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Doxing -- Something To Expect More of In 2015

HughPickens.com writes: When asked about trends to expect in 2015, Bruce Schneier points to doxing as a likely candidate. Doxing is not new, dating back to at least 1987 when Robert Bork's video tape rentals were leaked to the press. Usually it's things like an address and phone number, but it can also be credit card details, medical information, private e-mails—pretty much anything an assailant can get his hands on. "Everyone from political activists to hackers to government leaders has now learned how effective this attack is. Everyone from common individuals to corporate executives to government leaders now fears this will happen to them. And I believe this will change how we think about computing and the Internet."

106 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. What is doxing? by pr0nbot · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those too lazy to google:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    1. Re:What is doxing? by elgatozorbas · · Score: 1

      Apparently coming from one too lazy to read the article, because it is explained in the first paragraph...

    2. Re:What is doxing? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      It means AltaVistaning or WebCrawlering.

    3. Re:What is doxing? by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Circular.

      Those are Google and Yahoo!

      Thanks for playing.

      We have some swell parting gifts.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    4. Re:What is doxing? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      What about Exciteing?

    5. Re: What is doxing? by jsh1972 · · Score: 2

      I use hotbot you insensitive clod!

  2. Re:at the moment the only trend by Spad · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's hardly a new word, it's been in active use for the best part of 10 years.

  3. Re:at the moment the only trend by Livius · · Score: 1

    It's jargon in active use, used by people precisely because it's not mainstream.

  4. The problem with doxing by Solandri · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is that everyone has some skeletons in the closet they're hiding. Yours might not be as severe as someone else's, or it may be from back when you were a stupid teen. But there's something that would embarrass you or tarnish your reputation if it were made public. Maybe you tried smoking weed in college, or you had sex with your high school GF when she (and you) were technically underage, or all manner of other things.

    So if facts uncovered by doxing becomes accepted as legitimate grounds for disqualification, then the only people who will get the good job positions or get elected will be the liars who are exceptionally good at covering up their history or shifting blame onto others.

    Instead, what needs to happen is for people to stop demanding perfection from others. Everyone is human, and humans are fallible. Someone who claims to have never failed, to have always done the right thing, is almost certainly a liar, a con artist.. That's what should raise suspicion about someone's fitness for a job or elected office - the absence of any skeletons in the closet. If society can change to where we accept that we're all flawed and that a few flaws shouldn't automatically disqualify us, then doxing largely becomes irrelevant and IMHO our world will become a much nicer place.

    1. Re:The problem with doxing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "So if facts uncovered by doxing becomes accepted as legitimate grounds for disqualification, then the only people who will get the good job positions or get elected will be the liars who are exceptionally good at covering up their history or shifting blame onto others. "

      Huh? The ones who get elected already cover up everything. At least they try. They lie all the time. Doxing is what keeps them on their toes. So I REALLY hope it doesn't stop. I hope it increases. A lot.

    2. Re:The problem with doxing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How can I dare to hire a person who has done something wrong/strange/other before when parts of the internet might run your business into the ground for it. Not just anonymous but tumblr, religious groups, gamers or housewifes.
      When people will get you fired for writing a comic strip that 99% of the population think is okay because a few from a extrem group raise their voices.
      I don't care if it's a religous group or 14 year old boys, but the problem is more that we shouldn't listen to those who scream the loudest about things. It's hard to solve, yes maybe large corperations could stop listening to the group that screams the loudest even if it's very few of them. But a single person or a small business don't have much means of defending themselfs.

      So yes it's a problem but to be honest, I can't think of many solutions that are better. Demanding that humanity should change is nice but not very realistic, we have the same wars we had 2000 years ago.

    3. Re:The problem with doxing by ciascu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I heard a story once about a PhD who was presenting their first year's progress. There were no problems, everything had gone to plan and on time, unlike the rest of their office mates, who had followed false leads, made mistakes with mixing chemicals and so forth. At the presentation, after all of the productive work was outlined and a few cursory questions addressed, one of the more senior staff put up their hand and asked "What unexpected problems did you come across?" The response was "Nothing - it all proceeded as planned." After some investigation, it turned out an experienced postdoc had actually done most of the work and coached the candidate through their first year.

      Like many good murder mysteries, something can seem "too perfect" - then you can find the needle much faster than searching through a haystack of mistakes.

    4. Re:The problem with doxing by geekmux · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Is that everyone has some skeletons in the closet they're hiding. Yours might not be as severe as someone else's, or it may be from back when you were a stupid teen. But there's something that would embarrass you or tarnish your reputation if it were made public. Maybe you tried smoking weed in college, or you had sex with your high school GF when she (and you) were technically underage...

      Uh, if you were searching for examples by which to embarrass the Legalize It generation of social media narcissists who defines relationships with Tinder, you better keep looking. These sure as hell won't do it.

    5. Re: The problem with doxing by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If someone is a celebrity, they get to have an ongoing dialog with the public. If you create an ugly first impression around a person by cherry picking their lives for dirt, they don't have the same opportunity. Don't you think that's an important difference?

      Having a criminal record that can be checked by those who have a personal interest in researching your character isn't the same as having someone run around shouting that you are a thief to everyone. Maybe it happened a long time ago and you're a changed man.

      But generating shame by focusing busy strangers attention on an ugly part of your life, causing an impression to be formed in a vacuum by people who had no interest in knowing the details in the first place and who will never learn when and why to let go of that... That is truly horrible, and we need to put a stop to it.

      Openness in general makes everyone safer, but people who shame others by name make life worse for us all.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    6. Re:The problem with doxing by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If society can change to where we accept that we're all flawed and that a few flaws shouldn't automatically disqualify us, then doxing largely becomes irrelevant and IMHO our world will become a much nicer place.

      Yeah, how is that going to happen? Answer: doxing. It will become so commonplace that things we think are a big deal today will become no big deal because we'll learn just how prevalent they are in society.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re:The problem with doxing by Kjella · · Score: 1

      We're all flawed but not equally flawed and not necessarily in the ways an employer would object to. If you have two candidates and one has already had a skeleton fall out of their closet and the other hasn't, would you really go with the person who already has proven objectionable behavior? Not that I found your examples very objectionable. And if you don't care but know your customers will, then whether it's public knowledge or not is extremely relevant. I don't think it's possible to do away with social norms, if they steal nude photos of you and send it to all your colleagues it will get weird and awkward. I think you're asking too much of people to pretend like that didn't happen.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    8. Re:The problem with doxing by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      I don't think it's possible to do away with social norms, if they steal nude photos of you and send it to all your colleagues it will get weird and awkward. I think you're asking too much of people to pretend like that didn't happen.

