Chapter 342: Spreading Rumors Takes One Mouth, Debunking Them Breaks Your Legs!

Despite the various forms of real-name registration on the internet today, major platforms still host many "three-no" burner accounts, and there are many reasons for the existence of these accounts.

Some are created by internet water armies, while others are used by people with ulterior motives to deliberately stir up trouble.

Do not find it strange; our personal information has long since been spread everywhere, and there are now too many channels through which our personal information can be leaked.

This acts as a kind of partition, separating oneself from the person who is bound to the internet account.

It is far more effective than just opening a burner account, which is why some people, emboldened by this, act unscrupulously online, saying whatever they want; in any case, no matter how much you search, you can only find the person bound to that account.

In such a situation, they confront you head-on, acting as if they have some big scoop on you, but in reality, they have nothing at all—yet, have they achieved their goal? Yes, they have!

At the very least, during this period, the voices of doubt regarding A Yi, the "Hard-Truth District Leader" and "District Bully," have grown increasingly louder; when three people claim there is a tiger, one believes it, and public opinion can melt gold—this is truly no joke.

Now, whenever Zhou Yi opens any major platform, he can see a great deal of doubt directed at himself and Lawyer Fang.

Doubting his moral character, doubting Lawyer Fang's improper hype.

In the internet age, it is truly too easy to ruin a person, but it is far too difficult to reclaim one's lost reputation.

People will use all sorts of language to describe those "inside stories" of yours, where it is unclear whether they are true or false, yet they will not spend a single moment looking at the Court's judgment.

They will even suspect that there are hidden agendas behind the Court's judgment; they will suspect everything that can be suspected, until they suspect themselves right into treading the sewing machine, only then will they stop.

Lawyer Fang spoke in great detail: what could be found through inquiries with Zhalang is just this—the other party's bound mobile phone numbers belong to several elderly people, ranging from seventy to eighty years old.

"Then, Lawyer Fang, what do we do now? This... this is clearly a case where those elderly people would certainly not be saying such things randomly online. This... what should we do now?"

The other party has fled, having deleted every piece of information posted recently.

Why is it that we all know about Criminal Private Prosecution now, and it seems like some people are clearly committing Defamation, yet it is still so difficult if you really want to resolve the problem through a private prosecution?

Because "keyboard justice" and judicial practice are two different things.

Lawyer Fang began to speak: "Do not be anxious; now that things have reached this point, we cannot resolve this relying solely on our individual strength."

By filing a Lawsuit against the platform to obtain the personal information behind the account, and then initiating a Criminal Private Prosecution—this is what we can achieve through our own efforts.

But anything beyond that is not something individual rights can accomplish.

One could even say that if that "Sunrise in the East," whom you know for a fact is Hu Rong, is involved, you have no way to legally link the two parties together, because the law requires evidence!

"So there is only one way now: Self-Prosecution to Public Prosecution!"

"Self-Prosecution to Public Prosecution?"

"Yes, once it is converted to a Public Prosecution Case, then it becomes easy to handle. We have no way to obtain those more detailed materials, but the Public Security Department has many ways!"

Zhou Yi thought for a moment and asked: "But Lawyer Fang, you also said that they are using other people's identity information. If this information was just bought randomly, how can it be investigated?"

Lawyer Fang on the phone laughed.

"Is this a problem you need to consider? Do you not know how powerful our current internet technical means are? On the internet, everything you have done and everything you have said leaves a trace, and these traces will not disappear just because you deleted the relevant information and ran away!"

"Your device information, the IP address from when you posted these words, and so on and so forth—there are too many ways..."

In Lawyer Fang's words, if one thinks that by using a proxy they can prevent evidence from being secured or prevent the person from being found, then they are truly underestimating current technology.

So the key is not whether they can be found...

This is the key that Lawyer Fang mentioned: if you want to find the other party, you must convert the private prosecution into a public prosecution; only then will the Public Security Bureau intervene.

"Then how can we convert this private prosecution into a public prosecution? Defamation cases shouldn't be easy to handle, right?" Zhou Yi asked again.

"Defamation cases are indeed not easy to convert into public prosecutions. After all, our laws stipulate that unless it has caused great damage to social order, generally speaking, it will not be converted to a public prosecution."

