Chapter 61 Chapter 59: The "Identity Crisis" of Human Flesh Search

Local legislation "one size fits all" restricts doping searches, giving officials a free ride on protecting the privacy of ordinary citizens. At the end of May 2010, the "Zhejiang Provincial Informatization Promotion Regulations (Draft)" publicly solicited public opinions.A local informatization "promoting" regulation has aroused the concerns of citizens all over the country about information congestion. The draft stated: "No unit or individual may publish, disseminate, delete, or modify relevant information of information obligees on the network and information system without authorization." , typically such as online person tracing).

On June 8, 2010, the State Council Information Office issued a white paper titled "The State of the Internet in China," pointing out that the freedom of speech of Chinese citizens on the Internet is protected by law, and the Chinese government attaches great importance to the supervisory role of the Internet. At the same time, the white paper also stated that the Chinese government actively creates conditions for the people to supervise the government, attaches great importance to the supervisory role of the Internet, requires governments at all levels to investigate and solve problems reported by people through the Internet in a timely manner, and feedback the results to the public.

Researcher Yin Yungong, director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with reporters: "Human flesh search is a double-edged sword. The effect is obvious to all.” Many interviewed experts said that human flesh search involves a wide range of areas and is difficult to characterize. At present, there is no clear law to define and judge it at the national level. It is a wise and forward-looking move not to rush to characterize human flesh search. In February 2009, the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People's Congress passed the Criminal Law Amendment (VII), which added the content of cracking down on leaking or illegally obtaining citizens' personal information. The committee supported the criminalization of human flesh searches, but did not make regulations.

While the issue is pending in the top legislature, some local legislation has quietly pressed against doxxing. On May 25, 2010, Article 39 of the "Zhejiang Provincial Informatization Promotion Regulations (Draft)" submitted to the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress for preliminary review by the Zhejiang Provincial Government stipulates: "The information collected from social organizations or individuals should be collected through legal channels and used reasonably in accordance with the law. No unit or individual may publish, disseminate, delete, or modify relevant information of information obligees on networks and information systems without authorization."

The person in charge of the relevant departments in Zhejiang Province has repeatedly stated that this provision is mainly to protect the privacy of citizens, but many members of the public and the media still interpret it as "legislating to prohibit human flesh searches". Although Zhejiang's draft has not yet been finally passed, there are already precedents for "suspected" restrictions on human flesh searches. On January 18, 2009, the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress passed the "Xuzhou City Computer Information System Security Protection Regulations", prohibiting "providing or publishing other people's information without permission."

In April 2008, Article 26 of the "Guangdong Province Computer Information System Security Protection Regulations" stipulates that "unauthorized disclosure of other people's email addresses and other personal information to third parties" is prohibited. Similarly, in the "Computer Information System Security Protection Regulations" promulgated and implemented in Ningxia and Shanxi, "unauthorized disclosure of other people's information" is also explicitly prohibited. These regulations have sparked public backlash several times.A survey conducted by People's Daily Online showed that more than 90% of netizens opposed legislation to ban human flesh searches, believing that it was "not conducive to grassroots supervision."

Interviewed experts also pointed out that there is no legal basis for local legislation to prohibit human flesh searches. The "Legislation Law" stipulates that the political rights and personal freedoms of citizens must be restricted or deprived only by laws enacted by the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee. "Local legislation prohibiting human flesh searches is to prohibit the freedom of speech granted to citizens by law, which is suspected of exceeding the authority of legislation." Shen Youjun, an associate professor at the School of Political Science and International Relations of Beijing Normal University, said.

However, even such local regulations that have taken effect have not yet played a substantial and obvious role, and human flesh searches are still vigorous.Shen Youjun analyzed: "At present, public opinion on the Internet is very strong, and there are many participants in the human flesh search, so it is difficult to hold people accountable." Professor Xue Ruilin of the China University of Political Science and Law also believes that the feasibility of criminal legislation for human flesh search is not high, "Things that can be solved by civil law do not need to be elevated to the level of criminal law."

In the opinion of many interviewed experts, human flesh search has not been criminalized in my country so far, which is related to the decision-making level’s approval of Internet supervision, and the widespread support of public opinion has made some local governments take the initiative to avoid human flesh search even if they intend to restrict human flesh search. Can only play "edge ball". The white paper "State of the Internet in China" shows that by the end of 2009, the number of Chinese netizens had reached 384 million, and the Internet penetration rate had reached 28.9%, exceeding the world average.

At present, my country has millions of forums and 220 million blog users.According to sampling statistics, people post more than 3 million comments every day through forums, news reviews, blogs and other channels, discussing various topics and expressing their own ideas and interests. In the process, the Internet has also become an important platform for public opinion.Especially after the "Tiger Zhou Incident", human flesh search has become a powerful tool for the public to monitor the government and officials. Subsequently, Zhou Jiugeng, who was called "the best real estate bureau chief in history" by netizens, the Zhejiang public-funded tour group abroad, and the "Deng Yujiao incident", "peek-a-boo" and "push-ups" and other incidents, the human flesh search will publish the target person's name and photo in detail , family, address, etc., so that it has nothing to hide.

