Social credit system

It would be really interesting to see [what the] Philippines [would be like if it had] actually implemented a social score with digital identity because as you know, right, [the] Philippines is...super Catholic or Christian. And I'm sure that might wager in my assumption in the future, that might impact someone's status of the church, especially if it's a priest or whatnot, or if it's...a wealthy person that goes to church, and they find out that they have like a really bad social score because they've like committed crimes...Or maybe the priest is like doing terrible things and now that impacts the community, because they find out that the priest is a bad person. So that would be really interesting to see.

...[This digital identity] technology could actually impact not just [the] Church, but also politics as well. I mean, you can't just keep erasing people's history...just assuming that it doesn't exist, like you saw in the last election...Again, there's pros and cons, right? Like, yes, it'd be great to have, [to] make sure like the digital identity is recorded somewhere, and that history isn't erased, but it's also a bad thing...someone may get access to it, [someone] may hack into it and then unveil that this person is actually corrupt or...a lady boy or some random thing like that, right? Like for whatever reason, that's a bad thing. And then all of a sudden, the culture and the community comes down on this person because that information is leaked. So I think then it becomes very tribal. There's a lot of tribalism that occurs, right, if that information gets out...[So] I think digital identity would impact [politics] for sure. Like I said before...if people have your identity and your history, they can use that politically against you. And [this will affect the most]...obviously people [with] political status, right? The community will make judgments based on your digital identity and your history...So I think politically, there's a lot there that could happen with your digital identity.

There's this anime called Psycho-Pass. So I think it's very cyberpunk themed...the life or death of a person (um) when they're sentenced, is dependent on like whether or not they pass the, parang siyang ano eh, yung social credit score ng China like, if you pass this, then...you live. If you don't, then you die. Just pretty crazy to me...especially cause like I work in credit scoring right? Which is actually, really, not that far off, like social credit scoring so I'm pretty scared myself, you know.

But it's also the horror aspect that most people probably [see] when they think about digital identity...[for instance,] they look at China and then they think about social scores. They think about..."The government has my identity now; I don't trust the government and they're gonna do something shady with it". So yeah, there's pros and cons, I understand [their] fear...this is probably a long shot because the Philippines is pretty corrupt, right? So it really depends on what they're gonna do with the digital identity, and how it's like integrated into society. That's probably something that people are scared of.

...[A] lot of the technologies we think will appear in the next two decades is already here, but it's maybe not in the Philippines. So for example, like the National ID system, and like SIM card registration, and like all of these things...the worst versions of it have happened already. And other countries, [like] let's say India, they have this identification system called Aadhaar, where every single person needs to have this identification registration, and the worst governments are able to, for example...let's set this in the Philippines...what could happen is that as our as our identification, movement, [and] transactions are attached to...the SIM card, and...the national ID, and [etcetera.]...the government also has the capacity to surveil each of your transactions [in order] to control these transactions. So for example, if there's a protest happening in Mendiola, the government could easily shut down all the numbers and all the signal in that area, so [that] people are not able to text each other. If you're branded as a terrorist, they can easily shut down your SIM card, meaning you don't have access to your GCash anymore. You don't have access to your bank accounts, you don't have access to your social media accounts, you don't have access to communications [when] you're branded as a terrorist. These are happening also in the south of India, where...people who are targeted or accused as terrorists are no longer able to use a SIM card, which prevents them from accessing a lot of social services, such as, for example, if there's a future pandemic, if ever you would need ayuda (aid), you first need a national ID...and registered SIM card before you're able to get any kind of support.

...[I]f you look at...other countries like China, for example, with their Beep cards, a lot of what we will describe as dystopian sort of setups are already happening everywhere. And it's only a matter of time before the Philippines also just follows these trends. And this is also something that I like to think about and critique...precisely this fetishism for...digitalization. Digitalization as development is what also would lead to this almost uncriticizable of digital as like something that will bring us a lot of benefit.

And so in 20 years, we'll even see kind of like a...1984[-like dystopia], as you may have it? Where technology has come ot a point where we can surveil people's every move, [like] down to where we are...A massive collecting of data to feed them into [the] AI algorithm. And [what] would that mean for governments who are really willing to collect [all that] information for their own sake. Right now...our phones are already collecting so much information from us. And in the hands of bad actors, that [information] can be used to scam us, that can be used to fraud us, that can be used for identity theft. In the larger scale, when it deals with millions of other people, like Cambridge Analytica...in 20 years, the acceleration of technology will probably make it easier to track [people]. Well, with AI, it'll probably be able to even get even the most minute detail that you have experienced. Or maybe kind of like, AI that looks at how our eyes move, how our smile fades... and now learn, or even just realize what we're thinking, what our viewpoints on life are, and what would that mean for people who might want to use the technology for that? So I think there are some Black Mirror episodes exactly like that.

