challenged on my fiscal trustworthiness, have been able to thrust a bank statement under the nose of the bastard asking. But it won't last.
Is there a reason you're commenting on it in parentheses?
I really don't know what you're talking about. I wasn't aware that I had and I don't believe I did.