"However, if we transform this issue into a problem of committing a crime by misappropriating another person's identity information, then there is a way to convert the private prosecution into a public prosecution!"

Lawyer Fang began his explanation: first, one point must be made clear—misappropriating another person's identity information is not a crime in itself, but if one misappropriates another person's identity information to commit a crime, then it shall be punished as a crime; our law has clear provisions on this point.

Then, another point must be made clear: is Defamation a crime? Of course it is! The provision that it is handled only upon complaint has nothing to do with whether it is a crime; it is a crime!

So, the key part comes: those who misappropriate others' information to commit a crime shall be punished as a crime. Very well, since Defamation is a crime, then the other party misappropriating the elderly people's identity information to commit a crime certainly constitutes a crime.

At this point, who is the victim? The victims are those elderly people whose identity information was misappropriated, and it has caused Serious Consequences—that is, a crime. If they go to report the case, then it is a Public Prosecution Case, and they must be given an explanation!

There are multiple legal relationships involved here. With the abilities of Zhou Yi and Lawyer Fang, they can only find the elderly people through the law. Even though the other party is elderly, they must still be sued!

This is the procedure that the law requires to be followed. After this procedure is completed, the next step is for the elderly person to prove that they did not publish those remarks. Does the person need to prove this themselves?

No, they don't. They go to the police, and this is when the relevant departments intervene.

As for the procuratorial organs directly converting a Defamation case from a private prosecution to a public prosecution, it is possible, but the probability is too low. Without forming a huge public opinion hotspot and without causing damage to the internet order, it basically will not be converted.

Zhou Yi's eyes started to spin like mosquito coils as he listened, and he subconsciously said: "Then that is unfair to those elderly people."

This is indeed a very important point. Put yourself in their shoes: if you were living your life fine and one day you were suddenly hit with a Criminal Private Prosecution, and you could end up in jail if you weren't careful, what would you think?

From a legal standpoint, it seems fine, but in life, we don't just talk about the law. If you only talk about the law, you are scum.

"Yes, that is what you need to do. We will discuss it with them first, and then come to file the lawsuit to go through this legal procedure."

To many people who do not understand the law, this step of filing a lawsuit might seem like taking off one's pants to fart, but this is a necessary procedure; without this procedure, you cannot establish the crime of Defamation.

And there is no need to wait for a verdict, because this case is very hard to win.

But there is no need to wait for the judgment; once the lawsuit is responded to, the other party can be made to report it to the police, because the other party's identity information was misappropriated.

Alright, Zhou Yi finally understood. However, this is also normal; leave the legal matters to Lawyer Fang, and as for matters outside the law, he, Zhou Yi, will handle them!

"In addition, we still have to go to the platform!" Lawyer Fang spoke again: "I said before that we must report it and leave evidence; you didn't understand, right? That is exactly what it is to be used for here."

Generally speaking, our laws do not strictly stipulate the platform's duty of review.

A platform is just a platform; everyone can post comments on it. The platform is not responsible for all the comments on it; otherwise, the legal representatives of the major internet platforms would have been inside long ago...

However, when you report to the platform that a certain article or video has caused you harm, the platform must conduct a review. This is a key point in our daily lives.

To put it bluntly, it is actually a matter of procedure. You can say that complaining is useless, but you must do it first before you can say so, and before you can use this as evidence!

The prerequisite is that the Tort evidence you submit must be clear.

We discovered that the other party has committed Defamation and the circumstances are Serious Circumstances, so we requested the platform to delete it, but the platform said that the other party's words did not violate any rules. In that case, you can then demand that the platform bear responsibility!

The person must be sent in, and the money must also be recovered a little; grasp both hands, and both hands must be firm!

Lawyer Fang is here organizing and securing evidence to start the Lawsuit at the Guangming District Court, while on the other side, Zhou Yi has started contacting the elderly people whose identity information might have been misappropriated.

The reason for saying "might have been" is because, without a full investigation, it cannot be confirmed, as it is possible that their children or grandchildren used their identity information to register the accounts.

…………

Hannan Province, Qingyan County, can be said to be the tail-end county of Hannan Province, belonging to a state-level poverty-stricken county.

Qin Daye is already eighty-one this year, but he still cannot sit idle, and he is still quite capable when it comes to farm work.

It was another fine day; Qin Daye got up early, tidied up, and prepared to head to the fields. Anyone who has done farm work knows that farmers get up very early, especially early.