      Even that is changing. Extensive research has shown that to a large extent, people are naked underneath their clothes.

      So the pool of people who become upset that a person has a penis is shrinking. Don't be so hard on them.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    9. Re:The problem with doxing by swillden · · Score: 1

      Is that everyone has some skeletons in the closet they're hiding.

      Most people, I'm sure. I actually don't. Thinking back through my life, there's really nothing that has ever happened that would bother me. Some of it might be mildly uncomfortable but only mildly. Some might be a little more uncomfortable without the context, for example when I was 19 I was arrested for theft, but I wasn't actually stealing anything. Oh... perhaps an even better example was about three years ago when I broke my daughter's collarbone. Without the context, that makes me sound like an abusive father. But even that doesn't bother me so much that I feel a need to provide the context here.

      However, let's assume that everyone does. In that case, there's a good argument that lots of doxing would be a good thing, since it would demonstrate that (nearly) everyone has these sorts of minor issues at some point in their life, which means that we should all just stop getting worked up over them.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    10. Re:The problem with doxing by swillden · · Score: 1

      Heh. I should have read the third paragraph of Solandri's post.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    11. Re:The problem with doxing by michaelmalak · · Score: 1

      So if facts uncovered by doxing becomes accepted as legitimate grounds for disqualification, then the only people who will get the good job positions or get elected will be the liars who are exceptionally good at covering up their history or shifting blame onto others.

      Such job disqualification is a handy tool for HR departments these days as it neatly addresses the current job vs. candidate imbalance. Think Elysium (which was really about today and not the future) or this week's past Dilbert strips. We're in a state of transition where the mid-20th century concept of "a job" is falling away, and "disqualifications" are a new-found way of blinding ourselves to that fact.

      In the future, when no one has a 20th century job anymore, doxing won't matter anymore. But today, it can transition a victim onto the leading edge of joblessness that we'll all be facing eventually.

    12. Re:The problem with doxing by meta-monkey · · Score: 2

      But society has changed and is changing, and is far more accepting of deviancy. Not too long ago if you were gay you needed to keep that secret from your employer or you might get fired. Today, if your boss finds out your gay and fires you, he and his company can expect an unholy shitstorm heading their way.

      Have the dirty pictures of young actresses filched off iCloud had any lasting negative effects on their careers? That whole thing has blown over, and the media was more concerned with how awful it was their privacy was invaded than with the fact they took the pictures to begin with.

      Social change has been rapid in the last 20 years or so. 15 years ago gay marriage was not a thing. Now it's a "right" and how dare you be opposed! I don't think it's unforeseeable that in another decade people's browser histories, sex tapes, etc aren't even going to be a blip on the radar.

      Now if you're talking about illegal shit, well...then yeah, don't commit crimes. And if you're upset people would get doxed over drugs, that's a problem with the drug laws themselves. But if your crime is insurance fraud or diddling underage boys, doxing is appropriate and welcome. It's not okay to commit crimes as long as nobody knows about it.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    13. Re:The problem with doxing by meta-monkey · · Score: 3, Funny

      Also, inside each of us is a spooooOOOooooky skeleton!

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    14. Re:The problem with doxing by Slashjones · · Score: 1

      Now if you're talking about illegal shit, well...then yeah, don't commit crimes. And if you're upset people would get doxed over drugs, that's a problem with the drug laws themselves.

      Don't commit crimes? That's your solution to unjust laws?

      And no, it isn't just a fucking problem with the drug laws themselves; it's a problem with the people who individually decide to release others' information, because they're the ones who chose to do so. Just because you did something illegal doesn't mean you deserve to have your privacy violated.

      It's not okay to commit crimes as long as nobody knows about it.

      Illegal != immoral. Legal != moral.

    15. Re: The problem with doxing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Maybe it happened a long time ago and you're a changed man.

      The entire premise of the American injustice system is that nobody ever changes and once you get caught doing something you're forever a criminal and can't be trusted with anything ever.

      Unless of course you're rich and/or famous. Then it's OK.

    16. Re:The problem with doxing by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      The problem with doxing... Is that everyone has some skeletons in the closet they're hiding.

      No, that's not "the problem with doxing" (which hackers tend to spell with two Xes by the way). The problem is that the information is available in the first place.

      OP says

      And I believe this will change how we think about computing and the Internet.

      ... but THAT is the real problem. If this will change your thinking, you haven't been thinking enough. This has been a recognized problem for a decade and a half, and it's why some of us have been screaming for better privacy controls for all of that time.

      The courts have recognized that even snooping into someone's public records can, in some cases, be considered illegal "stalking" or invasion of privacy. We need to go further and make sure a lot of that information is better protected from the very beginning.

      I am very careful to not give out personal information on the internet. I have zero respect for people who intentionally violate my desire for privacy and spread my information around where they know I do not want it known (you know who you are). Even when it falls short of "doxxing", it is an unethical, despicable practice. I consider anyone who does it deliberately a lowlife, and that's being very polite.

      It is true that recent generations need to get this idea of "everything is fair game" out of their heads. But until they do, all one can do is be careful. Because even if you don't have anything to hide, people who want to attack you can present information out of context or in misleading ways. Or both.

      I have had both of these happen, right here on Slashdot. Which is why when someone is wrong about my personal details (and man, have they ever been wrong!), I neither confirm nor deny. In fact sometimes I even subtly encourage them to believe the wrong thing, so they will lead themselves further astray.

      But make no mistake: doxxing is sociopathic behavior. It is a combination of hitting below the belt and stabbing in the back. Especially if the victim is relatively innocent.

    17. Re:The problem with doxing by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      I never said legality and morality were related. I think drugs should all be legal, prostitution should be legal, etc.

      My solution to unjust laws is to speak and vote to get them changed.

      The problem actually is the laws, not with the fact that you're getting caught for breaking the laws. Fostering an attitude that it's okay to break laws you don't agree with* and then get mad at citizens for turning people in or cops for arresting them leads to societal decay. That's basic contempt for the law. It leads to a mindset that justice or fairness only exists for the sneaky, and that the crime is in getting caught. No, we need the actual laws changed so nobody is getting thrown in jail for weed.

