Wang Fei, once an employee of Saatchi & Saatchi’s Beijing office, has been the subject of a “human flesh search engine” – a more violent form of cyber bullying where thousands of people expose and post personal details about a perceived criminal. This was the case of Lori Drew who is currently on trial for allegedly driving a young teen to commit suicide. Web users determined her address, cell phone number and more on the internet, which lead to Drew having lynch mobs outside of her home.
What was Fei’s offense? Having an extra-martial affair. Wang’s wife blogged the unfolding story of her husband’s infidelity before leaping to her death. An online mob quickly formed and in hours, Fei’s identification, bank account numbers and other personal details were online for anyone to view. Wang resigned from Saatchi & Saatchi after the office became the subject of demonstrations.
Forbes has report that Wang is now suing the two internet portals where the cyber hunt took place for defamation and violating his privacy.
If you want even more details on this sordid tale, go here for a blow-by-blow accounting complete with photos.
“The use of the Internet to achieve social shaming, monitoring and ostracism, or for private revenge by private citizens, has become prevalent in Chinese society,” Anne Cheung, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, told the WSJ recently.
Ruining a person’s financial security and posting bank accounts and identifying information online is turning into a past time in China. In 2008 two other cases captured the rage of internet users – a man who disrupted torch relay in Paris and a girl from northeastern China who criticized those affected by the massive earthquake received similar treatment as Wang.