Human flesh search engine () is a Chinese term for the phenomenon of distributed researching using Internet media such as

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...

s 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 voluntary crowd sourcing: Web users gather together to share information, conduct investigations, and perform other actions concerning people or events of common interest. Human flesh search engine is similar to the concept of "

doxing Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet. Historically, the term has been used interchangeably to refer to both the aggregation of this in ...

." Both human flesh search engine and doxing have generally been stigmatized as being for the purpose of identifying and exposing individuals to

public humiliation Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned puni ...

, sometimes out of

vigilantism Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...

, nationalist or patriotic sentiments, or to break the

Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) affects both publishing and viewing online material. Many controversial events are censored from news coverage, preventing many Chinese citizens from knowing about the actions of th ...

. More recent analyses, however, have shown that it is also used for a number of other reasons, including exposing

government corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, inf ...

, identifying

hit and run In traffic laws, a hit and run or a hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic collision and not stopping afterwards. It is considered a supplemental crime in most jurisdictions. Additional obligation In many jurisdictions, there may be a ...

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 Society The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

paper ''A Study of the Human Flesh Search Engine: Crowd-Powered Expansion of Online Knowledge''. The system is based on massive human collaboration. The name refers both to the use of knowledge contributed by human beings through

social networking A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for ...

, and to the fact that the searches are usually dedicated to finding the identity of a human being who has committed some sort of offense or social breach online. People conducting such research are commonly referred to collectively as "Human Flesh Search Engines". Because of the convenient and efficient nature of information sharing in

cyberspace Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. "The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday re ...

, 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 Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...

. 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.

Etymology

The term originated on the

Mop A mop (such as a floor mop) is a mass or bundle of coarse strings or yarn, etc., or a piece of cloth, sponge or other absorbent material, attached to a pole or stick. It is used to soak up liquid, for cleaning floors and other surfaces, to 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.

History

An early human flesh search dated back to March 2006, when

netizens The term netizen is a portmanteau of the English words '' internet'' and ''citizen'', as in a "citizen of the net" or "net citizen". It describes a person actively involved in online communities or the Internet in general.< ...

on Tianya Club collaborated to identify an

Internet celebrity An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social ...

named "Poison" ( zh, s=毒药, t=毒藥, p=dúyào, links=no). 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. Over the years, the human flesh search was repeatedly deployed, sometimes fueling moral crusades against socially unacceptable behaviors, such as

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, i ...

extramarital affair An affair is a sexual relationship, romantic friendship, or passionate attachment in which at least one of its participants has a formal or informal commitment to a third person who may neither agree to such relationship nor even be aware of ...

s, animal cruelties or perceived

betrayal Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations. ...

/ 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 mail Hate mail (as electronic, posted, or otherwise) is a form of harassment, usually consisting of invective and potentially intimidating or threatening comments towards the recipient. Hate mail often contains exceptionally abusive, foul or otherwi ...

s/calls,

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a d ...

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

and social humiliation. Organizations can be subjected to coordinated

cyber-attack A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricte ...

s. 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 Little Fatty (小胖 Xiǎo Pàng) is an internet meme involving superimposing the face of a boy on various photographs. Because of the internet meme and the resulting sudden fame, the boy, Qian Zhijun, decided to become a public figure, and he b ...

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 " is raises important issues of the legitimate right to privacy, defamation, and slander." 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

Stance of the People's Republic of China

In December 2008, The People's Court in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

called it an alarming phenomenon because of its implications in " cyberviolence" and violations of

privacy law Privacy law is the body of law that deals with the regulating, storing, and using of personally identifiable information, personal healthcare information, and financial information of individuals, which can be collected by governments, public o ...

. On the one hand, human flesh search by netizens is a manifestation of freedom of speech. It is also the supervisory right given by Article 41 of the Chinese Constitution. On the other hand, human flesh search leads to the disclosure of ordinary people's names, identities, family addresses and other personal data. The Chinese government has an official stance on it – human flesh search engines violate privacy laws. Some local governments have made human flesh search engines illegal by stating that posting the private information of another will result in a fine of 5000RMB. 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

In film and television

*'' Caught in the Web'' is a 2012 film by

Chen Kaige Chen Kaige (; born 12 August 1952) is a Chinese film director and a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema.Berry, Michael (2002). "Chen Kaige: Historical Revolution and Cinematic Rebellion" in Speaking in Images: Interviews wi ...

which explores fictional instances of use of the human flesh search engine. *In the television series ''

Mr. Robot ''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression and dissociati ...

'', 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 The wisdom of the crowd is the collective opinion of a diverse independent group of individuals rather than that of a single expert. This process, while not new to the Information Age, has been pushed into the mainstream spotlight by social infor ...

''. * ''

Searching Searching or search may refer to: Computing technology * Search algorithm, including keyword search ** :Search algorithms * Search and optimization for problem solving in artificial intelligence * Search engine technology, software for findin ...

'' is a 2018 American thriller film about human flesh search. * ''

The Snow White Murder Case is a 2014 Japanese mystery thriller film directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura. Plot Yuji Akahoshi (Gou Ayano) receives a phone call from an old high school friend, Risako Kano (Misako Renbutsu). She tells him that her co-worker at a cosmetics compan ...

'' 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 The South China tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies that is native to southern China. The population mainly inhabited the Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. It has been listed as Critically Enda ...

: In 2007, a hunter 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 in a Science magazine (“Rare-Tiger Photo Flap Makes Fur Fly in China”). 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 calendar cover painting, 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 and the 'exciting' discovery was a scam. *Zhang Ya's Earthquake Video: In May 2008, an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

with a magnitude of 8.0 swept through

Sichuan, China Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, 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. *

Li Gang incident The Li Gang incident occurred on the evening of October 16, 2010, inside Hebei University in Baoding in Hebei province of China, when a black Volkswagen Magotan traveling down a narrow lane hit two university students. One of them, 20-year-old Ch ...

: On October 16, 2010, a drunk-driving student hit a pair of university students while driving inside

Hebei University Hebei University () is a public comprehensive university in Baoding, Hebei Province, China. The university has an estimated student population of 33,000, including 6,100 full-time postgraduates and 26,900 full-time undergraduates. History The un ...

, with one fatality, and was reported to have shouted “Sue me if you dare, my dad is Li Gang!” when apprehended. Following the spread of the news on Chinese internet forums, the driver's identity was revealed as Li Qiming, the son of the deputy director of the local

public security bureau A Public Security Bureau (PSB) () of a city or county, or Public Security Department (PSD) () of a province or autonomous region, in the People's Republic of China refers to a government office essentially acting as a police station or a local ...

. * 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, only several hours later with harassing calls and blackmails.

References

External links

'Human Flesh Search Engines’ Set Their Sights on Official Misbehavior
Sky Canaves, The Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2008
TVO's Search Engine podcast on The Human Flesh Search Engine
''In the absence of a fair and open judicial system, Chinese Netizens have become digital vigilantes.'' August 11, 2009
Human Flesh Search Engine Research Blog
{{Internet search Internet vigilantism Internet in China Chinese words and phrases 2001 neologisms