      This attitude comes up a lot when talking about police seizures or evidence of a crime other than the one they were looking for, and people on the internet get butthurt about the completely reasonable police procedure when really they're upset about the particular law that's being enforced.

      For instance, a cop is chasing a robber who shot three people at the bank. The cop sees the robber bust down the door to a house and run inside. Is it reasonable for the cop to enter the home (which is not the robber's) to search for him? I think we would all agree "yes." There's an imminent danger to the occupant of the house. This procedure is blessed by the courts. It's called "hot pursuit." It is reasonable for him to search the home. Now he gets inside the house, follows the robber to the back room where he subdues him. Hooray! Hero cop! Nabbed the robber and murderer before he could kill or kidnap the homeowner. However, in the same back room, in plain sight, is evidence of a crime committed by the homeowner. Had nothing to do with the robber or the chase. Is it okay for the cop to seize that evidence and arrest the homeowner?

      Turns out yes, yes it is. The cop was justly in the home. The search was reasonable. He wasn't tearing through the homeowner's sock drawer. That would have been unreasonable when searching for a robber. But the evidence was in plain sight during a reasonable search. It's just the homeowner's bad luck he got caught. His rights were not violated.

      Now if the homeowner gets busted for marijuana possession, the Internet goes nuts. "That's ridiculous! It's completely unfair! The pot smoker had nothing to do with the robbery! He was just minding his own business smoking some weed. The weed should be inadmissible and the case thrown out. And give the poor guy back his weed, too!"

      But what if it were a different crime? Homeowner was murdering toddlers in the back room. "That's ridiculous! It's completely unfair! The toddler murderer had nothing to do with the robbery! He was just minding his own business murdering some toddlers! The toddler corpses should be inadmissible and the case thrown out. And give the poor guy back his toddlers to murder, too!"

      The problem isn't the procedure. It's totally reasonable for a cop to follow a dangerous criminal into a third party's home. We'd demand it. We'd be furious if he didn't. Just stood around outside. "Can't go in without a warrant...shucks." And it's completely reasonable to scan the room and seize evidence in plain sight. It's still illegal to posses marijuana. Doesn't matter if it's in your home or on the street. And the search was reasonable. It's just the pot smoker's bad luck he got caught. People are only upset because the law enforced was one they don't agree with.

      So what are the cops supposed to do? Only enforce laws you agree with? People who are caught committing crimes due to somebody else's mistake instead of their own get a pass (while their rights were not violated by the state)? That's not how justice should work. Justice is supposed to be blind.

      Otherwise we wind up with contempt for the law. Selective prosecution. Rule by men instead by law. No thank you.

      The problem is we have too many laws, and too many things are illegal that shouldn't be. What would be better would be if everybody who committed

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    18. Re:The problem with doxing by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      Is that everyone has some skeletons in the closet they're hiding.

      Most people, I'm sure. I actually don't

      Everybody's got something to hide, 'cept for me and my monkey!

    19. Re:The problem with doxing by digsbo · · Score: 1

      It will become so commonplace that things we think are a big deal today will become no big deal because we'll learn just how prevalent they are in society.

      I think a little differently - we'll openly admit how prevalent they are in society. Puritans aren't any better at not sinning, they're just really good at hiding it.

    20. Re:The problem with doxing by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      The real problem is not necessarily what you others of your equal think of you but more precisely what bosses and company owners think of you. If you cannot get a job because someone outed you as a racist when all you were doing was trolling or because you had a different opinion or said something that came out wrong and they declared it homophobic or racist or whatever the hate word of the day is, you loose your job.

      In fact, there are groups out right now working with the sole purpose of identifying people and flooding their employers until people get reprimanded or fired from their jobs. You may not care about what the guy next to you at the grocery thinks, but when you are unemployable, you might change your mind.

    21. Re:The problem with doxing by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Perhaps to you ...

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    22. Re:The problem with doxing by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      If society can change to where we accept that we're all flawed and that a few flaws shouldn't automatically disqualify us, then doxing largely becomes irrelevant and IMHO our world will become a much nicer place.

      Yeah, how is that going to happen? Answer: doxing. It will become so commonplace that things we think are a big deal today will become no big deal because we'll learn just how prevalent they are in society.

      Tend to agree. Privacy is going to go the way of the dodo. Sooner or later somebody will make a FOSS package that generates a manageable data stream from a video feed that assigns a UUID to every face that enters the frame along with location and time references, and also tags every letter/number that enters the frame, and it will run on something the size of a cell phone without using much power. Then people will mount cameras on their houses/cars/person/etc and upload the data to 15 different public servers in 15 different countries, who will then distribute/aggregate the data. At that point you can just do a google-like search on anybody and show everyplace they've been since birth. When storage/bandwidth gets cheap enough people will also just archive all that raw video permanently and share it, so now you can watch what somebody was doing 20 years ago, having been recorded by 400 different passing cars in 15 minutes.

      Sure, it might be a while before the software/hardware catches up, but nothing I've described seems unlikely to happen from a physics standpoint, which means that stopping it will be like trying to stop bittorrent. Information is very hard to contain - and your personal history from birth is nothing more than information that is just currently hard to record/search.

      At that point, either nobody will talk-to/do-business-with/elect anybody, or we'll learn to live with it.

    23. Re:The problem with doxing by Slashdot+Parent · · Score: 1

      The problem with doxing Is that everyone has some skeletons in the closet they're hiding.

      That's small potatoes compared with the real problem with doxxing. The real problem is that once the doxxed person's info is public, any asshole on the Internet can and does start harassing the victim both online and offline. Threats of violence, harassing the victim's employer, trying to get him/her fired, swatting, etc., are all common consequences of doxxing.

      It's a really shitty thing to do. I don't really give one tenth of one flying fuck if someone finds out that I smoked weed in high school or banged my girlfriend in high school. Hell, if you asked me those, I'd just tell you the truth. But if I'm getting death threats left and right and people are calling my clients and saying that I am a terrible person or whatever, that's when shit starts to get real.

      --
      They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
    24. Re:The problem with doxing by Slashjones · · Score: 1

      That's basic contempt for the law.

      That's basic contempt for *specific laws*.

      But smoking weed in your home, cancer patient or not, is not civil disobedience. That's just having contempt for the law. That's corrosive to society.

