No

Zhou Fangjie

Office worker

Cyber manhunt is the most terrifying form of search as it may affect innocent lives. It launches the power of interpersonal networking to hunt for a targeted person involved in an incident. If the person happens to be innocent, their life could be ruined. In fact, the so-called justice being pursued by those participating in the searching process always turns out to be injustice.

A recent case of an innocent victim who was mistaken as a target of cyber manhunt resulted in his personal information, telephone number and address, even the secret that his daughter was adopted, being made public. It resulted in him being harassed by unending anonymous phone calls. He was even fired from his job.

Those who participate in the search, please consider: if you were the victim, could you endure the consequences? 

Yu Hai

Professor of sociology

The cyber manhunt is likely to become cyber bullying, a behavior that uses technology to support deliberate, repeated and hostile behavior that is intended to harm others.

Even in the name of supporting justice, people cannot cross the boundary of morality when condemning others' mistakes. If so, supporting justice will turn out to be virtual lynching, which violates proper justice.

The cyber manhunt is a case in point. Everyone can comment on whether the action of others is right or wrong. But the public has no right to punish them because of their mistakes - a right exclusively reserved for law enforcing authorities.

To lessen the negative impact of cyber manhunt, we can improve Internet technology to identify online behavior that may infringe on others' privacy or interfere with others' normal life. In addition, relevant laws regulating people's behavior on the Internet should be made.

Xin Haiguang

the first.cn

Searching via cyber manhunt will damage the basic principles of the Internet, like openness, sharing and cooperation, if it is abused or exploited.

For example, it will violate the netizens' privacy and infringe on their right to anonymity, possibly destroying the most fundamental trait of the Internet – freedom. Faced with rampant cyber manhunts, many netizens will lose the courage to freely speak their minds.

Even if the cyber manhunt doesn't violate people's privacy, it infringes on netizens' right to anonymity which allows them to conceal their identity and personal information when giving their views or participating in online activities. This right is significant to people, as it is a way for ordinary folk to freely express themselves. Even though some things said online are harmful, the cyber manhunt cannot infringe on this right. No matter in the name of upholding morality, or supporting justice, it can't be an excuse to destroy the basic principle of protecting people's rights to expression.