In China owning “too many books” is viewed as a bad thing by the government

In China owning “too many books” among other things can reduce your social credit score, limiting your ability to travel, to get a good job, to have your kids go to good schools.

MIT Technology Review has a fairly thorough review of how China is using AI and the internet to control its population.

All these data streams are fed into Xinjiang’s public security system, along with other records capturing information on everything from banking history to family planning. “The computer program aggregates all the data from these different sources and flags those who might become ‘a threat’ to authorities,” says Wang. Though the precise algorithm is unknown, it’s believed that it may highlight behaviors such as visiting a particular mosque, owning a lot of books, buying a large quantity of gasoline, or receiving phone calls or email from contacts abroad. People it flags are visited by police, who may take them into custody and put them in prison or in reeducation camps without any formal charges. . . .