July 15, 2024

What's Your Score?


What's Your Score?
Russian State Social University in Moscow.  Wikimedia Commons, Yclarke.

Russian State Social University in Moscow has launched a project assessing "social ratings" of Russian citizens. This project is based on China's Social Credit System, which assigns individuals (and businesses) a "trustworthiness" score based on actions like paying taxes on time and maintaining licenses.

RSSU's project, still in test mode, is called "We" (My), reminiscent of the 1920 science fiction novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin about a dystopian surveillance state in the future. According to RSSU, participants will answer questions on income, education, criminal record, loans, and activism to be assigned their score. 

According to the project's website, "We" is a chance to "know yourself in a yet another way" and it does not currently have any effect on participants' lives or careers. "But," the site concludes ominously, "who knows what they will become for you in the future?"

You Might Also Like

Under the All-Seeing Eye
  • January 21, 2024

Under the All-Seeing Eye

The extent of Russia's surveillance may surprise you — and it's only getting more invasive.
A QR Crackdown
  • December 14, 2023

A QR Crackdown

Moscow bans QR codes on billboards in response to the Russian political opposition.
AI Will Watch You
  • February 13, 2023

AI Will Watch You

Russian authorities plan to use artificial intelligence to scour the interwebs for undesirable political information.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955