Mob Rule on China's Internet

Alien54 writes to mention an International Herald Tribune article about the growing phenomenon in China known as internet hunting; Using the web to track down individuals who have violated social more or broken the law. From the article: "In recent cases, people have scrutinized husbands suspected of cheating on their wives, fraud on Internet auction sites, the secret lives of celebrities and unsolved crimes. One case that drew a huge following involved the poisoning of a Tsinghua University student - an event that dates to 1994, but was revived by curious strangers after word spread on the Internet that the only suspect in the case had been questioned and released. Even a recent scandal involving a top Chinese computer scientist dismissed for copying an American processor design came to light in part because of Internet hunting, with scores of online commentators raising questions about the project and putting pressure on the scientist's sponsors to look into allegations about intellectual property theft."

Comments

WikiJudge?

[ajs]

I can just see it... "today, a man was sentenced to death after a jury of his p33rz found that he was 'fscked up.'"

Re:WikiJudge?

[Kesch]

1st they came for the n00bs
and I did not spe4k out
because I am ub3r.

Then they came for the f4gs
and I did not spe4k out
I'm no f4g.

Then they came for the h4xx0rs
and I did not spe4k out
because I dont need h4xx0rs, I have 1337 skillz.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left
excpet for us h4rdc0res who went and raided Molten Core all day happily ever after.

Well....

[Otter]

Others denounced the university for not expelling him, with one poster saying it should be "bombed by Iranian missiles." Many others, meanwhile, said the student should be beaten or beheaded, or that he and the married woman should be put in a "pig cage" and drowned.

Well, they definitely sound ready for blogging! Too bad the story says the government has just blocked Technorati.

Actually, the most interesting bit in there was about the plagiarism case. Too bad they didn't provide more detail -- I hadn't heard about that angle before.

Just like a jury of your peers!

[nickgrieve]

What could possibly go wrong? Because you know, everything you read on the internet is true.

Wait...

[ObjetDart]

So let me get this straight... China has some kind of anarchic version of the internet, where users post whatever they want, and are free to band together to form loose coalitions organized around common interests?

Where can we get one of those?

At least the Chinese can pick good nicks!

[spun]

From the article, the husband's nick is Freezing Blade (I bet his 'blade' isn't getting any warmer, hehe), the cheating student goes by Bronze Mustache (Anyone else picturing a Chinese version of most 70's porn stars?) and the wife is Quiet Moon (Too... Many... Jokes...) . Sounds like the cast of an adult anime. ;-)

Re:Yeah, the US is really comparable to China

[sfjoe]

Can you, for example, please point out where the forced-labor camps in the US are?

http://www.walmart.com/cservice/ca_storefinder.gsp

Clippy, is that you!?

[Kesch]

It[The Chinese Government] also introduced an Internet policing system whose cartoon figure mascots show up on people's screens to remind them they are being monitored.

Am I the only one who just imagined Clippy wearing a little chinese police hat?

Oh no, here comes the rage blackout again...