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June 27, 2008
Human Flesh Search Engines in China
In China, online vigilantes, or “netizens,” use the Internet as a “human flesh search engine” to find and punish people who publish material they consider inappropriate.
“Human Flesh Search Engine” is an imprecise translation of “ren'rou sou'suo,” which can be translated as “human-assisted search engine.” In China, though, the Internet is searched by people to hunt down other people and conduct muckraking campaigns.
A mob of Chinese ‘netizens' tracked down and punished a 21-year old video blogger whose clip they deemed unpatriotic.
Gao Qianhi, a 21-year old Chinese woman, recently posted an online video of herself complaining about the huge amount of TV coverage of the southwest China earthquakes: “You guys, if you're hit by the rubble, just go suffer by yourself quietly.”
Hours later, intimate details about Ms. Qianhi's life were spread across the Internet.
With internet mobbing, the victim's personal information is published to a broad audience, along with derogatory comments and death threats.
While Internet mobbing occurs in other countries, the movement appears to be particularly powerful in China because large-scale human flesh search engines are unique to are made easy by ubiquitous manpower and China's ingrained tradition of ‘people's war' dating back to Mao, along with a justice system that's less than perfect.
Hat tip to search engine Finding Dulcinea for uncovering this terrific story.
Posted by Kevin Heisler on June 27, 2008 11:54 AM
Comments
I have not heard of this behaviour pattern before but I can see how it would work.
Actually I guess it is the same principal as when, in the UK, they released some info about paedophiles and soon their data was spread to the general public who wanted retribution.
All I can say is the growth in, and access to, mass communication and technology bring new challenges and new problems to deal with as well as the inherent benefits.
Honor June 30, 2008 3:35 AM
Actually, its not Chinese behaviour alone. remember the 2005 case of 'Dog Shit girl'? A woman in Korea who let her dog shit in the train. She was photographed and harrased by internet users
kaz July 5, 2008 7:55 AM
