Doxing - Definition, cases, consequences

[Running Eagle 16]

Doxxing?  What is that, do you mean DDOSing?

 

This is a trend that has been alive and well in the hacker community since the 1990s, but it is now become a major threat to anyone who uses the internet. Doxxing involves researching the details of people’s lives. The purpose of this practice is either to expose that person to legal prosecution, to embarrass the victim, to draw criticism towards that person, or to cause them physical harm.  People’s lives have been ruined by doxxing. Some doxxing attacks have lead to a mass campaign of public shaming, the online equivalent of mobbing. The effects have caused people to lose their jobs, their families, and even their homes. Targets of major doxxing attacks have been forced into hiding and have had to delete all of their online accounts and change their identities.

 

What the hell does doxing even mean, then?

 

The term “doxxing” derives from a hacker word for “documents.” “Documents” became “docs” and then “dox.” When you “dox” someone, you are documenting their personal information. The important pieces of information you can find out are a person’s social security number, their address, telephone number, email address, social media profile names, place of work, details of relatives, partners and children, and so on.  The term first surfaced in the 1990s when hackers would dox a rival out of spite. In this case, the doxxing focused on identifying the hacker and his misdeeds and turning those details over to the authorities to get him arrested.

 

Okay but like, what the hell is the point of that?

 

Doxing is a weapon that has primarily been used for malicious and evil intent.  The Anonymous movement and its associates on the 4Chan message board are particularly keen on using doxxing as a way to punish enemies. 4Chan has millions of members, and a hate campaign launched against a celebrity or company leader on that site can be very destructive.  As doxing is often fueled by the need for revenge, the victim doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad person -- however, the attacker garners support by making false accusations against that person and publishing the contact details of the target. This was the case with Kyle Quinn, a biomedical engineer at the University of Arkansas. He was identified as taking part in a neo-nazi rally. However, it was simply a case of mistaken identity — the marcher looked a bit like him. Once doxxers got involved, however, his life, that of his family, friends, and colleagues became hell.

 

Lol sure big deal I doubt anybody else has had it that bad.

 

Actually, this dude got off easy.  He was fortunate that he had actually been in a public place on the night and had several colleagues from the University’s administration as witnesses to his innocence. The resources of the University helped him survive the attacks. Few people are that lucky.  Jessica Leonhardt of Florida launched a tirade on YouTube against 4Chan users back in 2010. For some reason, the 11-year-old had been accused on 4Chan of having sex with a member of the band, Blood on the Dancefloor. Thanks to doxxing, which revealed Jessica’s address and contact information, the young girl was overwhelmed with attacks both online, in person, and through email, phone and chat apps.  Her father got involved and posted a video in defense of his daughter to threaten those attackers to back down. The trolls had a field day. Within a year, Jessica’s father was dead of a stress-induced heart attack and the young girl was taken away to a mental institution.

 

Are you really using the meme Jessi Slaughter to example the damage it causes?

 

She's still a human being and there was still a human cost, and aside that, god forbid an 11 year old act like a child and be forgiven for acting like a child.  But if you want the mechanical breakdown, arguments on social media , video games, or literally any other online venue can escalate to false accusations and a hate campaign. Doxxing adds teeth to these disputes, leading to psychological destruction or even physical attacks. Doxxing takes cyberbullying to the next level.

 

Dude it's the fucking internet, calm down it doesn't REALLY hurt anyone...

 

Research presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting revealed the number of children admitted to hospitals for attempted suicide or expressing suicidal thoughts doubled between 2008 and 2015. Much of the rise is linked to an increase in cyberbullying (Source: CNN). More teen suicides are also now attributed in some way to cyberbullying (1, 2, 3) than ever before. Furthermore, young males are most likely to commit suicide than females, although teen suicides overall were up between 2000 and 2017.....  It appears bullying has effects beyond self-harm. Javelin Research finds that children who are bullied are 9 times more likely to be the victims of identity fraud as well.

 

If they're so weak that words from people on the internet made them kill themselves then that's their problem.

 

Well, one, you're a soulless piece of literal garbage for feeling that way, but two, it actually even goes beyond convincing them to self-harm and takes it to full on falsified information being used to get SWAT vans sent to people's homes.

 

Wait, what?  Are you serious?

 

Now that doxxing can reveal the identity of an enemy on the other side of the world, prank attacks have intensified into seriously life-threatening situations. These attacks are known as SWATTING.  In a SWATTING attack, the perpetrator poses as the victim, but doesn’t call pizza parlors. He posts threats to shoot up the school and bomb football stadiums in a faked online account. The attacker makes sure to expose the discovered contact details of the victim to lead a trail to the target’s house. Alternatively, the attacker simply phones in an anonymous accusation to the local police claiming that the victim has a bomb and is plotting a terrorist attack.  A SWAT team or other police force then arrives on the front lawn, fully hyped up and armed.  SWATTING is becoming an increasingly common form of revenge and could not be practiced without doxxing.

 

Ok but that was just Chris Brown, Ashton Kutcher, Taylor Swift...that's never happened to normal people.

 

Wrong again.  In a 2017 incident, two Call of Duty gamers falling out over a $1.50 bet resulted in a death thanks to SWATTING and flawed doxxing. Tyler Barriss of Los Angeles called the police in Wichita, Kansas, claiming to have shot someone and that he also held two hostages. The police SWAT team immediately went in force to the address. When Andrew Finch walked out of the house to find out what was going on, the SWAT team shot him dead.  Neither Barriss nor Finch were involved in the original Call of Duty dispute. Bayliss was acting on behalf of the disgruntled bet loser and acquired the wrong address for the target. That address was the home of Finch’s mother, whom he was visiting at the time.

 

Can I get a tl;dr dude you talk too much

 

Cyberbullying, witch hunting, net mobbing, hatesquadding, falsifying claims about people, and sharing their IRL personal info, has taken lives, and it isn't just suicide -- the horrible human beings who practice these tactics have gone so far as to get SWAT teams called to people's homes, at which point the police open fire at the first sign of a clear shot, over A DISPUTE REGARDING ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENTS ($1.50 is apparently how much a human life costs to a cyberbully.)

 

Primary source, with many thanks given to the OP.

 

You people ought to be ashamed of yourselves.  Those of you who know who you are, know exactly who you are.  There are specific people I am talking to, if you do not think you are one of them because you don't escalate shit-talking in-game to this kind of level, then this isn't about you -- but SEVERAL PEOPLE have specifically threatened ME with doxing by ambiguously saying 'get doxxed lol' or similar phrases.

 

Awareness saves lives.  Well, that, and a modicum of integrity, self respect, and consideration for other human beings than one's self, I guess.

Edited January 30, 2020 by Running Eagle

[Ketog 1032]

can't be doxxed if you dox yourself first 

[ninjarrrr 255]

if you manage to get doxxed because of this game then you went seriously wrong in ur life

[NotZombieBiscuit 3146]

doxxes self

 

 

SToP DoxXiNg Me!!!!!

[vsb 6171]

maybe stop putting your info out there in anonymous games?

 

its not that doxxing is ever ok,  but there has to be some onus of responsibility on your own online actions as well

[Ketog 1032]

jokes aside, as people said above, most people complain about doxxers and haters, but the said people doxxed themselves by sharing little bits of their info permanently, it's okay to be open about what you do and where you are, but you can then only blame yourself if problems arises due to that