Beijing ( CNN ) -- Do you ever get the feeling you are being watched ? Closed circuit cameras recording your movements , strange noises on the phone line , phone calls that suddenly stop , emails being monitored , and private computer files and Facebook being hacked into . Oh yes , secrecy is no secret in China . Privacy is anything but private . As human rights activists , artists , dissidents , lawyers and journalists can attest to , if the long arm of the Chinese state wants to get you , it can . But it is n't only the authorities that people in China need to fear -- they may want to be wary of each other . A neighbor , a boss , a former friend ... anyone is a suspect , anyone can be a so-called `` cyber cannibal . '' These online stalkers unite in a virtual manhunt or so-called `` Human Flesh Search '' to target perceived wrong-doers . They scour the web -- blogs , forums , anywhere personal information can be found -- peering into the deepest corners of someone 's life , literally eating their privacy , revealing all secrets to exact their brand of punishment . One admitted cyber cannibal told CNN he was part of a group that outed a so-called cat killer , a woman who allegedly posted pictures of herself on the net , torturing the animals . Her case captured widespread media attention . `` This is the cat-abusing model . After being human flesh searched , she shunned media all together . She could no longer live a normal life ... had to cut off from most social activities . She could no longer show up in public , '' he told us . Wang Jieyu can tell you all about the cyber cannibals ' devastating reach . The Beijing television director has had his life turned inside out . His phone number , personal photos , where he works and even the identity of his parents and friends , are now public knowledge . He has been abused in the vilest language via email , he is harassed day and night with hateful phone calls . Now this once confident , sharply dressed , successful young man is reduced to hiding , wearing a mask in public for fear of being recognized . `` My life has really been messed up in the past month , '' he said . `` I received too many emails , they phone me at all hours , people abuse me ... they use dirty words . '' Opening his computer , he showed me page after page of abuse . Some of it is directed at his parents -- especially his mother who is targeted with crude sexual taunts . Wang says it all started when he crossed a famous Chinese pop star , Shang Wenjie . He says he made a light-hearted jibe about Shang ona popular microblog -- a Chinese version of Twitter . Within hours the singer 's fans went into a frenzy . He does n't accuse Shang of inciting the hatred , and her management has declined CNN 's requests for comment . But Wang Jieyu 's personal life has now gone viral . `` Every day , Shang 's fans come and post nasty words from morning to night non-stop . My life and work was affected , '' he said . Film maker Wang Jing has made a documentary about the phenomenon . He called it the `` invisible killer , '' something he says taps into a deep-seated desire for vengeance , to get back at the world . `` I guess they are composed mainly of two kinds of people -- those who had tough luck with life themselves and thus hold grudges against others . They want to get even , '' he said . The Human Flesh Search engine falls through the legal cracks in China . It is not outlawed , yet Chinese courts have described it as a dangerous phenomenon that undermines privacy laws . Wang Jing says some are motivated by good , using it to uncover corruption and to highlight injustice . But he says too many others are out to destroy lives . `` It can easily go too far , '' he said . `` If anyone wants to ruin another person 's reputation he can simply make up things and ask others to 'human flesh search ' for him . I know another case in which a boy searched for his ex-girlfriend after breaking up . After knowing her whereabouts , he went to find her and then killed her . '' When we go out with Wang Jieyu he dons his mask . This is how he lives now , afraid of being recognized and abused , still paying the price , he says , for crossing the pop star 's fans . `` I 'm afraid that Shang Wenjie 's fans might attack . They 've attacked me twice now so I 'm scared . So I wear a mask to prevent them from recognizing me . '' But on the web there is nowhere to hide from the prying eyes of china 's cyber cannibals .
Chinese online communities are using ` ` Human Rights Search '' to find alleged wrong - doers . One admitted ##ly cannibal told CNN he was part of a group that outed a so - called cat killer . Film maker Wang Jing has made a documentary about the case . Zhang Jieyu says he is now afraid of being recognized and abused .