The Empirical Study on Human Flesh Search Based on neutralization Theory

Human Flesh Search((HFS) is a search phenomenon emerging on the Internetin recent years, which integrates machine search and manual search, and is usually used to find or identify immoral events or characters. But problematically in the process of HFS, the personal information of search objects is posted on the Internet, which seriously violates the privacy protection of the search objects and affectes the real lives of others. In this paper, we apply the neutralization technology theory and deterrence theory, both prominent in criminology, with the construction of privacy awareness, to study the behavior of participants of the HFS. Using smartPLS2.0 software to analyze 574 questionnaires, we got our research conclusion. We find that the technologies of denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of victim, appeal to higher loyalties, avoidance of greater harm and privacy awareness significantly influence the intention to participate in the HFS, but the metaphor of the ledger technology, the certainty of sanction and the severity of the sanction have no significant effect on HFS participation intention. Based on the results of this study, we conduct a detailed analysis and give some appropriate instructions. At last, the research conclusion may have some potentially fruitful reference for related legislation and be helpful to guide the Internet behavior of netizens.