      Oh, bullshit. Not everyone has time to be part of some huge social movement. Law != morality, and breaking certain laws is not corrosive to society. For it to be corrosive to society, you'd have to believe that we're all mindless robots who either follow all laws or follow no laws, which is a nonsensical false dichotomy, or the action itself would have to be overall harmful.

      Just breaking the law is not necessarily corrosive at all, and nor does it mean that you have contempt for laws in general. Grow a brain and stop repeating authoritarian nonsense.

  5. That is not doxing by epyT-R · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Doxing is releasing private information to the public. Names and addresses are not private information. Drama queens have tried to redefine this in vain attempts to control who gets to use the information they've already provided online.

    Eg: John Doe posts a blog entry loaded with clickbait fallacy under his real name, looking for a reaction to boost his lack of self esteem and gain e-prestige, but wasn't ready for criticism. When his post doesn't quite get the attention he was looking for, some type his name into a search engine and find his address and telephone and post this already public information on some forum. If he gains a lot of notoriety, some will go further, armed with the already public info to pick away at what else may be public, but not published like his name and address. Rather than address his shoddy argument, he claims he was 'doxed' instead, ignoring the fact it was his fault for associating his real name with his post in the first place.

    1. Re:That is not doxing by SpzToid · · Score: 2

      Doxing is what has just happened to Sony Pictures & Entertainment big-time. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have been reporting on email contents (as I understand the situation, but don't really know first-hand), and SPE have sent lawyers telling Variety, etc. those emails can't be published due to copyright ownership; which is another matter open to debate. We're talking emails between C-level types and million-dollar A-List Hollywood types. The Wikileaks of Hollywood if you will.

      Twitter lawyers have even had to weigh in as has been reported in Slashdot (as I recall).

      To make matters worse, while the Microsoft mail files were uploaded en masse to sites like Pastebin, all sytsems were wiped at SPE so all their records were lost. SPE has had to request 2nd-parties to photocopy their contracts so Sony could still retain a copy. https://www.tmz.com/2014/12/27...

      Here's how bad it's gotten. Sony's files have been wiped clean, and we're told the studio is now calling agents and lawyers who represent Sony big wigs, asking them to make copies of deals and proposed contracts that they can send back.

      SPE got Doxed to the maximum extent possible.

      What I'd like to know is how many companies STILL want to be a Microsoft Shop(tm), given recent events?

      --
      You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
    2. Re:That is not doxing by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      Rather than address his shoddy argument, he claims he was 'doxed' instead, ignoring the fact it was his fault for associating his real name with his post in the first place.

      Really? That's the problem? That you think he has a shoddy argument, not that he is being hunted and harassed for holding opinions that you and others don't like?

    3. Re:That is not doxing by rasmusbr · · Score: 1

      Sorry to nitpick, but there is no such thing as "clickbait fallacy". A fallacy is something that is logically or factually wrong.

      You probably mean that someone is using a clickbait tactic or spiel.

    4. Re:That is not doxing by mvdwege · · Score: 2

      there is no such thing as "clickbait fallacy".

      Yes there is. 'Clickbait fallacy' is a dog whistle phrase in the same vein as 'Social Justice Warrior' or 'political correctness'. It signifies that the poster is a reactionary white manchild who thinks the person harrassed by the 'doxing' "had it coming".

      <Looks at OP UID> Oh look, it's epyT-R. QED.

      --
      "I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
    5. Re:That is not doxing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There's a reason doxxing is mainly associated with 4chan, 8chan and other pedophile websites.

      And there's a reason some associate violent street crime with black people. It's not a good reason; it's a pretty ugly reason, actually. But hey, it's just as technically true as your statement.
      Alternatively, something about pedophiles-on-steroids blowing up vans with hacking.

    6. Re:That is not doxing by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Come off it ... back in the pre-internet days people who wrote letters to the editor had to confirm their identity (their name and phone number were in the phone book, and the newspaper would phone them). Even people who wrote unpopular opinions had to identify themselves. No hiding behind a nic.

      When certain people were complaining "OMG they have my address and a photo of my home", that was totally bogus in terms of a threat. Anyone who uses their name in public had better expect that it's very easy to find the address from all sorts of public records, and google streetview to get a pic of your home.

      I posted my full address in several of those discussions to show that it's ridiculous to be afraid of someone knowing where you live - didn't get a single threat. Kind of a bummer, actually, because it would have been fun posting the kooks "collective wisdom" for your enjoyment :-(

      Times are changing. Look at the Cosby allegations. They're being taken seriously by the public precisely because the victims refuse to be anonymous.

      It's getting harder to embarrass people, because the rest of the public will smell an opportunistic rat behind the exposure. Look at Rob Ford. He ran - and won - for his city counsel seat after the crack video, the "I'm gonna kill that motherf*cker" video, and who can count how many other blunders. Nobody who counts cares.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    7. Re:That is not doxing by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Informative

      There's a reason doxxing is mainly associated with 4chan, 8chan and other pedophile websites.

      Jezebel writer doxxes autistic kid.
      Rebecca Watson promotes Doxxing.
      Reddits ShitRedditSays subreddit digging up names of gamergaters.
      A tumblr related website all about doxxing

      Something about throwing stones in glass houses springs to mind here.

    8. Re:That is not doxing by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Calling someone's mom and telling them their son has been making rape threats and harassing women on the internet is not doxxing.

      Putting someone's phone number on the internet to invite more rape threats and harassment is doxxing.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    9. Re:That is not doxing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The reason doxxing is associated with 4chan, 8chan and gamergate has nothing to do with gamergate's perception of themselves as an oppressed minority fighting for their rights to keep women out of their games in any capacity beyond fap-bait.

      You're all over the place, and not making much sense. 4chan, 8chan, and gamergate are all separate entities. Gamergate doesn't believe itself to be about 'keeping' women out of game development. Conflating 4chan and gamergate is hilariously ignorant.

      Doxxing became famous out of the chan sewer.

      Again; possibly technically true, but meaningless. Saying 4chan is famous for doxxing does not mean 4chan has a monopoly on doxxing. It's ignorant at best, and at worst, it's used to excuse the actions of others.

    10. Re:That is not doxing by Theaetetus · · Score: 1

      Doxing is releasing private information to the public. Names and addresses are not private information. Drama queens have tried to redefine this in vain attempts to control who gets to use the information they've already provided online.

