TL;DR
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The state-owned Telecom firm China Mobile has proposed to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to create a digital ID for all metaverse and online virtual world users.
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The metaverse focus group meets again in October, when the proposals could be voted on.
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If passed, this proposal could majorly influence telecoms and tech firms worldwide, as the ITU’s metaverse group is in charge of developing new standards for metaverse services.
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In today’s:
“Your conspiracy-theory-obsessed cousin who still lives at home might have been right when he said George Orwell’s ‘1984’ wasn’t a story – but a warning” news…
China Mobile (the CCP-owned telecom company) floated one hell of an idea to the United Nations ‘International Telecommunication Union’ (ITU), at the start of last month.
The pitch essentially being:
“What if we imposed a digital ID for all metaverse users?
Where participants would be given a digital identity based on ‘natural characteristics’ (how they look) and ‘social characteristics’ (what they do).
Oh, and um…this information would be shared in perpetuity with law enforcement. You know, to uphold order in this new virtual world.”
…say it with us now: YIKES!
China seeking to promote a government-controlled version of the internet and telecommunications systems ain’t new.
But seeing this makes it pretty clear that the CCP is trying to embed its social credit system into the metaverse, before it’s even begun.
Good news is: this is just a proposal for now.
Bad news is: the proposal can be put to a vote as soon as October, when the group meets next.
The really scary part is: if such a proposal passes, it could influence telecom and tech firms worldwide, as the ITU’s goal is to develop new global standards for metaverse services.
Aside from the obvious draconian 1984-esque level of surveillance – a government controlled internet just seems boring.
We vote to keep the internet weird.
