Doxing

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Doc-dropping (dropping docs, doxing, doxxing) is the practice of obtaining and revealing personally identifying information (such as names, addresses, places of employment, relatives) of people who use the Internet, typically in a highly public manner as a call to arms against the target. One of the sad realities of the Internet is that there is an inexhaustible number of creeps and assholes looking for targets to harass, typically of a specific political opinion, religious view, social class, race, gender[1], sexual orientation, etc., etc. While commonly associated with malicious intent, especially towards aforementioned groups, it is very often seen as an act of "bringing justice" against people the doxxer and their self-righteous audience disagree with or perceive as being unjust.[2][3][4]

Dropping dox will (not might, will) result in stalking, harassment, loss of work, death threats, and attempted identity theft, which often persists for years even after everybody forgot what prompted it in the first place. In the case of poorly-done detective work or targets with common names, this can bring real pain to innocent people who aren't even related to the original situation.[5][6]

Most people understand this, so the threat and act of doxxing is used for intimidating and retaliating against people the user doesn't like. It's a ban-worthy offense on nearly every reputable website and in some circumstances is flat-out prison-worthy in many jurisdictions, although not many cases are reported or result in convictions, sadly.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. Amanda Hess, "The Next Civil Rights Issue: Why Women Aren’t Welcome on the Internet, Pacific Standard Magazine
  2. Anonymous Threatens to Doxx Police Officers in Response to Darrien Hunt's Death
  3. Truth, Lies, and 'Doxxing'; The Real Moral of the Gawker/Reddit Story, Wired.com
  4. Doxxing of PlebComics by Tumblr Users
  5. ‘Racists Getting Fired’ exposes weaknesses of Internet vigilantism, no matter how well-intentioned., Washington Post
  6. The People the Internet Thinks are the Lizard Squad, Vice.com
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