      Eg: John Doe posts a blog entry loaded with clickbait fallacy under his real name, looking for a reaction to boost his lack of self esteem and gain e-prestige, but wasn't ready for criticism. When his post doesn't quite get the attention he was looking for, some type his name into a search engine and find his address and telephone and post this already public information on some forum. If he gains a lot of notoriety, some will go further, armed with the already public info to pick away at what else may be public, but not published like his name and address. Rather than address his shoddy argument, he claims he was 'doxed' instead, ignoring the fact it was his fault for associating his real name with his post in the first place.

      In both cases, it is done to harass and threaten the poster, with the explicit statement, "I know where you live" and the implicit statement "and therefore could attack you in person." It is done by people who want to silence others, because they cannot respond to their arguments substantively and have to resort to calling them "clickbait fallacy" posted by "drama queens".

    11. Re:That is not doxing by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      Calling someone's mom and telling them their son has been making rape threats and harassing women on the internet is not doxxing.

      No. This is fine. If any of them did only do that I wouldn't have posted, but it seems that this was not the case for any of them. Alanah Pearce seems to be pretty sensible with her reaction. Telling their parents means that we can reasonably assume that things are going to be kept in control.

      Doxxing involves potentially setting off an online mob, or in some cases, interfering in their lives.

    12. Re:That is not doxing by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      That is a form of doxing, but not the kind I find particularly worrisome. I usually think of doxing in the context of piercing someone's psuedoanonymity. Your real name is not publicly available information. You, epyT-R (unless that actually is your real name, which would be rather bizarre), have an expectation that what you say on slashdot is not going to find its way into your boss' inbox. And that no one is going to show up at your doorstep with a flaming sack of dog shit because of your comments. Is it ironclad? Of course not. But it is a reasonable expectation.

      However, a determined attacker could absolutely find out who you are. Go through your entire post history. I bet somewhere you've mentioned a city or a hobby or a career. Start correlating. Maybe trick you into clicking on a link to get your IP address. Plenty of other ways. And now they're posting your "publicly available information" so people can harass you. But while the information associated with your real name is publicly available, the address and phone number of epyT-R are not publicly available information. That's doxing.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    13. Re:That is not doxing by russotto · · Score: 2

      'Clickbait fallacy' is a dog whistle phrase in the same vein as 'Social Justice Warrior' or 'political correctness'.

      Or 'manchild'?

    14. Re:That is not doxing by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      So give us the examples of someone interfering in the lives of gamergaters besides telling them their games suck.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    15. Re:That is not doxing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Didn't 4-chan kick all the GamerGate people out? The only reason 8-chan is associated with GamerGate at all is that it's the largest web forum that didn't bow to the corporate puppet-masters and ban all GamerGate discussion in its entirety, like 4-Chan, Reddit, and Slashdot did.

      Plus, when it comes to GamerGate, all the doxxing is on one side: the SJW side. They've gone out of their way to try and get GamerGaters fired, to the point of making up rape charges and trying to convince employers that they were real and they should fire gamers over them. Doxxing is a real issue, but it's not 4-chan or 8-chan you should be worried about, it's SJW assholes like this.

    16. Re:That is not doxing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What's wrong with MRAs? MRAs are just a push-back against a feminist agenda that's gone way overboard. OK, sure, MRAs have the same flaw that feminists do (they go way overboard in the opposite direction) but given today's political climate, MRAs serve as an important counter-balance to the absolute insanity that is the feminist agenda.

      GG is down to about 10% of the activity that they generated in October

      Activity on what? Publicly facing boards? There's a good reason for that: SJWs are doxxing and harassing the family/employers of anyone foolish enough to attach GamerGate to their real name. They're going out of their way to get GamerGate supporters banned from Twitter and other public media. Of course you're seeing fewer and fewer GamerGaters publicly: your SJW buddies are actively getting them banned and censored. Doesn't mean GamerGate is shrinking, it just means you don't see them because you've actively harassed them off of public media.

      You'd think the amount of active censorship of people over something as silly as thinking video game reviewers should just possibly not have sexual relationships with game developers would garner at least a mention on Slashdot, but that would go against Dice's current feminist "STEM hates women" meme that they're pushing for whatever reason, so we've gotten nothing about this massive censorship campaign SJWs are waging.

      At least this article hints at it, even if it continues with the lie that people against SJW are doxxing SJWs. (This has never happened. SJWs doxx each other all the time and then blame it on "outsiders." GamerGate has taken a lot of flack for things outside trolls have been doing. The hilarious thing is that none of the LWs are ideologically pure enough for certain SJWs so these SJWs have attacked them and then had their attacks blamed on gamers. Despite them all being from the same SJWs circle of insanity.)

    17. Re:That is not doxing by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      Do you need that? Seems very specific. I was generally referring to those groups that are opposed to the likes of 4chan and 8chan. I guess I can use google to find some harassment by anti-gamergaters if you really want it.

      Milo Yiannopoulos receives a dead animal,
      Threatening phone calls
      One person claims to have been fired, and another had someone complain to their boss
      Threats against a gamergater's family

      Quite honestly I find the whole thing depressing. #Gamergate has a lot of people talking about corruption in the games industry, but way too many of its members fixated on loud, pointless people. Anti-gamergate has this bizarre conspiracy theory that somehow 4chan, 8chan, and a large number of female and ethnic minority gamers, journalists and even a few outspoken feminists are working together in the cause of "misogyny", for its own sake.

      People with a political agenda have grabbed both sides of the debate and made it about unrelated political issues.

    18. Re:That is not doxing by mvdwege · · Score: 1

      Yep.

      --
      "I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
    19. Re:That is not doxing by bornagainpenguin · · Score: 1

      Calling someone's mom and telling them their son has been making rape threats and harassing women on the internet is not doxxing.

      Only if it's demonstrably true. Something...something....cried...wolf... Sorry if I find the current crop of doxxers lacking in veracity. Something..ethics..journalism.. comes to mind but I can't quite put my finger on it.

      Putting someone's phone number on the internet to invite[..] rape threats and harassment is doxxing.

      Agreed. Which is why no one should be posting someone else's information and using harassment as a silencing tactic.

      --
      Have a Virgin Mobile USA smartphone? Give VMRoms.com a try!
    20. Re:That is not doxing by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Plus, when it comes to GamerGate, all the doxxing is on one side: the SJW side.

      Is that why 8chan's 6th busiest forum is strictly for doxxing?

