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Human flesh search engine

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Chinese term for a form of Internet vigilantism

For the Law & Order episode, see List of Law & Order episodes (season 20).

This article's lead section contains information that is not included elsewhere in the article . If this information is appropriate for the lead, it should also be included in the article's body. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. (November 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this 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, particularly dedicated websites and forums, serve as platforms for broadcasting requests and action plans related to human flesh search, as well as for sharing both online and offline search results.

Human flesh search engine is similar to the concept of "doxing". Both human flesh search and doxing are typically viewed as identifying and exposing individuals for public humiliation, sometimes out of vigilantism, nationalist or patriotic sentiments, or the desire to circumvent Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China.[1][2] However, more recent analyses have shown that it is also used for other purposes, such as exposing government corruption,[3][4] identifying hit and run drivers, and exposing scientific fraud, as well as for more "entertainment"-related items such as identifying people seen in pictures. A categorization of hundreds of human flesh search (HFS) episodes can be found in the 2010 IEEE Computer Magazine paper "A Study of the Human Flesh Search Engine: Crowd-Powered Expansion of Online Knowledge".[5]

Due to the convenience and efficiency of information sharing in cyberspace, human flesh search is often used to acquire information that is typically difficult or impossible to find through traditional methods (such as libraries or search engines). Once this information is available, it can be rapidly distributed across 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<br>[edit]

The term originated on the Mop forums in 2001, coined by Mop to describe "a search that was human-powered rather than computer-driven". The original human flesh search engine was a subforum on Mop similar to a question-and-answer (Q&A) site, focusing on entertainment-related questions. Gradually, the definition of the term evolved from not just a search by humans, but also a search of humans.[6][7]

History<br>[edit]

An early human flesh search dated back to March 2006, when netizens on Tianya Club collaborated to identify an Internet celebrity named "Poison" (simplified Chinese: 毒药; traditional Chinese: 毒藥; pinyin: dúyào). The man was found out to be a high-level government official.

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.[5]

Over the years, the human flesh search was repeatedly deployed, sometimes fueling moral crusades against socially unacceptable behaviors, such as political corruption,[4] extramarital affairs,[4] animal cruelties or perceived betrayal/hostilities towards the Chinese nation. Individuals on the receiving end often have their real-life identities or private information made public, and can be subjected to harassment such as hate mails/calls, death threats, graffiti and social humiliation. Organizations can be subjected to coordinated cyber-attacks.

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."[8]

The Baojia system of community rule-of-law in ancient China bears strong similarities with...