Nosedive | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Mon, 05 Dec 2016 11:47:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Nosedive | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Black Mirror meets real life, China pushing for universal credit score https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/black-mirror-meets-real-life-china-pushing-for-universal-credit-score/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/black-mirror-meets-real-life-china-pushing-for-universal-credit-score/#comments Mon, 05 Dec 2016 11:47:39 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=313750 If you thought the first episode of season three of Black Mirror, Nosedive, was far fetched, think again. In China, there are already trials underway of a “social credit,” system, which takes everything from minor infractions, to how much respect a person gives their parents and from 1st January, will use it to help gauge …

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If you thought the first episode of season three of Black Mirror, Nosedive, was far fetched, think again. In China, there are already trials underway of a “social credit,” system, which takes everything from minor infractions, to how much respect a person gives their parents and from 1st January, will use it to help gauge a person's viability for loans, jobs and even school admissions.

Social policing is something that has a much longer history in China than other countries. The concept of respect for one's elders is ingrained in society, but still enforced, with anyone not visiting their parents on a regular basis facing potential fines or even jail time. With the new scoring system this sort of enforcement could impact far more than just immediate liberty though.

The system being trialled right now looks at things like traffic violations on the road, or fare dodging on trains and uses that data to adjust a person's credit score. As it stands a poor score could make it harder to have a person's children join certain schools, or make it harder to have loans accepted. In the future it could be used to control everything from international travel, to internet access, to the price of goods and services.

nosedive2

Make sure to get your smiling practice in now…

While the amount of data used to calculate and/or affect the score is currently limited, there is a huge potential for data currently being recorded to be retrospectively applied and new data streams in the future leveraged also. Transgressions during school days, adherence to family planning laws, criminal records, shopping habits, online activity – all of these could one day be used to alter the scoring system.

Currently limited to certain provinces, it is something that the Chinese ruling party wants rolled out nationwide by 2020. It's something that the WSJ claims is an attempt to distract or redirect blame from, the current economic difficulties the country is facing.

While it may all seem far fetched or some fear of a future that isn't here yet, one cited example involves the operator of a travel agent, who cannot take trains or planes booked through his own service because he lost a legal dispute with a landlord and was blacklisted because of it.

With comments from large online retail platforms like Alibaba showing support for the scheme, there are concerns that retailers and other online entities could share data with the government to further augment the credit system.

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KitGuru Says: What concerns me the most about this, is that if you combined this sort of scoring system with the internet connection records and filtering that the UK is implementing, you have a system which could punish with real pitfalls for those visiting certain websites, or viewing ‘non-conventional' pornography. 

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THQ in financing talks to avoid closure https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/thq-is-financing-talks-to-avoid-closure/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/thq-is-financing-talks-to-avoid-closure/#respond Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:46:16 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=116053 THQ has entered into talks with a couple of potential investors, in the hope that it will secure funding to see it through the current tough times with stock pricing and game delays that sees it threatened with liquidation. However while those discussions are ongoing, it has managed to secure additional temporary funding and a …

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THQ has entered into talks with a couple of potential investors, in the hope that it will secure funding to see it through the current tough times with stock pricing and game delays that sees it threatened with liquidation.

However while those discussions are ongoing, it has managed to secure additional temporary funding and a halt on loan repayments from Wells Fargo Capital Finance. This deal will last until 15th January 2013 and will mean that the finance firm will not exercise its rights with regards to the $50 million already loaned to THQ.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Wells Fargo,” THQ boss Brian Farrell said (via Eurogamer). “This agreement enables us to continue focusing on bringing our games in development to market.

“Meanwhile, we are evaluating financial alternatives that will transition the company into its next phase.”

THQ
THQ has been nosediving for some time now

THQ has been in troubled waters for almost a year at this point. The first signs of a problem were with staff layoffs and a gradually dipping stock price. However things turned from bad to worse when it was announced that due to funding complications, the Warhammer 40,000 MMO Dark Millenium, had to be converted to a standard RPG because the money simply wasn't there for a massive online game. There were further issues with THQ failing to put together a game based on an Adidas application and staff firings at many of the publisher's studios followed.

The recent downturn in stock and outlook for the company came from insufficient sales of Darksiders 2 – it required at least 2 million to break even and sold less than 1.5 million – and the announcement that the next Company of Heroes, as well as the upcoming South Park game would be delayed.

KitGuru Says: THQ is circling the drain guys. If you're a fan of the publisher, keep your fingers crossed.

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