China's Human Flesh Search Engine

[Mojo]

The NY Times has an interesting article about Human-flesh search engines — renrou sousuo yinqing — that have become a phenomenon in China: they are a form of online vigilante justice in which Internet users hunt down and punish people who have attracted their wrath. The goal is to get the targets of a search fired from their jobs, shamed in front of their neighbors, or run out of town. It's crowd-sourced detective work, pursued online — with offline results. 'In the United States, traditional media are still playing the key role in setting the agenda for the public,' says Jin Liwen. 'But in China, you will see that a lot of hot topics, hot news or events actually originate from online discussions.' In one well known case, when a video appeared in China of a woman stomping a cat to death with the sharp point of her high heel, the human flesh search engine tracked the kitten killer's home to the town of Luobei in Heilongjiang Province, in the far northeast, and her name — Wang Jiao — was made public, as were her phone number and her employer. 'Wang Jiao was affected a lot,' says one Luobei resident. 'She left town and went somewhere else.' The kitten-killer case didn't just provide revenge; it helped turn the human-flesh search engine into a national phenomenon. Searches have also been directed against cheating spouses, corrupt government officials, amateur pornography makers, Chinese citizens who are perceived as unpatriotic, journalists who urge a moderate stance on Tibet and rich people who try to game the Chinese system.

I don't know if this is the online version of denouncing people to the Thought Police in 1984. Just a reminder that China is still very much a totalitarian state, or something like 4chan's Anonymous scientology raids.  What do you think?

[[SI]2-Pvt.Joker]

China - paving the way for human rights since 1949. Only good can come of this.

[Mojo]

China - paving the way for human rights since 1949. Only good can come of this.

+1 funny

[Cornish Rebel]

Kitten killers deserve to be hung so I think its pretty cool in that situation.

[[SI]1A-Pvt.Hazzard]

Sounds like the Peoples Gestapo to me. *make babies* them and their stupid search engine. I hope someone tracks them down and unleashes stiletto wearing kittens on them.

[Mojo]

Sounds like the Peoples Gestapo to me. *make babies* them and their stupid search engine. I hope someone tracks them down and unleashes stiletto wearing kittens on them.

huh, wha???

[[SI]1A-Pvt.Hazzard]

lol

[robs456]

Human-flesh search engines

Here in the barbarian west we came up with a couple of better names for it eons ago, like investigators and researchers. No wonder they still eat with sticks...

Like Hazzard, all I can think about is Stasi.

[[RS]Stuntman]

Ugh, may this horribly awful practice die quickly.

[Reapson]

Abhorrent as I find the above, the west doesn't stand on much higher moral grounds, we just outsource such activity to for profit organisations called the press.