Not long after he finished tidying up, the senior-friendly phone his grandson bought him rang.

Qin Daye found it a bit strange; usually, only family members knew this phone number, so what urgent matter could there be at this time?

He hurriedly answered; fortunately, the old man's hearing was not yet gone.

"Hello, who is this? Is it the eldest?"

"No, you are Qin Daye, right? It's me, I am... my name is Zhou Yi, I'm looking for you for something."

A young voice came from the phone, and Qin Daye hung up immediately. Don't look at him as old; he knew that once this phone was used, it would cost money.

After hanging up, he didn't expect the other party to call again.

Qin Daye got a bit anxious; after thinking about it, he still called his eldest son who was living in the county seat.

And so, in the morning, the eldest son, who was already nearly fifty, and the grandson, who had just graduated from university, rushed back.

"So you're saying that our old man's phone number and personal information were all misappropriated, and a crime was committed?" Qin Daye's eldest son, Qin Aiguo, said with a confused look.

"That is the case, but please listen to me, the situation on my end is like this..."

Zhou Yi explained the situation that Fang Dazhuang had told him to Qin Aiguo, but it was a pity that the other party couldn't understand it at all.

"What are you talking about? Let me tell you, we don't know anything about this, and it has nothing to do with us. Who knows if you are a scammer? My father is over eighty, and his phone is a senior-friendly phone; he can't even go online!"

The grandson next to him, Qin Haochuan, also spoke up: "Dad, I actually feel like I've seen this somewhere before..."

As a university student, he was naturally very concerned about things on the internet. He had also seen Zhou Yi's situation, but he couldn't recall it for a moment; after all, it is very rare for the person eating the melon to be the one the melon is about.

Zhou Yi had already anticipated this situation before making the call, so he thought for a moment and said: "Qin Daye's phone number is this one, right? You all wait a moment."

Wait? What was the use of waiting? Qin Aiguo wanted to curse, but then he heard a sound. He took down the senior-friendly phone and looked, only to find a text message had arrived: the phone number had been successfully topped up with five hundred yuan!

This... what is this situation?

Zhou Yi's voice sounded again on the phone: "The phone credit arrived, right? How about it, Mr. Qin? Can we talk now?"

"Whether I am a scammer or not, you will definitely understand once you know what I am going to do."

Zhou Yi was not good at dealing with people. This time there was a System Task, so Zhou Yi had already thought it through before calling: You don't believe me, right? That's fine, if you don't believe me, you will definitely believe in money.

Money is a good thing. Although money cannot make everyone love you, it can be said that most people love it.

At least Qin Aiguo definitely loved money.

"This... Mr. Zhou, right? No, there's no need for this..."

The effect of money is truly great; this is what you call dealing with people.

Because he felt he couldn't understand, Qin Aiguo let Qin Haochuan take the call. The other party listened for a while and finally understood.

What he understood was not the laws, but the whole event, because he had seen it on Zhalang before, and then the situation reversed.

"You are A Yi? This, is it true?"

"Absolutely genuine. If you don't believe it, I can come to your place, or you can come to Jingzhou, I'll cover the expenses, no problem at all!"

Qin Haochuan's speech was a bit stuttered. He hadn't seen celebrities, nor had he seen such an Up Master, and now he was actually talking to him on the phone!

"So, actually, those people on the internet misappropriated my grandfather's personal information to register accounts, which is why they were so bold?" Qin Haochuan asked hurriedly; he had been enjoying the drama these past few days.

Zhou Yi laughed: "Yes, that's why I said, I need to file a Lawsuit here, and then, you respond to the suit and report it to the police, and you can turn the Private Prosecution Case into a Public Prosecution Case. Relevant departments will intervene and find the other party's true identity!"

"I won't let you help for nothing. Anyway, you have to come to Jingzhou to respond to the suit, so I will pay for you to come to Jingzhou for a trip!"

If it were a negotiation, Zhou Yi would be terrible at it, because no one would directly reveal their trump card.

But he was a cheater...

"This, this is too embarrassing. I have to discuss it with our family." Qin Haochuan said a bit bashfully.

"No problem, discuss it as much as you like. I'll wait for your news. If you plan to come, I can directly buy your flight tickets and book a hotel for you."

