XINHUA: "Human flesh search engines": the embrace of angels and demons

Google China's April Fools joke this year was to advertise "Google Human Flesh Search", which could, they said, find even "the prettiest jungle girls, the most impressive mountain herdsmen, the most mysterious desert caves, the most most romantic final encounters...its highest aim is: 'not seeking the best, just the most meat'.".

It took me quite a while to work out what 人肉搜索引擎s, or 'human flesh search engines', actually were, so of course i fell for Google's joke . . . ha ha. I initially thought it was about searching FOR human flesh, but the essence of it is flesh-and-blood people - the 'human flesh search engines', who are usually hardcore bulletin-board vigilantes - doing detective work online. However, considering the cases 'human flesh search engines' have been involved in - tracing the Tibetan torch-grabber, getting the stiletto-wearing Hangzhou kitten stomper fired, finding the students who filmed themselves abusing their 70-year-old teacher, and identifying the girl who ranted against earthquake victims, to name but a few - the 'human flesh' part actually does fit both searcher and the searched. Given that you can't ban the former (or anyone) from joining dots, it's in the latter's perspective that the issue lies. That's why i've mostly called it 'human flesh searching'.

It's a weird fusion, this 'human flesh searching', of Mao-era mob 'criticism' and the internet's power over (Communist-style) information suppression. The most interesting perspective i've seen is that from a Chinese-American writer called Xujun Eberlein, who said she considered it was a uniquely Chinese phenomenon that was born of the high number of smart, well-educated, intellectually under-utilised young people. I like this theory cos i often wonder at all the well-presented uni graduates standing all day glassy-eyed in department stores being ignored, mindlessly repeating "welcome welcome", clapping outside shoe stores, waiting on tables and even flipping burgers (though apparently the latter has status). I'm quite prepared to believe that some of these people live exciting online lives of blog wars, scandals, outrages, clues, investigations and torches of righteousness.

This article has me close to my wits end with Xinhua, definitely with Xinhua's features. I think i'm gonna stick to short, punchy "news" articles. You'll know why when you don't get to the bottom of the article below!

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"HUMAN FLESH SEARCH ENGINES": THE EMBRACE OF ANGELS AND DEMONS

September 24, 2008

Source: Young China Online/China Youth Daily

After a rent dispute, shared-house tenant Ms Cui left without saying goodbye, and the owner, Ms Lin, posted a 1000RMB reward on the internet for anyone who could find Ms Cui. The post included Ms Cui's real name and telephone number, and set off the 'net pals'[*] "human flesh search engines". Ms Cui believed Ms Lin's actions have influenced her reputation and work, taking Ms Lin to court demanding an apology and 10,000RMB compensation for spritual damage.

On the afternoon of September 19, Beijing Changping District People's Court handed down its decision, rejecting Ms Cui's demands.

"We can look at this case as typical of the disputes that 'human flesh searching' produces. So, how should we regard 'human flesh searching', this new and rising online phenomenon? How do we go about making rules to ensure law-abiding citizens' rights and interests aren't intruded upon? These questions merit eveyone's consideration." The academics and common 'net pals' this reporter recently interviewed are all concerned at the constant stream of 'human flesh search' incidents.

Actually from the day it appeared, 'human flesh searching' has prompted a number of uproars and online incidents: From 2006's "Cat cruelty" incident to the "Tongxu-gate"(?) incident, from late 2007's "Beijing white-collar women death blog" to this year's "Online videos insulting the Sichuan Earthquake disaster zone", 'human flesh searching' has allowed the details of the searched to be publicised in detail, leaving them with nowhere to hide from the force of the internet.

Should 'human flesh searching' be completely condemned?

Generally speaking, 'human flesh searching' refers to the information search and provision method in which "collectors" put out questions and "respondants" answer. In the narrow sense it refers to the internet as a platform and a resource to progressively obtain someone's or some people's information, then arranging and analysing it and finally identifying a person - it's a process by which people find people.

Psychological consultant Hu Juan believes 'human flesh searching has grown into a huge force due to its being based in "power in numbers". Many of today's citizens' rights are agglomerated and realised through online mass mobilisation activities.

