Fighting Back: Resisting Social Scoring in a Surveillance Age

By Cade Shadowlight

 

What if your every move locked you out of life? Social scoring, the use of AI systems rating your “trustworthiness” from purchases, posts, and other activities, is spreading (introductory article). China’s blacklists block travel for dissent; U.S. tech algorithms shadowban voices. The threat is real, and growing. Fight back with these steps:

 

1) Awareness. Resistance starts with understanding what you are resisting. Become informed. Check out my article on Technocracy Threats (article link), and check out the articles and books listed on the resources page for this series (page link). 

 

2) Exercise Free Speech. Alert friends, family, and elected officials to social scoring’s many risks, including privacy loss, eroded freedoms, discrimination, and behavioral control (the ultimte goal of social scoring). Amplify warnings on platforms like X and Facebook to spark change.

 

3) Transparency Laws. Push for laws forcing companies and governments to reveal how scoring systems work. The Twitter Files (Taibbi, 2022) exposed FBI pressure on platforms for political reasons; demand openness to stop it.

 

4) Privacy Laws. Push for laws like the EU AI Act of 2024 that seek to reduce, mitigate, or outright ban the use of social scoring. Push to limit employers and schools from monitoring non-work or non-school online activity and social media, protecting your digital life. 

  

5) Promote Cash. The move to an all-digital, cashless economy is already well-underway and is about surveillance and control. By insisting on using cash whenever possible, you are preventing the culmination of this move. 

 

6) Challenge Corporate Practices. Boycott data-heavy apps and pressure Big Tech, Big Banks, and other businesses to reject secretive scoring. Consumer power can disrupt their plans.

 

7) Leverage Technology for Resistance. Adopt decentralized platforms like Mastodon or Signal to escape data-hungry systems feeding scores. Support open-source tech to reclaim control.

 

Own Your Data, Defy the Score

 

You have the power to disrupt this dystopian machine. In our next article, learn to protect yourself in a scored world. Don't miss it by subscribing today to the free Dystopian Survival email list! 

 

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