After hanging up the phone, Qin Haochuan explained the situation, and both Qin Aiguo and Qin Daye were stunned.

"He, this person called A Yi has so much money? Is he a fool?"

"Dad, he is a big Up Master and runs a Company; he has plenty of money. He doesn't care about this little bit; he just wants Legal Aid!"

"Then what do you mean..."

"Let's go. Anyway, being idle is being idle. If I could go work for A Yi, that would be even better. I heard he is famously generous to his Employees."

Qin Aiguo nodded vigorously. His son had graduated this year and hadn't found a job yet; if there could be a good place, that would definitely be no problem.

"Then it's a deal!"

Using the same method, Zhou Yi handled the remaining four elderly people. These four elderly people were all from the village, and their general economic conditions were not good.

But thinking about it, it was normal. In this kind of situation where others' information is misappropriated, it is definitely better to choose these kinds of elderly people; the other party is not easy to discover, and wealthy elderly people are another concept entirely.

After getting it done, Zhou Yi sent a message to Fang Dazhuang, letting him start the Lawsuit!

At the same time, some people were already preparing to come to Jingzhou. Some elderly people were truly too old, so they let their family members come to have fun instead.

For them, it was just a trip, and then reporting to the police; it was that simple. It was equivalent to taking advantage for free; who wouldn't want to take advantage?

As for why they would report to the police after arriving, that was definitely because they were familiar with Jingzhou.

Unsurprisingly, during the time Zhou Yi was seeking Legal Aid, the rhythm on the internet had already passed, and there was rarely any topic mentioning them anymore; this was the normal situation.

Everything was progressing steadily. No matter what you do, it takes time. So during this period, everyone on the internet discovered that the A Yi who used to roast heaven, roast earth, and roast the air seemed to have disappeared, as if he had retired from the internet.

His activity stopped at that previous evidence, and he didn't say anything else, as if he had lost his popularity overnight.

Each generation of talents emerges from the land, and each leads the way for hundreds of years.

The internet really doesn't lack an A Yi. Soon, similar Up Masters rose up; although they were far worse in quality, they still attracted people's attention.

Even Zhou Yi's audience was a bit confused: Why hasn't A Yi updated yet?

Perhaps only people like Yuan Jie who have connections with Zhou Yi know what he is doing; a mouth can spread rumors, but refuting them wears out one's legs, and being serious has never been an easy task.

Not to mention that the other party has specifically prepared for it.

As for the group led by Wang Rui, the First Instance verdict has been handed down, and no matter how much their family members cry, there is nothing to be done.

Hu Rong, who had been staying at home for some time, received the Private Prosecution Complaint and sighed; the other party had indeed filed a Lawsuit.

He had previously held out hope for that "Sunrise in the East," but he never expected that the other party would actually run away.

Given the nature of A Yi, he was bound to sue everyone, but only when he was truly named as a Defendant did Hu Rong start to feel nervous.

He thought about seeking Mediation with the other party because his chances of winning were too slim; even though his professional license had been revoked, his skills remained, and if he were to go to prison, he would truly never be able to hold his head up again.

The relevant Self-Media in Jingzhou City had been keeping an eye on the follow-up, and they soon reported all of this content, letting many people know that A Yi still had moves to make.

But why wasn't he posting video updates? Logically speaking, this kind of Criminal Private Prosecution initiated due to defamation would be followed by a video "going up" after the Lawsuit was filed, but now there was nothing!

A five-thousand-word update. Also, I saw a comment from a book friend yesterday; this event has many twists and insufficient foreshadowing, making it easy for people to feel like the main plot has been forgotten. This is indeed Lao Zhou's fault, because this twist wasn't in the original outline and was added later, so it seems a bit abrupt. However, taking it out separately wouldn't be good either, as I've already done the internet defamation arc twice, and the foreshadowing was indeed insufficient—that's my problem. Then Wenchidage said that, ultimately, it's because the updates are slow... emmm, it seems that's indeed the case; if the volume is large enough, the twists don't really matter... It's the end of the month, so let's pick up the pace.

Thanks to Qin Yi Wan Meng, Xiao Shufu, Another Newbie, Feimaowuyu, Wenchidage, Boluo Chuixue, Cat Who Loves to Yawn, Cang Er Jun, and wfei, thank you brothers for the tips.

(End of this chapter)