So ngayon yung government, our governments by that time will have found a way to monitor lahat ng e-commerce transactions so i-iinforce nila yung VAT...Lahat ng mga excise tax, lahat ng sin tax, iinforce yan. Halos walang lusot lahat ng merchants tsaka yung mismong e-commerce platforms natin sa oversight ng gobyerno.

In the political sphere, I would say that...it's also again, like a more intense level of extraction, where as we produce more data that could be used for the data science of like political campaigns and engineering, it'll become much more easier to hijack the so-called democratic institutions that we have. I mean...we've seen that with Cambridge Analytica, but also in the future where...you just have data of like, for example, your transactions that are [linked] to your national ID, you have the kinds of media that you consume, tracked by Google, Gmail, and Telegram...and all of [this is] data that could be hijacked or leaked, or utilized for different sorts of campaigns that will benefit obviously the people with money who who have different political agendas.

In terms of government, I think mataas yung surveillance, lalo na yung SIM cards natin at may access na yung government. Ano bang itsura kapag masusurveil yung mga mamamayan? Marami siyang ibig sabihin pero yung pinakanakakatakot, kunwari yung nangyayari ngayon sa Gaza, para naman silang sobrang nauubos kasi grabe yung surveillance dun sa area nila. Part siya ng oppression. Sa war on drugs ni Duterte, ginamit din yung surveillance para matrack yung papatayin mo na pinaghihinalaan mong adik.

Alam mo, tingin ko talaga yung surveillance na yan will bring a lot of fear and violence and control sa lahat...Parang yung effect niya sa government, for example, pwede siyang magmanipulate ng elections. Kunwari if surveillance mo, mas maraming tao sa area na to, itatarget mo talaga yun para manalo ka at ipagpapatuloy mo yung kind of regime that you have. So manipulation and control yung talagang mangyayari. Madami ako ngayong nababasa talaga. Dun talaga makikita mo yung power of surveillance, how it can oppress and control and make people feel powerless because yung data nila transparent sa nagcocontrol sa kanila, sa government so nakakatakot talaga siya. Pinakaworried talaga ako sa politics...I think mas tataas din yung movement for digital rights when it happens and magiging katuwang natin yung different people and mas magiging important yung sector ng [Computer Professionals' Union] and Developh, yung communities na yun. Sila talaga yung magiging kasama sa forefront ng laban na yun. Pero yun, nagsisimula na siya ngayon pero matagal na yan. Bata pa lang anak ko, may pinapasa nang batas sa Europe about the right to be erased from the internet.

[When it comes to characterizations of AI amongst Filipinos]...Mata, usually. Kasi pag Filipinos, I think about the masses, yung batayang sektor. Pero for example, si Tona, yung cover ng zine niya is a panopticon. Nung unang panahon, it's a tower na nilalagay sa gitna ng prison cells tapos from there, minomonitor yung buong kulungan kasi wala pa silang tech noon. So yun yung cover ng zine niya, very pessimistic about AI and surveillance din. Pero si Tona, hindi siya batayang sektor definitely. Siguro yung mata yung sa karaniwang tao.

Pwede ring metaphor yung feeling na madilim tapos may ginagawa ka tapos feeling mo may tao sa likod mo, tapos parang tumataas balahibo mo. May superstition kasi tayo around that, diba? Yung ganyang feeling siya, hindi siya mas visual for me. Parang may naghohover.

Ang iniisip ko ngayon, may nakilala kasi akong linguist na musician who works with Facebook and kaya ko siya nakilala kahit American siya is kasi tumugtog siya sa isang gig. Sabi niya sakin nun na gusto niya talaga umalis sa Facebook. Kaya siya nandito sa Pilipinas kasi may team dito na tinatranslate lahat ng pinaguusapan sa Messenger. Kaya may linguist sa team ng Messenger ng Facebook. Tapos gusto niya maging whistleblower, magsusulat talaga siya ng novel pero di niya pwedeng ipublish. Nakita ko na yung manuscript, actually, ang ganda. Pero nakakatakot lang gawin. So naiisip ko yung pito...parang symbol ng pagsusumbong or idea of disclosing. Related siya somehow. Ang pamboboso din siguro or peepholes. Diba sa Philippines, marami tayong dikit-dikit yung bahay or bubutasan mo lang tapos masisilipan mo na kapitbahay mo. Drones have been an image of surveillance na rin.

Nung Martial Law kasi, nakita na natin na gusto tayo kontrolin. Yan ang sagot ko sa surveillance, definitely may link dun. Yung ganyang klaseng itsura at design ng authoritarian government, definitely rooted yun dun. Pero pwede mo pa yun ipursue nang mas malayo. Pero dito na lang tayo magstart para mas malinaw. Siyempre pinagpapatuloy yan ngayon, anak niya [yung pangulo] eh, tapos anak din ni Rodrigo Duterte yung vice president and ang legacy naman [ni R. Duterte] ay ang drug war, na ginamit talaga yung surveillance para iwipe out ang maraming Pilipino. Napakatinding campaign sana yan, pero hinayaan lang natin kasi kailangan natin ng access sa GCash.