Many interviewed experts believe that the main reason for the rise of human flesh searches among citizens is that apart from the lack of publicity and transparency of government information, it is also related to the lack of institutionalized and effective constraints on the power of officials and the fact that democratic supervision is a mere formality. A young official from a government agency directly under the Beijing Municipal Government told the reporter in private, worryingly: "The Internet is so developed now, and Internet supervision is almost everywhere. You can never tell when your words or deeds are inappropriate, and you will become the target of human flesh searches on the Internet. bit." The reporter's investigation found that there are not a few officials who have this kind of thinking.Many officials admitted that they are afraid of online surveillance, especially human flesh searches, and said that online surveillance has created great mental pressure on them. "If you are upright, you don't have to be afraid of the slanting shadows. Honest officials don't have to worry about human flesh searches." Shen Youjun said that human flesh search, which comes from all directions, not only supervises the behavior of officials when performing official duties, but also supervises their behavior in private life, or It is impossible to prevent the transition from monitoring his behavior in private life to investigating his official behavior. "Because of the unique anti-corruption function of human flesh search, some local officials who have their own tricks are afraid of human flesh search, and they will have the idea of ​​'put to death and then quickly'." "The reason why some officials are afraid of human flesh searches is because they have a guilty conscience, or they are not clean or honest, so they have a reason for people to make irresponsible remarks." Yin Yungong said, "But it does not rule out that some officials ask about politics online. The ability is not strong, unable to adapt to network supervision, resulting in repulsive psychology." Yin Yungong believes that human flesh search is one of the few channels and means for ordinary citizens to supervise the government and officials. "In the current environment where officials are 'corrupted before and followed by others', if human flesh searches are suppressed, it will only make some corrupt officials more unscrupulous, which is not conducive to the in-depth development of anti-corruption." Shen Youjun also said that under the background that the anti-corruption mechanism has not yet been perfected and corrupt behaviors have been repeatedly banned, the anti-corruption role of human flesh searches cannot be underestimated. It is too early to search." Many interviewed experts also reminded that human flesh search is a "double-edged sword" after all. While being labeled as an "anti-corruption weapon", it should not arbitrarily trample on the privacy rights of ordinary citizens.For example, the case of Beijing Faye Wong suing three websites including "Migratory Birds Flying to the North" for violating personal privacy rights is a typical case. Yu Yingjie, a lawyer from Beijing Zhongguang Law Firm, said that citizens’ right to privacy should of course be protected, but some local legislatures have banned human flesh searches in the name of protecting citizens’ right to privacy, but have not made a reasonable definition of this right, which is vague. The difference between the privacy of officials and the privacy of ordinary citizens is made clear, allowing officials to take a free ride in protecting the privacy of ordinary citizens. "Officials hold public power, which directly affects public interests. Some of their personal information, such as property, part-time jobs, etc., is no longer in the category of 'private', and there is no problem of 'hidden'." Yu Yingjie Said, "If we simply protect the personal information of officials and ordinary citizens equally, it will inevitably feel like we are blocking the network supervision channels and safeguarding the vested interests of officials." Yin Yungong also held this view: "In a certain sense, officials are public figures, and their right to privacy cannot be absolutely protected like ordinary citizens. If human flesh searches are banned indiscriminately, it is suspected of prohibiting citizens from monitoring and criticizing the government. .” In the opinion of many interviewed experts, human flesh searches should not be overgeneralized, let alone banned “one size fits all”, but a reasonable legal boundary can be set for human flesh searches through legislation. Qi Shanhong, a professor at Nankai University, proposed a principle: as long as human flesh searches are conducive to safeguarding the public interest, they should be encouraged and supported; otherwise, they should be restricted. He believes that a balance should be found in the pursuit of personal privacy and freedom of speech.While emphasizing the privacy protection of ordinary citizens, the personal privacy of officials should be separated from relevant official information. On the one hand, they should actively guide the direction of public supervision and improve their supervision capabilities; Liability for Infringement of Information. Yu Yingjie also suggested that laws and regulations should be drawn up to distinguish the scope of privacy of officials and ordinary citizens, set a fair and rational game rule, and standardize the management of human flesh search from the perspective of network management, so that it can play its due positive role in the rule of law environment . According to experts, human flesh searches also exist in large numbers abroad.Human flesh search is called "online human rights violations" in Japan. Legally, some victims file civil lawsuits for compensation for damage to their reputations. careful. In the UK, no matter the government, law enforcement agencies, or other institutions or individuals, when collecting and obtaining personal data, they must use fair and legal methods and register according to law before collection.The United States protects personal data through industry self-regulation and case law, coupled with separate legislation. In view of the reality in our country, many interviewed experts pointed out that the current energy of local governments should not be focused on creating a "fig leaf" for officials, but should effectively restrict the power of officials, especially to improve the information disclosure system, such as the disclosure of officials' property, financial information, etc. Disclosure of expenditures, disclosure of administrative and judicial procedures, processes, results, etc. Yin Yungong said: "The government still has a lot of room for improvement in terms of information disclosure. If citizens' right to know is satisfied, and if the supervision channels for the government and officials are unimpeded, then human flesh searches, a form of supervision, will disappear." He also optimistically predicted that the release of the white paper "China's Internet Status" on June 8, 2010 gave a basic affirmation to network supervision, and also meant that a more open, inclusive and transparent Internet era has arrived.