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Date	May 2022	Marks available	8	Reference code	22M.1.SL.TZ0.4
Level	SL	Paper	1	Time zone	no time zone
Command term	Discuss	Question number	4	Adapted from	N/A

Question

China's social credit scheme

The Chinese government is proposing a social credit scheme that will reward its citizens with points for what it considers to be good behaviour. This can be done by monitoring citizens’ social media connections, purchasing history and location data.

CCTV cameras are widely used in China, and there are concerns that facial recognition technology that uses artificial intelligence (AI) is already being utilized by the government to detect “good” and “bad” behaviours of its citizens. The facial recognition system requires high-resolution images*.

* high-resolution images: images that are of a quality that allows them to be used for printing. Usually this means they are 300 pixels per inch.

Identify two types of image file.

[2]

a.i.

Describe the difference between monitoring and surveillance.

[2]

a.ii.

Describe the difference between identification and authentication.

[2]

a.iii.

Other governments are considering setting up similar systems that will use facial recognition to gather information about the behaviour of its citizens.

Explain why the developers of the new facial recognition system would need both primary and secondary data collection.

[3]

b.i.

Explain why using high-resolution images could be a challenge to the implementation of a facial recognition system.

[3]

b.ii.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a government using a facial recognition system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor the behaviour of its citizens.

[8]

Markscheme

Answers may include:

jpg / jpeg
tiff
png
bmp / bitmap
gif

Award [1] for identifying each file type up to [2].

a.i.

Answers may include:

Monitoring is the passive/authorized observation of people, processes, and activities (with their consent).
Surveillance is the covert/unauthorized observation of people, processes, and activities (without their consent).

Award [1] for a definition of monitoring.
Award [1] for a definition of surveillance.

a.ii.

Answers may include:

Identification – uniquely identify a user on a digital system (and takes place before authentication).
Authentication – confirming the identity of a person/the person is who they say they are (occurs after identification).

Award [1] for a definition of identification.
Award [1] for a definition of authentication.

a.iii.

Answers may include:

Primary data collection, such as collecting potential users interacting with the facial recognition system, would provide information about these interactions in real time. Interviews with developers of similar systems would provide rich and nuanced information.
Secondary data collection may involve gathering information about existing facial recognition systems and would provide a wider knowledge base for making informed decisions.
Combining the real-time interaction of potential users with the facial recognition system and the data obtained from literature reviews will provide the greatest quantity of information and enable the developers to make informed decisions about the best way to develop the facial recognition system.

Award [1] for identifying a reason why the developers of the new facial recognition system would need both primary and secondary data collection and [1] for each subsequent development of that reason, up to [3].

b.i.

Answers may include:

High resolution images may require a longer transfer time.
Which will require computers with high specifications to be processed in a timely manner.
May require considerable storage space.
May require lossy compression to transfer them quickly which may lead to a reduction in the quality / usefulness of the image.
The cost of purchasing the equipment required to obtain high resolution images.

Award [1] for identifying a reason why having images with a higher resolution could be a challenge to the implementation of a facial recognition system and [1] for each subsequent development of that reason up to [2].

b.ii.

Answers may include:

Advantages:

May improve people’s behaviour as they will know they are being watched (values, ethics).
May stop crime before it happens meaning fewer people in jail or in court (values, ethics, monitoring). Similar to a speeding camera but for people.
Might need fewer police to patrol and put themselves in danger (cost).
Could help to improve the physical environment by catching those who litter / responsible for polluting the environment.
Could allow people to be more accurately identified leading to fewer false accusations/prosecutions (reliability, trust).
Allows the government to track and apprehend criminals i.e., makes society safer as criminals are caught (monitoring).
AI will be more efficient than manual checking and may learn from its experiences (systems).

Disadvantages: ·

Feeling of being watched will be bad for morale of population (ethics, power, surveillance).
May lead to a distrust in the government (trust, values).
Might be punished incorrectly (or rewarded incorrectly) if the facial recognition fails (reliability, systems).
Criminals might just find other ways of committing crime, such as wearing masks or avoiding the cameras (values).
People wear masks (against pollution) or hats which cover their faces (when it is very cold), won’t be recognized that easily (reliability).
Invasion of privacy as people are never able to not be under surveillance.
May take up considerable resources in developing and maintaining the data and hardware (cost).
Facial recognition is not that accurate so there might be many false positives (reliability, systems, accountability).
AI may have inherent biases, e.g., it may not recognize particular physical features (values, ethics).

In part (c) of this question it is expected there will be a balance between the terminology related to digital systems and the terminology related to social and ethical impacts.

Keywords: government, data, algorithm, accuracy, reliability, model, monitoring, surveillance, power, systems, ethics, values, trust, accountability, cost, feasibility

Refer to SL/HL paper 1, part c markbands when awarding marks. These can be found under the "Your tests" tab > supplemental materials > Digital society markbands and guidance document.