Human Flesh Search Engine: 2015

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Accidental Fame and the Chinese HFSE

It's been over a year since I last updated this HFS blog, and I hate to admit that I've been busy with work and haven't taken much time to read into any news related to HFS in China.

However, a few months back I was interviewed for SoasRadio's Podcast, "Tales from the OtherNets" about HFS in China. It's a wonderful episode, so if you have the time, go and listen to the full podcast here.

Description:
Accidental fame online can mean anything from doxing and cyber bullying to becoming a meme or having a video of yourself go viral. In this episode we have a few stories of this from Indonesia and South Korea and finally talk to Vincent Capone -- who runs a blog on Human Flesh Search -- talks about the phenomenon in China.

What is Human Flesh Search?

Human Flesh Search (HFS) is a recent, unique phenomenon on the Chinese internet. Comprising thousands of forum, entertainment, and social media websites and mobilizing the overwhelming number of Chinese internet users, HFS is able to quickly find obscure information and identify seemingly anonymous internet personalities. Through clever investigative work, online vigilantes hunt down an individual's identity with the goal of bringing about "justice" - often getting the individual fired, shamed, or simply punished. Those exposed through the search engine lose all anonymity, with personal information displayed to people all over the world. On the other hand, those who seek and reveal this information have the luxury to hide behind aliases. As the internet in China continues to expand and become accessible to a wider net of the Chinese population, it is argued that the power of HFS will need to be reined in.

Contact

If you would like to contact me for any reason, or have come across a relevant article or piece of research on the subject matter, please feel free to e-mail me.

Email: vincentcapone@gmail.com

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