The Human Database

Blog post 7

Warning: this post contains information describing extreme maltreatment of animals, viewer's discretion is advised.

"Human Meat Search" - although very grotesque at first glance, the actual functions of this cult search engine is even more so.

The phenomenon of "human meat search engine" (Chinese: 人肉搜索) started with a group of very disturbing pictures posted on a popular internet forum. The pictures depicted a group of fashionable young women with high heels stomping a kitten to death, with the camera focusing on their heels as well as the bloody bits of the victim kitten. This immediately became a viral phenomenon not unlike the infamous Two Girls One Cup video as countless internet users began to search for the identities of the girls as well as the photographer. After a long searching involving journalists, bloggers, forumers, and even the police, the identities of one of the girls as well as the photographer were found.

The ultimate effect of this phenomenon was not the the apologies issued by several sadistic psychopaths. It spawned an entirely new form of internet search called "human meat search engine", where the internet is used for the spreading of personal information, tracking down specific individuals, or more often used for posting gossip, scandals, and shock news. In the words of many, it has "personified" internet search, moving from the traditional search for objects, ideas, and hard facts to the identities of every individual on earth. Anyone is able to post personal information on the web and it would be picked up by "meatified" search engines and forums, such as Baidu (largest search engine in Asia) and Maopu (Chinese social forum and search engine), whether the person wants to glorify his favourite celebrity, take revenge on a friend by posting his or her personal information and twisting them, or even track down a missing individual. This new form of internet search penetrates the layer of privacy that had traditionally been offered to all netizens, thus the name "human meat search".

Mop.com, one of the largest social forums for all kinds of purposes in Asia, including the human meat search engine.

Although the term of "human meat search" is new, the act of posting personal information is not. Human meat search simply tracks down the bits and pieces of personal information that we leave on the web, in sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Xiaonei (Chinese equivalent to Facebook), forums, online games, and even shopping sites. It connects everyone and makes searching for information more convenient, however it also lifts that layer of anonymity and security of netizens. The cost of being more connected and knowing more, is that someone will know more about you.