Surveillance scoring: Industries measuring consumers’ worth as customers

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  Quantumrun Foresight
• February 16, 2022

In 2014, the Chinese government announced the implementation of a social credit system. This system is a technology-enabled surveillance program that monitors Chinese citizens’ behavior to determine whether they are exemplary or discordant individuals. A similar system is developing in the United States in the form of private companies surveilling individual consumers to predict their behavior for future sales opportunities.  

Surveillance scoring context

Private companies are increasingly using surveillance systems to categorize or grade consumers based on their estimated predicted behavior. Essentially, these companies score individuals based on behavior and ratings. 
An example of an industry that uses surveillance scoring is retail, where certain companies determine what price to offer to a customer based on how profitable they are predicted to be. Moreover, the scores empower businesses to decide whether a customer deserves above-average service. 

Surveillance scoring aims to heighten social security, as well as create protection for service providers. At the nation level, such systems are designed to encourage citizens to exhibit preferred social attributes for higher points and better privileges (often at the expense of certain freedoms).

Disruptive impact

Surveillance scoring is a service trend in different industries, including life insurance companies as well as transportation and accommodation providers. For example, according to the New York government, life insurance companies survey people’s social media posts as a basis for select premiums. Also, transportation and accommodation services providers use ratings to decide whether you are allowed to continue using their rental services.

However, using such surveillance scoring systems may invade personal privacy and lead to unfair treatment of marginalized groups. These systems can also be harmful because they can punish citizens outside the legal system by taking away various privileges through unsolicited monitoring. Over time, citizens may be forced to control their behavior everywhere they go to maintain a high score in exchange for access to various privileges. 
To lessen the risk exposure of individuals to these unsolicited monitoring and profiling systems, governments in select countries may increasingly regulate societal surveillance systems. An example is to develop standards for secure data exchange based on personal data control. Another can be educating the general public on how to manage their personal data.

Implications of surveillance scoring

Wider implications of surveillance scoring may include:

• Further research on maintaining an individual’s integrity when companies use their data for decisions concerning providing service. 
• Stronger layers of cybersecurity for industries that operate directly with customers. 
• Enforcement of a controlled society that is cautious about maintaining high points as companies are continuously monitoring them.  

Questions to comment on

• Will surveillance scoring provide more benefits to society or will it cause more harm? 
• How can governments regulate the use of private surveillance scoring to prevent it from overstepping on human rights? 
• Should the government penalize private companies that conduct unsolicited monitoring?