Human flesh search engine

This article's lead section contains information that is not included elsewhere in the article. If the information is appropriate for the lead of the article, this information should also be included in the body of the article. (November 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Human flesh search engine (Chinese: 人肉搜索; pinyin: Rénròu Sōusuǒ) is a Chinese term for the phenomenon of distributed researching using Internet media such as blogs and forums. Internet media, namely dedicated websites and Internet forums, are in fact platforms that enable the broadcast of request and action plans concerning human flesh search and that allow the sharing of online and offline search results. Human flesh search has two eminent characteristics. First, it involves strong offline elements including information acquisition through offline channels and other types of offline activism. Second, it always relies on crowdsourcing: web users collaborate to share information, conduct investigations, and perform other actions concerning people or events of common interest.^[1]

Human flesh search engine is similar to the concept of "

Because of the convenient and efficient nature of information sharing in cyberspace, the human flesh search is often used to acquire information usually difficult or impossible to find by other conventional means (such as a library or web search engines). Such information, once available, can be rapidly distributed to hundreds of websites, making it an extremely powerful mass medium. The purposes of human flesh search vary from providing technical/professional Q&A support, to revealing private/classified information about specific individuals or organizations (therefore breaching the internet confidentiality and anonymity). Because personal knowledge or unofficial (sometimes illegal) access are frequently depended upon to acquire this information, the reliability and accuracy of such searches often vary.^{[citation needed]}

Etymology

The term originated on the

However, Fei-Yue Wang et al. state that the earliest HFS search was in 2001, "when a user posted a photo of a young woman on a Chinese online forum..., and claimed she was his girlfriend." She was eventually identified as a minor celebrity and the initial claim was discredited.^[1]

Over the years, the human flesh search was repeatedly deployed, sometimes fueling

The human flesh search engine has also been deployed for amusement. Johan Lagerkvist, author of After the Internet, Before Democracy: Competing Norms in Chinese Media and Society, said that the Little Fatty meme, in which pictures of a teenager were photoshopped on film posters without the boy's permission, demonstrated that the human flesh search engine "can also be directed against society's subaltern and the powerless" and that "[t]his raises important issues of the legitimate right to privacy, defamation, and slander."^[9]

The Baojia system of community rule-of-law in ancient China bears strong similarities with human flesh search. Both are based on some form of vigilantism.

Stance of the People's Republic of China

In December 2008, The

From March 1, 2020, the People's Republic of China's "Regulations on the Ecological Governance of Online Information Content" has been implemented, clarifying that users and producers of online information content services and platforms must not engage in online violence, doxing, deep forgery, data fraud, account manipulation and other Illegal activities.[11]

In film and television

• Caught in the Web is a 2012 film by Chen Kaige which explores fictional instances of use of the human flesh search engine.^[12]
• In the television series Mr. Robot, the mysterious group known as The Dark Army has elements based on the phenomenon.
• Season 20 episode 6 of Law and Order was titled "Human Flesh Search Engine".
• A web-based platform designed to pool the knowledge efforts of Internet sleuths is the premise of the CBS program Wisdom of the Crowd.
• Searching is a 2018 American thriller film about human flesh search.
• The Snow White Murder Case presents a tragedy of human flesh search.
• The 2009 Chinese film Invisible Killer is related to human flesh search.
• Human Flesh Search Engine is a Chinese documentary released on 18 July 2009.

Notable examples

• South China Tiger photograph claims: In 2007, a man in Shaanxi Province, China, claimed to have encountered a live wild South China Tiger, which has long been considered extinct in natural environments. The photos he had taken were later published. The wide circulation of these photos triggered a wave of authentication among web users. who leveraged expertise in diverse domains ranging from zoology, botany, to photography and geometry. Finally, a participant successfully identified the origin of the images: a New Year's picture published by a small company in Zhejiang province, from which the hunter had used to forge the claimed South China Tiger pictures. Human flesh search ended up proving that the photos were fake.^[13]
  ^: 95–99
• Zhang Ya's Earthquake Video: In May 2008,
  Sichuan, China, killing approximately 87,587 people. In response to the quake, a video insulting the victims was published on YouTube by an anonymous female user. After nationwide outrage, The Human Flesh Search Engine identified the girl as Zhang Ya, doxing her and uploading her personal information online.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• public security bureau.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Doxed driver in the west of China: On 21 March 2013, a driver in Ürümqi, China rolled down his window to spit on an elderly homeless person lying on the street. Witnesses recorded the first few digits of the license plate. A brief broadcast by a local radio quickly caused a stir on the Internet and the furious netizens doxxed Yin Feng, a part-time taxi driver in Ürümqi, within hours after the incident, resulting in harassing calls and blackmail.^[14]

See also

• China brain
• Doxxing
• Hacktivism
• Internet vigilantism
• Mass collaboration
• Outing
• Streisand effect
• Wisdom of the crowd

References