贴个过时的新闻

[我的2006]

BEIJING, MAY 25: These days many Chinese netizens, who have been wronged are not going to the police. Instead they reach for their mouse and issue an ‘arrest order’ on the Internet to locate the offender and obtain justice.

Virtual world policing began when video clips were posted on the Internet showing a woman mistreating a cat by grinding her high-heeled shoes into the animal's mouth and eyes. The woman's wanton cruelty provoked the wrath of netizens across the nation.

Outraged netizens issued a so-called ‘arrest order’ on the Internet to track her down. In only a matter of days, both the woman and the photographer were located and their personal information -- address, ID card number and car plate numbers -- were flashed on the Internet for all to see.

As a result, the woman and the photographer were fired from their jobs even after they acknowledged their fault and apologized.

Ever since that incident occurred in February last year, online "arrest orders" have boomed in China's virtual world. People post appeals in an attempt to find someone they hate, asking other people to join in to condemn this ‘bad guy’.

If one typed ‘arrest order’ in Chinese into some Chinese search engine sites, it instantly generates more than 50,000 results.

Professor Liu Xin from Beijing-based China University of Political Science and Law, said Internet ‘arrest orders’ can be used as a tool to criticise social evils and promote public supervision of social order.

"Online arrest orders can contribute to improving social morality," he was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.