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Doxxing is the act of maliciously revealing personal information about someone through the internet, such as their address, place of employment, phone number, or financial information. This information is then released to the public and circulated without the individual’s permission.
With the rise of social media making personal information much more accessible, doxxing has become more common.
The goal of doxxing is to inflict emotional and financial damage to the person through online harassment or bullying, involving the display of personal information online with malicious intent. Revealing an individual’s information without their consent has been around for decades, but the term dropping dox or doxxing is relatively new in the digital age.
Addressing doxxing and safeguarding your sensitive personal information is important as this bullying ploy gains popularity. Let’s go through the basics of doxxing, the potential consequences, and how you can limit your exposure to doxxing attacks.
Doxxing occurs when a third party gains access to your private information and personal data. The third party will often use a social media profile as a starting point and track down your legal name and other key details.
Then, leveraging other platforms such as Google or other social channels, they may also piece together information surrounding your place of employment, address, and phone number. Once they’ve found all of your information, they share it on social media or another public platform for other’s to see, with the intent of causing harm.
Doxxing can result in more than just public humility. In fact, doxxing can give scammers the information needed to commit identity fraud and wire fraud, both of which can have serious financial implications.
The motivations behind doxxing aren’t always clear. For some, it could be revenge for a viewpoint or action they don’t agree with, or it could be sparked by some other friction point. Regardless of the intention, doxxing draws in severe ethical concerns and can come with criminal penalties.
This practice generally falls into three main categories. The first is releasing the identifying information of a person online. The next category of doxxing is revealing previously unknown information about a private person online. The third category involves releasing damaging information about a person online. Doxxing can lead to an array of consequences for both the victim and the perpetrator, including:
Doxxing can have devastating consequences for all parties involved. This makes protecting your private information a top priority.
Doxxing is common among famous and wealthy individuals and businesses.
It’s important to remember that doxxing can occur in both a personal and business setting. When a business is the victim of doxxing, it can have irreversible impacts on brand image.
Legal and Ethical Perspectives on Doxxing
Doxxing can be hard to prosecute, especially when there are hundreds of people involved, like in the Boston Marathon Bombing incident. However, authoritative bodies are moving toward more legislation surrounding the legality of doxxing.
Currently, many countries don’t have formal legislation that deems doxxing illegal if the information was obtained through the public domain and using legal methods. That being said, doxxing can tread on the line of stalking, harassment, and threats, all of which carry legal weight.
The specifics of the information revealed can also impact the legality of doxxing. Disclosing someone’s real name isn’t as serious as sharing their address or identification number with the general public. Nevertheless, doxxing government employees is generally taken more seriously, as it can be classified as a matter of national security.
Without formal legislation in place, the issue of doxxing boils down to ethics. Is it ethical to post someone’s personal information because they don’t agree with you? Probably not. Doxxing can have serious consequences, both emotionally and financially, which is why it’s important to educate about the ethical concerns.
Combatting Doxxing: Prevention and Solutions
Anyone who posts online or uses technology can become a victim of doxxing, especially as your digital footprint is stored in public databases, search engines, and state records. As an individual or business owner, here are some things you can do to protect yourself from doxxing:
If you are unsure where to start, try doxxing yourself. This means Googling your information, carrying out reverse image searches, and auditing your social media profiles. How easy was it to find your personal information? Use this as a starting point to protect yourself online.
If you do become a victim of doxxing, it’s important that you report the incident to the proper authorities, document the doxxing, lock down your accounts, and verify your financial information wasn’t compromised.
Summary: The Bottom Line
Changing your passwords and usernames, reviewing your privacy settings, and advocating for change are different ways
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