The People's Republic of China has been working on a "social credit system" for years. Every citizen is given a points account. Additional points are awarded for positive and desirable behaviour and points are lost for negative behaviour. The system is designed to give people with a higher points level advantages, such as better loans or easier access to a visa. People with a low score are penalised, e.g. through travel restrictions or internet throttling.

Both state databases and databases from private companies are used to calculate your own score. If a comparable system were to be set up in the EU, the information from the state and companies such as Amazon, Facebook and Google would be included in the calculation.

From this perspective, the statement "But I have nothing to hide" appears in a completely different light.

All these examples are intended to show that the protection of personal data, i.e. data protection, is one of the most important fundamental rights of the 21st century, which secures our freedom and our personal development opportunities.

Source: Alexander Lesnitsky on Pixabay