Online Vigilantes, Or "Crowdsourced Justice"

destinyland writes "The Chinese credit the 'human flesh search engine' for successfully locating 'the kitten killer of Hangzhou' from clues in her online video. But in February, the same force identified a teenage cat-abuser in Oklahoma — within 24 hours of his video's appearance on YouTube. 'Netizens are the new Jack Bauer,' argues one science writer, and with three billion potential detectives, 'attempts to hide will only add thrill to the chase.' But China's vigilantes ultimately turned their attention to China's Internet Propaganda Office, bypassing censorship of a director's personal information using social networks, including Twitter. The author suggests there's a new principle emerging in the online world: 'The Internet does not forget, does not forgive and cannot be stopped. Ever.'"

Cats

[mcgrew]

Maybe the internet can catch this guy [google.com]. I hope so, and am glad he doesn't live here.

NSFW

[Anonymous Coward]

At least have the decenecy to tag the above link NSFW.

NSFW link.

[SatanicPuppy]

Just in case someone here...by some freak chance...doesn't know that RedTube is basically YouTube for Porn, don't clicky the linky if you're at work...y.

Re:The Author

[Anonymous Coward]

I think its somewhere in the ebaums code [encycloped...matica.com]:

Anonymous is Legion.
Anonymous does not forgive.
Anonymous does not forget.

Did the author just watch The Terminator?

[HockeyPuck]

Sounds like he just watched The Terminator...

'The Internet does not forget, does not forgive and cannot be stopped. Ever.'

From the movie..

That Terminator is out there.
It can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with.
It doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear
and it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.

Re:The Author

[Goaway]

Also, the internet forgets in about a week.

Re:It's great! ...until...

[mcgrew]

So what's the difference between the crowd making a mistale and the police making a mistake?

DNA Testing Clears Virginia Man Of 1984 Rape [northcountrygazette.org]
Chicago man sues Chicago, police over wrongful conviction [chicagotribune.com]
Milwaukee DA Drops Charge In 1995 Murder Case [wcco.com]
Tests prove innocence of 23-year prisoner in Texas [google.com]
New arson analysis may free convicted murderer [kxxv.com]
Texas Enacts 'Innocence Committee' Over Excessive Wrongful Convictions [salem-news.com]

Anonymous' most recent missed target

[snarfies]

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Cheyenne_Cherry [encycloped...matica.com]

Anonymous hates people, but loves cats (as evidenced by Caturday and the entire "lolcats" phenomena). Their most recent target is the evil Cheyenne Cherry, who put a kitten in an oven and roasted it alive. Anonymous went through a lot of effort to get as much info as possible, but jumped the gun at first. The NY Daily News reported a 75-yo retiree with a similar name had her phone number posted, and the result? "They're all saying, 'You'll burn in hell,' 'Who the hell do you think you are?'" Bernadette Cherry, 72, said of the 75 calls from cat lovers."

Re:No

[Ironica]

But that was a written letter from one man to a family member.

No, that was a Manifesto which was directed at the entire world. The right person saw it and realized it was written by his brother.

Re:It's great! ...until...

[parlancex]

Vigilante justice is wrong and it isn't hard to prove that, but the instances cited in TFA aren't really about vigilante justice as the summary would suggest. The crowd didn't find these people and punish them, it just found them. They will be subject to the same due process as anybody else accused of a crime (though I can't speak for in China). The trend worth discussing here is more akin to internet detective-work, not internet justice, and I think we can agree that internet detective-work has a stronger case than vigilante justice.

Re:...and justice for all

[Rary]

It's not like they are hunting the person down in order to physically assault them...

...yet.

And how long until they go after an innocent [bbc.co.uk] person [nytimes.com]?

Re:NSFW

[Lunzo]

Did you really expect a "human flesh search engine" to be work-safe? The NSFW tag seems a bit redundant.