The "online community" gives people the right to participate equally, converting them from passive receivers of information to active providers of inforation, increasing the sense of self-accomplishment. So 'human flesh searching' is a step towards allowing everyone to become "policemen", "judges" and "moral adjudicators, and the online masses, representing a grassroots population, are experiencing an unprecedented "illusion of rights".

In Hu Juan's opinion, 'human flesh searching' certainly doesn't lack positive socialism - it is a harbinger of the modern citizenry's consciousness and maturity, and passion for the full protection and restoration of society's moral values system.

'Net pal' "Silver Romance" believes 'human flesh searching' has a definite use - 'human flesh searching' has taken the clues left by fake, ugly, evil etc. phenomena and brought about an excellent kind of public supervision and restriction, answering the whole society's longing for fairness and justice.

At the same time, 'human flesh searching' can gather into one single technology all the jumbled bits of information that search engines miss, expanding the internet's usefulness. After the Great Wenchuan Earthquake, communication and transport were cut off across a large area, and hundreds of thousands of people couldn't get information from friends or relatives. Many websites quickly launched people-search functions, mobilising the power of the internet to search for information from the disaster zone, making use of the 'human flesh searching' technology.

With some public issues, 'human flesh searching' has had an extremely important influence. For example, the "South China Tiger" incident, where the 'net pals' discovered the [Calendar picture tiger] and dug up the factory it came from, completely changing the course of the issue. And with the "Cat cruelty" scandal for which two nurses were fired, the victory of morality and justice was easy to see.

One website community board editor says: "The internet has gone beyond the power of imagination, when villainous scandals appear, the 'net pals' come together with unprecedented unity, and with a sense of responsibility and righteousness. With search engines allowing for investigations, people power is stronger than ever.

Where are the boundaries of 'human flesh searching'?

Wang Fei, the plaintiff in what media have called "China's first case of internet violence", whose wife recorded his liaisons with a mistress on a blog, [and then committed suicide saying this was the reason] making him the target of the human flesh search engines. After his phone number, address, and work details were revealed, Wang Fei took the host website of his wife's blog to court, claiming the website had invaded his privacy and damaged his reputation.

As in Wang Fei's case, Ms Lin wrote a post on the Tiantong Gardens message board with Ms Cui's real name, phone number and named her as "a cheater to the end who broke her oath with Tiantong Gardens! I hope people can provide clues." Ms Cui believed Ms Lin's post contained insulting and degrading language, publicised her personal information and had defamed her.

According to media reports, the Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court has already heard Wang Fei's case three times but has still not reached a decision. The Chaoyang Court has convened judges to deliberate on the 3 critical questions of 'human flesh searching': 1 - the relationship between publication of common individuals' personal information and invasion of privacy; 2 - the inappropriate absence of supervision of 'net pals' comments and their degree of responsibility; and 3 - the limits of moral criticism and privacy protection.

A judge named Wang told the Beijing media, searching the internet is not under scrutiny, the issue at stake is that some 'human flesh searches' haven't been limited to the online world, but have led to real physical and mental harm approaching that of real-world incidents of violence, and will come under the jurisdiction of the law.

In the September 19 judgement, the Changping Curt found Ms Lin's posting behaviour hadn't constituted defamation of Ms Cui. The presiding judge found that citizens have the right to freely express their opinions, and this freedom included making comment on real issues and expressing one's emotions. Although the post contained the words "cheater" and "disgrace", this should be seen as Ms Lin's expressing her angry response under the circumstances of the rent disputes she had experienced and Ms Cui's consistent procrastination when paying rent. The situation wasn't one of fabricating a story and privacy violation [?].

Public opinion is more responsive on the question of whether to regulate 'human flesh searching'. This year in June this publisher carried out a public opinion survey which indicated nearly 80% of the masses believe 'human flesh searching' should be better regulated. 28.8% agreed that "Realising the real-name internet system will make people take responsibility", and 26.4% of the masses believed "Internet administrators must strengthen monitoring to make behaviour stay above society's bottom line." 24.8% of the masses support "legislation and enacting comprehensive regulation and restriction."

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*I refuse to use the word 'netizen' and this translation is direct from the Chinese anyway.

ORIGINAL LINK: “人肉搜索”天使与魔鬼的拥抱