Aware that once something is on the internet, it says on the internet, a man from Weifang, China’s Shandong province, actually destroyed the physical internet infrastructure in his neighborhood to prevent some embarrassing photos of himself from appearing online.

The man, only identified as Liu, had only recently arrived in Weifang in search of a job, when he attended neighborhood square dance. The popular activity is usually associated with middle-aged women, but that didn’t bother him. At least, not until he noticed bystanders laughing and taking photos of him showing his dancing skills. He quickly left the event after that, but couldn’t shake the feeling that the people who had photographed him would share the embarrassing photos online.

So in June, while on an evening walk, Liu ended up destroying four  optical cable network receivers, causing over 100,000 yuan in damages, thinking that it would prevent his neighbors from uploading the photos on the internet. After a long investigation, police finally identified him as the perpetrator, on August 19. In photos published by local media, he can be seen in handcuffs, reenacting his crime for a police officer.

Interestingly, an online search of Liu’s embarrassing square dance photos hasn’t turned up any relevant results. maybe his desperate crime actually paid off, or maybe the people who photographed him had better things to do than share them online. We’ll never know.

via The Nanfang