      GTFO.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    21. Re:That is not doxing by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Milo Yiannopoulos receives a dead animal

      That's not a dead animal, that's his hair.

      I invite anyone to actually read those links you've provided and judge them for themselves.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    22. Re:That is not doxing by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      She just "happened" to do it from her Twitter, which is watched by thousands of followers. Why do you suppose she did that?

      Because it was entertaining to see a rapey little harasser have to face his mom.

      What do you suppose her followers did with that information?

      They were entertained. Do you have reason to believe any of that person's followers went on to contact the harasser's mom?

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    23. Re:That is not doxing by russotto · · Score: 1

      Yeah. Real World analogy (no cars, but close enough): There's a politically disfavored group, let's say D&D players, which gets chased out of all the respectable meeting halls and convention centers by the self-appointed guardians of morality. They end up finding a room in a place behind the old X-rated theatre, next to Chickenfuckers of America and the Hell's Angels HQ.

      The guardians of morality still want to destroy the D&D players, so they point at the Chickenfuckers and say "That place harbors horrible immoral chickenfuckers, we've gotta burn it down!". The Hell's Angels hear someone's planning to burn down their HQ and go on the attack. And the attacked guardians go and blame the D&D players for that.

    24. Re:That is not doxing by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      You really believe that videogamers are a "politically disfavored group"?

      Come on, you're shitting me, right?

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    25. Re:That is not doxing by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Hardcore gamers are often represented as fat "neckbeards" who live in their parents basement and as socially awkward.

      And yet, isn't it interesting that the "Gamers are Dead" article that incited this gamergate mob, made exactly the opposite representation, saying that "gamers" are actually everyone now, and the image of gamers as fat neckbeards in their moms' basements is obsolete.

      And the fat neckbeards went ballistic.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    26. Re:That is not doxing by russotto · · Score: 1

      And yet, isn't it interesting that the "Gamers are Dead" article that incited this gamergate mob, made exactly the opposite representation, saying that "gamers" are actually everyone now

      Not exactly. Alexander's article advised game developers to target everyone EXCEPT the old school gamers who she referred to in derogatory ways. So not "everyone" but "everyone but YOU" for some value of "YOU".

      And the fat neckbeards went ballistic.

      Thanks for demonstrating the point. It's really hard to maintain the claim of being "inclusive" when you (like Alexander) can't help but getting digs in at groups you don't like.

    27. Re:That is not doxing by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Not exactly. Alexander's article advised game developers to target everyone EXCEPT the old school gamers who she referred to in derogatory ways.

      That's not true.

      Here, let's let people decide for themselves whether or not this article is arguing for excluding anyone or including more voices in game development. That's something that GamerGators seem to hate doing: letting people decide for themselves.

      This is the Leigh Alexander article that made gamergate shit the bed.

      http://www.gamasutra.com/view/...

      Of course, anyone paying attention knows that GamerGate really didn't start with the Leigh Alexander article, but long before, when it was revealed that someone who wrote for an indie gaming blog actually knew an indie game developer. Then, GamerGate was born specifically to shame, not the blogger, but the female game developer, using rape and murder threats, online attacks, doxxing and otherwise abhorrent behavior, because ethics. It turns out that the ringleaders behind the whole thing were the reactionaries at 8chan's /pol/ imageboard and a bunch of hard core "men's rights activist" and "pickup artists". And by the way, "men's rights activists" are exactly what it sounds like: total assholes. Guys who smell like Axe body spray and Sen-Sen, who think the way to get into a woman's pants is to break down her self-esteem and self-respect to the point where they can be drugged and date-raped.

      Here is the story, presented in the most complete, well-sourced and thoroughly vetted manner (which, as you would expect, makes GamerGate really really mad): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Fortunately, it's all over now.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    28. Re:That is not doxing by russotto · · Score: 1

      Here is the story, presented in the most complete, well-sourced and thoroughly vetted manner (which, as you would expect, makes GamerGate really really mad)

      Fortunately, it's all over now.

      Obvious troll is obvious.

    29. Re:That is not doxing by d34thm0nk3y · · Score: 1

      ban all GamerGate discussion in its entirety, like 4-Chan, Reddit, and Slashdot did

      The above +4 Informative post apparently does not exists.

  6. SJWs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Social justice warriors LOVE to fox people and threaten them and their employers if they dare have differing points of view (all while claiming to be the VICTIMS of doxxing, themselves).

    1. Re:SJWs by DiamondGeezer · · Score: 2

      This has happened so often its not even funny.

      --
      Tubby or not tubby. Fat is the question
  7. Re:at the moment the only trend by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 2

    Languages evolve. Deal with it.

    --
    Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  8. Re:at the moment the only trend by rasmusbr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Is there a shorter or more descriptive word / phrase that you can use to describe the practice of leaking personal information in order to attack or retaliate against someone you don't like?

    Docsing or doxing sounds like a good way to express that concept.

  9. Re:at the moment the only trend by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    used by people precisely because it's not mainstream.

    "Subdural haematoma" isn't mainstream either, but doctors don't just use it because they're hipsters.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  10. Re:at the moment the only trend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Oh really? I've been a regular visitor to Slashdot since 1998 and I've never seen it mentioned before. A search lists only 3 submissions that use the word since 2013. Furthermore, the word isn't even listened in my Merriam-Webster's dictionary which has a massive selection of words that, as you would put it, are "hardly new." So, excuse me, Professor, but it is in fact a new word.

  11. Diff between secrecy and privacy: simple example by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

    It's not a secret that you have body parts. But it's a violation of your privacy to publish photos of them against your will.

  12. It's new to me by rmdingler · · Score: 2
    One of the tantalizing perks of Slashdot, for me, is that I regularly run across something here I am unfamiliar with.

    Bonus round... doesn't happen that often at work or play or grocery shopping.

    The trick is to embrace an unsettled World view.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:It's new to me by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      I, too, find work or play or grocery shopping to be mentally unstimulating.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  13. Re:at the moment the only trend by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 2

    It's jargon in active use, used by people precisely because it's not mainstream.

    Exactly. It currently carries the scent of newness, youth culture, "in the know" trendiness. To deny that is silly.

    Maybe someday it will just be a useful everyday word. Not yet.

  14. Gamergate Doxxing by Kunedog · · Score: 4, Informative

    TFA mentions Gamergate in the context of the doxxing but all the victims mentioned just happen to be on the anti-GG side (innocent mistake, I'm sure).

