Search boundaries: human flesh search, privacy law, and internet regulation in China

Abstract

This research examines privacy law and Human Flesh Search (HFS) on the Chinese Internet. HFS is spontaneous, widely participated search and publication of targeted individuals’ personal information on the Internet. This research sees HFS as an important form of non-institutional information gathering and publication, and argues that the regulation of HFS is not only about privacy but also line-drawing for information collection and dissemination in the digital setting. Therefore, legal instruments and court cases in relation to HFS and online privacy must be assessed as important components of the Chinese state’s Internet regulatory scheme. This research finds that the paired concepts of ‘flexibility and populism,’ key features of legal reform and development in contemporary China, are highly relevant to analyze the growth of digital privacy laws in China. The political-legal authorities’ experimentation and innovation in the development of the law shed important light on how China’s Internet governance adapts to changing circumstances and strives to keep pace with profound social transformations in new technological environments.