Human Flesh Search
Human flesh searching is a search that begins on an online forum, bulletin, or blog in order to find a person offline who, according to the people on the forum, has committed a crime against human rights. The searchers gather any information they can on their target, such as: credit card numbers, home address, work address, names of family members, email accounts, and phone numbers. This information is used to publicly humiliate the person by getting them fired, ruining their credit, or even forcing them to move. Human flesh searching is one way Chinese citizens rebel against the People's Republic of China's Internet censorship.
Example
In one case netizens human-flesh-searched a government official who had attempted to molest a young girl. In this particular human-flesh-search, a security tape video was posted on the forum, which depicts a young girl running up to her parents and brother while Chinese subtitles explain that an older man (the government official) had tried to force the girl into the bathroom to molest her. The video continues to show the girl’s father and the older man arguing; the subtitles read that the man confesses to the crime while boasting of his power and position in the government. The search gathered personal information on the government official and found out what governmental position he held. The commotion generated from the forum got the official fired, even though the police said, they did not have sufficient evidence to indict him. Human-flesh-searches are a way for chinese citizens to go against the Chinese government in Internet censorship conflicts.
References
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Human-t.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.currentintelligence.net/columns/2011/9/20/human-flesh-search-engines.html