    Pro-GG people have been doxxed:
    http://imgur.com/BNlLKcn

    So was the creator of #notyourshield, and his workplace was harassed until he was fired:
    https://twitter.com/Moldybars/...
    http://i.imgur.com/9ieHMu9.png

    A prominent anti-GGer called for the doxxing of all Gamergate supporters: http://i.gyazo.com/5db582013ac...

    At least the pro-GG makes an effort to detect, condemn, and report this shitty behavior, no matter which side it comes from.

    1. Re:Gamergate Doxxing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      First, srhbutts is a mental case and superspacedad is a fucking Something Awful troll, so who the hell cares?

      Second, if you'd bothered checking, neither of those were doxxed by GamerGate, so take your trolling back to your stupid Tumblr SJW circlejerk.

    2. Re:Gamergate Doxxing by Your.Master · · Score: 1

      At least the pro-GG makes an effort to detect, condemn, and report this shitty behavior, no matter which side it comes from.

      You're clearly not above twisting it to political ends.

      If both sides are doxing, and both sides are complaining about doxing, then both sides are clearly not above hypocrisy. QED.

      (PEOPLE: It's not always about sides! You can say doxxing is wrong and admit that you agree with others who also say doxxing is wrong, even if those others have the opposite position on an unrelated issue).

  15. Re:at the moment the only trend by BlackHawk-666 · · Score: 2

    Since this appears every second week on a medical procedural show it actually is mainstream.

    --
    All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
  16. Sigh, yet more lazy buzzwords. by danknight48 · · Score: 2

    Or, we could use the correct wording for each situation, brought to you by one of those English dictionary's you had at school.

    Usually it's things like an address and phone number, but it can also be credit card details, medical information, private e-mails—pretty much anything an assailant can get his hands on

    Pretty simple: Identity Theft.

    1. Re:Sigh, yet more lazy buzzwords. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Usually it's things like an address and phone number, but it can also be credit card details, medical information, private e-mails—pretty much anything an assailant can get his hands on

      Pretty simple: Identity Theft.

      Bloody hell, it's 9-11 all over again, when people were calling everything terrorism. Or back in the 1980's when the Reagan administration tried to make agricultural information classified.

      People seem to think they make a point when they bring up these overly broad definitions. Mostly they just muddle the conversation. And there you go, making knowing a person's name identity theft.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    2. Re:Sigh, yet more lazy buzzwords. by Nemyst · · Score: 1

      Um... No. Identity theft is using someone else's identity, not just obtaining information about them. It'd be using those credit card details to make purchases, or to write checks with some other data, and so on. You're the one mistakenly using words with much stronger meaning.

    3. Re:Sigh, yet more lazy buzzwords. by lucm · · Score: 1

      Um... No. Identity theft is using someone else's identity, not just obtaining information about them.

      What if you use someone else's identity for fun? Like writing their names on a pair of soiled underwear and leaving it in the middle of the school cafeteria, like we used to do in high school?

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    4. Re:Sigh, yet more lazy buzzwords. by danknight48 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Um... No. Identity theft is using someone else's identity, not just obtaining information about them.

      Incorrect
      Go read: http://www.actionfraud.police....

      "Identity theft is when your personal details are stolen and identity fraud is when those details are used to commit fraud"

  17. Workplace (and family) harassment by QuasiSteve · · Score: 3, Insightful

    his workplace was harassed until he was fired:

    This is an increasingly common tactic used by people who disagree with other people.

    You're a racist? Let's get you fired:
    http://gettingracistsfired.com...

    You're a scumbag who doesn't deliver on a kickstarter? Let's bother your parents:
    https://www.kickstarter.com/pr...

    Sure, this isn't new - the latter is just an extension of small-town "you come around here doing that again and I'll be talking to your mama". But the motive and intent are different. It's not about the parents being the authority figure instilling some sense into the kid, but about harassing the parents so that they, too, will blame the 'kid' for woes.

    In the former case, it hinges on when things you say are personal, and when they are things you say as a representative of a company.
    Post on company blog - company.
    Post on facebook with place of employ listed - apparently, company.
    Post on twitter with no place of employ listed but people find out through your name and location anyway - according to that blog, company.
    Post on a random forum under a pseudonym but given enough searching around have your place of employ found - if you're thinking this should be personal, you're disagreeing with that site.

    Increasingly, "what you do in your personal time is your own business" no longer flies, because whatever you do in your personal time can - thanks to the pressure power of social media - very much become your employer's business... even if they have no issue with you personally, but get negative attention for employing you.

    Any outside activity must not interfere with your ability to properly perform your job duties

    - From one employee manual, in context about outside employment but easily interpreted to also apply to these cases.

  18. Re:at the moment the only trend by GrBear · · Score: 1

    Languages devolve. Deal with it.

    FTFY

  19. Re:at the moment the only trend by lucm · · Score: 1

    It's been around for a while, but it is mostly a 4chan and IRC thing.

    --
    lucm, indeed.
  20. Re:at the moment the only trend by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    Actually, the "yet" is here, now that you know about it.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  21. Re:at the moment the only trend by Will.Woodhull · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is useful right now, and has been for several years within the communities where doxing has become a known problem. It is a jargon word that is gaining mainstream use simply because the mainstream is now beginning to see a significant increase in the behavior it describes.

    A similar term, "outing" (as in "John was deliberated outed last week by Jim, his ex lover") has been in use among the LBGT communities since at least the 1950s. But that refers explicitly to making public someone's very private sexual orientation.

    However "doxing" is different from "outing": it is a more general term describing the unauthorized release of anyone's private information in a public forum. It is rarely an honorable act and in general those who dox others are persons without honor. And the honor of those who condone doxing is questionable. People who dox, or show support for doxing, are people you cannot trust. You should not associate with them, either, since that will raise questions about your personal honor.

    "Doxing" is a concept that needs to come into the mainstream, right now.

    --
    Will
  22. Weak content by lucm · · Score: 1

    The summary is almost as long as the linked blog post, which reads more like a "Computer Guy" column in a magazine for retired dentists than Slashdot material.

    My favorite part:
    "In 2014, several women were doxed by male gamers trying to intimidate them into keeping silent about sexism in computer games."

    Wuss.

