Vigilant Internet users spotted news photos of a housing official and posted heated online discussions about his $15,000 Swiss watch and $22-a-pack cigarettes. Two weeks later, Zhou Juigeng in Nanjing was fired. He is under investigation for an apparent "lavish lifestyle" that exceeds his government salary, according to the state-run China Daily. The case illustrates how China's Internet users, operating in groups, can go after people they think have done something wrong by putting information about them online and allowing others to join in the harassment. The phenomenon, in a country that heavily censors the Internet, has an unusual name — "human flesh search engine" — a Chinese phrase describing how individuals are hunted down and exposed on the Web. "The frequency and variety of human flesh searches really flowered (last year), ranging from exposure of misbehaving children and corrupt officials to the nationalistic chasing down of people connected to the Tibetan riots," says Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Danwei.org, a website focused on China's media.
