Doxing

What is doxing?

Doxing (or doxxing) is the intentional online exposure of an individual’s identity, private information or personal details without their consent.

Sharing the information publicly undermines the target’s privacy, security, safety and/or reputation. Often those responsible for doxing urge others to use the information to harass the person targeted. 

Revealing private information about a person without their consent is not new. However, the increased use of internet connected technologies has made it far easier to collect, store, track and then share the information very publicly. The growth of online platforms has also expanded the network of people able to harass, humiliate or attack someone once their identifying details have been revealed. 

Doxing is an abbreviation for ‘dropping documents’. The information that is doxed may be sourced through publicly available information, research of public records or through unauthorised access to private databases and computer systems (hacking).

Unlike defamation, doxing does not have to reveal something untrue or damaging about an individual — the information is usually accurate, whether or not it has been sourced lawfully.

‘Doxing’ can refer to a number of different practices.

Deanonymizing doxing

Revealing the identity of someone who was previously anonymous (for example, someone who uses a pseudonym). 

Targeting doxing

Revealing specific information about someone that allows them to be contacted or located, or their online security to be breached (for example, their phone number or home address, or their account username and password).

Delegitimizing doxing

Revealing sensitive or intimate information about someone that can damage their credibility or reputation (for example, their private medical, legal, or financial records, or personal messages and photos usually kept out of public view).

Why do people dox?

Research points to a variety of motivations for doxing. In some cases, doxing is motivated by wanting to expose wrongdoing and hold the wrongdoer to account. It can also be used to exert control over someone following a relationship breakdown. This is sometimes called 'technology-facilitated coercive control'. 

The threat of doxing can also be used to intimidate or threaten someone. In some cases, it is used to extort money, but often no demands are made to stop the information being released and the target is not even aware they are about to be doxed. 

Anyone can be doxed and, regardless of the motive, the exposure of personal information violates the target’s privacy and can compromise their safety. Reports of doxing made to eSafety indicate that it can lead to serious emotional, psychological and physical harms.

What harm can doxing cause?

Doxing can leave the target vulnerable to, and fearful of:

• public embarrassment, humiliation or shaming
• discrimination, if personal characteristics are disclosed
• cyberstalking and physical stalking  
• identity theft and financial fraud
• damage to their personal and professional reputation, leading to social and financial disadvantage
• increased anxiety 
• reduced confidence and self-esteem.

The harms can be immediate, but they can also be ongoing if the information continues to be shared or stored by others.

On a broader level, using doxing as a form of digital vigilantism can have a negative impact on society through increasing lawlessness, conflict and reducing trust in public figures.