    --
    lucm, indeed.
  23. brick wall by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    Good thing I had the foresight to made it difficult to impossible to associate any online nickname or username or URL with my actual name like 8+ years ago.

    1. Re:brick wall by russotto · · Score: 1

      My pictures on social media show me having drunk large quantities of alcohol and/or with several drinks in front of me. This weeds out any employers who have too large a stick up their corporate butts, saving a lot of trouble since I wouldn't last at such an employer anyway.

  24. Re:at the moment the only trend by Greyfox · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is there a word for wanting to punch someone in the dick because they invented a stupid new word? Because payback is still required for "blog", "twerk" and "phablet". Someone might need to get punched in the dick twice for "phablet." I'm sure the Germans probably have a word for it...

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  25. Sleazy Slashdot Coverage of Gamergate by Kunedog · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    /. wants to cover Gamergate, but doesn't want to be honest and upfront that it's doing so (and taking a side). That's because users are in charge of the discussion, and we (or at least most of us) don't buy the "misogyny and harassment" narrative no matter how many times they repeat it without evidence. So this is at least the dozenth article to follow the template "misogyny, harassment, threats, misogyny, harassment, threats . . . oh BTW Gamergate."

    The tactic is sad and (by now) easily recognizable for what it is: a thinly-veiled smear. It's why I said this summary was the most unbiased GG summary on /., because even though it is hopelessly anti-GG, it's at least upfront that the GG scandal is the topic of discussion.

    1. Re:Sleazy Slashdot Coverage of Gamergate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      and we (or at least most of us) don't buy the "misogyny and harassment" narrative no matter how many times they repeat it without evidence.

      I disagree that you speak for "we", at least not for me. What I have seen of language used around gamergate by many posters absolutely proves to me that there is misogyny and harassment as part of it, from some, as I have seen tons of it. Is it the majority? I don't know. Is it unfair for the people who have nothing against women but wanted to seriously debate ethics in game journalism to be grouped with these misogynists? Yes. But, what I never understood about the latter group -- if this is what you wanted to discuss, why make their gender the main point in the first place. You didn't have to, and it became a huge diversion (and getting all the actual misogynist on-board big time). Arguing against their claims could have been done in a manner focusing on the issue, not the messengers. As if there was a man who made the original podcasts, claims and articles (which it could have been).

  26. Re:at the moment the only trend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    To be hip, it has to be a bilateral subdural haemotoma.

  27. Doxing is a Perfectly Cromulent Word by willworkforbeer · · Score: 1

    Truly.

    --
    Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
  28. Re: at the moment the only trend by MichaelMacDonald · · Score: 1

    I like this. It's like the whole - there is honor among thieves - bit. It's sort of true. They identify with each other, yeah, but they also steal from each other constantly. You can't trust a thief, and you cannot trust an extortionist. Period. They will turn on you, and if you are one of them - you will turn on your 'friends'. It's inevitable. I have seen doxing used in honorable ways. This is not the case, lately. Disgusting humans.

  29. Re:at the moment the only trend by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

    I prefer doxxing. doxing looks like DOH-xing

  30. Re:at the moment the only trend by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

    srsly? its been all over the internet for some time. a lot of the #gamergate nonsense revolves around doxxing. it's a common 4chan tactic. are you new to the tubes?

  31. The real problem by zippthorne · · Score: 1

    The ones who get elected will be the the ones that the holders of the information choose - they simply won't reveal their video rental habits or out-of-context emails.

    So, if, hypothetically, some agency were logging all of the internet activity of everyone, they'd have a lot of power over anyone who wanted to do something that required public approval. At a minimum they'd probably be able to make sure that their agency survived despite scandal after scandal, including those which reveal the existence of this very plan, and even documented nefarious use of the collected information, whether for manipulating politicians, or more mundane extortion, or stalking ex's, etc.

    A world in which people look past the weird habits of their neighbors instead of looking for a reason to feel superior to them is a pretty lofty idea to hope for. Possibly the only remaining option is to have enough competing organizations using this tactic that it affects everyone, eventually inoculating society from the tactic.

    --
    Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  32. Re:Imagine going back in time 15 years and warn ev by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen, who worked with the National Security Agency from 1984 to 1988 as a Navy intelligence analyst, confirmed DuJanâ(TM)s claims.

    âoeIt is common knowledge in the Chicago gay community that Obama actively visited the gay bars and bathhouses in Chicago while he was an Illinois state senator,â Madsen told WND.

    Wow, "investigative journalist"! I didn't know the NSA pays you for fucking around in gay bathhouses. Where do I apply?

  33. The Post-Embarrassment Generation by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    So if facts uncovered by doxing becomes accepted as legitimate grounds for disqualification, then the only people who will get the good job positions or get elected will be the liars who are exceptionally good at covering up their history or shifting blame onto others.

    What will happen is that everyone will realize they have skeletons, everyone growing up now will have all kinds of embarrassing things embedded in the internet to be found - so by and large people will simply stop caring about what things are uncovered about someone, unless they are truly monstrous.

    So you will eventually get your wish. You cannot get it now, because people cannot really change in that way... it needs to be something built up over a long period of time. But it will happen.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  34. Re:at the moment the only trend by theArtificial · · Score: 1

    Do you also like to spell it Boxxing?

    --
    Man blir trött av att gå och göra ingenting.
  35. Re:at the moment the only trend by sumdumass · · Score: 1

    Identify?

    I mean that is essentially what you are doing- identifying people by their real world "identities".

    OR does the intent to "attack or retaliate" change things so drastically that it doesn't fit?

  36. Re:at the moment the only trend by rasmusbr · · Score: 1

    I'm not a native English speaker, but in my mind the concept of identifying does not necessarily include communicating it to the rest of the word. Then you would have to say "publicly identify", or something along those lines, to convey the concept of doxing.

  37. Re:at the moment the only trend by ToasterMonkey · · Score: 1

    Is there a shorter or more descriptive word / phrase that you can use to describe the practice of leaking personal information in order to attack or retaliate against someone you don't like?

    Docsing or doxing sounds like a good way to express that concept.

    A cute hacker word is a horrible way to describe something that is blackmail without the demands, but the same damaging results.

    It's just a form of harassment, and should be treated as such without the silly geek-speak to make it sound harmless.

    I'd sooner loosen the definition of blackmail and call it that.

  38. For a good time callllll.... by sociocapitalist · · Score: 1

    8675309

    --
    blindly antisocialist = antisocial