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Ask Slashdot: How Do I Recover From Doxxing?

An anonymous reader writes: I've been doxxed on a popular forum, by one of the moderators no less. The forum owner doesn't care, the hosting company doesn't care. I'm getting bombarded by email and social media, even via GitHub. How does a person recover from this? I don't want to create a whole new identity or shut down all my web sites, social media etc. Can't really change my real name either, at least not without an incredible amount of hassle. The police don't care, and since the forum owner is on the other side of the world it's unlikely there could be any legal consequences, and even if they were they would probably only draw more attention to me. I've tried to clean up Google's search results about me. How do I fix this? What does a fix even look like?

191 of 370 comments (clear)

  1. Police? by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Informative

    The police don't care,

    If you want to get the police to do anything in this world, don't contact them yourself, have your lawyer contact them.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re:Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Unless this doxxing contained anything beyond public records what are they police going to do even then? It's not illegal to post public information on someone (barring things like victim shield laws, etc.).

    2. Re: Police? by dmitrygr · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You know, back in the day they published whole doxxing books. One per town (though you could request another town's by mail). In fact many such doing books were shipped for free to everyone. They were white and yellow too, if I remember correctly.

      --
      -------
      1. Enjoy your job
      2. Make lots of money
      3. Work within the law

      Choose any two.
    3. Re:Police? by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 2

      Publishing information with intent to threaten or cause distress is illegal in most places as far as I'm aware. It's a bit like carrying a big honking hunting knife in public, you won't get arrested if you have a good reason for carrying it but there aren't many good reasons.

    4. Re: Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Questioner here. By publishing my details on this forum they have started off a campaign of harassment. I also have to keep checking Google and bing to make sure I'm not going to be screwed next time I apply for a job, and that it won't stop people contributing to my open source projects.

      The worst part is that although I'm not the one doing it, at a casual glance it makes me look childish. Like some 4channer who pissed off other 4channers.

    5. Re: Police? by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      AC nailed it.

      Remember when Google insisted that everyone use their real names on G+? I never did offer my real name. Google contacted me three or four times about it, threatening to terminate all services if I didn't supply my name.

      I told them that I'm almost sixty years old, and that I've made enemies in my lifetime. I wasn't willing to publish my name and address, so that one of those enemies could find me and murder me.

      It was a bullshit story - but it made a point. It is stupid and potentially dangerous to post your real life contact information randomly all over the internet.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    6. Re: Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I see this argument a lot and it's pretty stupid. Phone books were usually only distributed to the local area, where everyone who got one probably already knew you (or your family) and if they tried to harass you via phone the call was easily traced and police would take care of it.

      Doxxing on the Internet is different. Over a billion people suddenly have easy access to your info, most of them strangers and many of them out of reach of the law. It's a completely different scenario.

    7. Re: Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      NAME THE FORUM!!!! We can be of more help if we know who it is.

    8. Re: Police? by Echo_Hotel · · Score: 2

      In the good old days any public library worth a damn would have dozens of phone books available not to mention the fact that you could just request one be sent to you for any given area and to top it all off there has always been the operator you could call for directory assistance for a few cents. The tools have always been there you just had to be smarter than the recycled tree pulp in the pages to use it back then.

    9. Re: Police? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 2

      Remember when Google insisted that everyone use their real names on G+? I never did offer my real name.

      Yep. My response was "FUCK NO!!", and yes they kept pestering me for months. I never gave them a damn thing.

      I was, frankly, amazed that the bliss-ninnies at Google never stopped to consider the downside of posting your real name and linking to all the other stuff you have online. (What could possibly go wrong, eh?) Or maybe they did and just said, "Eh, tough shit."

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    10. Re: Police? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      It was reddit obviously.

      That'd be my guess, but any well-traveled site could be the culprit here.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    11. Re: Police? by tompaulco · · Score: 2

      NAME THE FORUM!!!! We can be of more help if we know who it is.

      Yes. Out the outer. Then you will be even and can let it drop.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    12. Re: Police? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I see this argument a lot and it's pretty stupid. Phone books were usually only distributed to the local area,

      And they didn't contain links to a million other bits of data on you, either. There wasn't much you could do with a phone book back then, really (at least not compared to present day maliciousness).

      Really, though, I blame social media and the "Cult Of Sharing Everything" for this shit. It all seems so innocuous to share and share and share and then one day you get doxxed...and by that time it's waaaaaaaaay too late to do a damn thing about it.

      I've worked hard to keep a low profile. You won't find squat online about me, even though I have a very unusual last name. Very very few pics, no direct links to my "real life" from my online life, and I stay the hell off of facebook, twitter, linked in, etc etc etc.

      If other people want to share their personal info I think that's fine, have at it....it's just not for me. And there have been more than a few times that I've been thankful that I was so paranoid and/or careful.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    13. Re: Police? by ohnocitizen · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Reasons a Phone Book is different from being doxxed:
      1. More than just your name, phone number and address might be shared.
      2. It is linking offline and online, not just posting your info in isolation. Imagine if a phone book contained every single one of your online identities and logons.
      3. Phone books don't link to material that could threaten your personal relationships or career.
      4. Doxxing is used as a tool to intimidate and attack people. It is a form of retaliation, not a public service.
      5. Often(though not always) a single person is singled out.

      As others are pointing out, this is a poor argument and should not be modded up.

    14. Re: Police? by paulatz · · Score: 2

      Yep. My response was "FUCK NO!!", and yes they kept pestering me for months. I never gave them a damn thing.

      Lucky you, they just terminated my G+ account after a couple weeks of pestering (and at the time you could not use a lot of services without G+), but now G+ is dead, and Vic Gundotra has been fired while I'm still alive and I still have my job.

      --
      this post contain no useful information, no need to mod it down
    15. Re: Police? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      And do you remember the reaction when people started putting them on CD-ROMs in the early 90s?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    16. Re: Police? by unami · · Score: 1

      they probably had lots of pressure from big brother on them. that's why i chose fake names that sound like real ones, only slightly more vulgar. it's less hassle. yours, peter le coq

    17. Re: Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It was reddit obviously.

      That'd be my guess, but any well-traveled site could be the culprit here.

      The only reasonable option is to delete the Reddit account. I did it - I made the huge mistake to use my name and email.

      When (or if) enough people do the same, then Reddit will do something about. And even if Reddit ever does something, at least this will not affect me anymore.

      Shitty people do shitty things, and create shitty places.

    18. Re: Police? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      Ben Dover, Max Imum, I.P. Daily, Fuq Q. Googel....and the list goes on. :)

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    19. Re: Police? by penguinoid · · Score: 1, Informative

      Maybe you could post the specifics on a different site, of course only if you think the average person would be understanding of your situation (I'd recommend not trusting your own judgement on this, ask a friend). I know a few people who got doxxed over some joke got lots of sympathy over here. If the doxxers think of themselves as righteous, they'll have second thoughts if a large group of people think they're overzealous assholes. Of course, if the doxxers are trolls, they'll love any reaction they get.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    20. Re: Police? by Harlequin80 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Realistically, do nothing. This will end up falling off the bottom of the page, and people will lose interest / forget. The way to ensure that the problem continues is to respond to it.

      Remember the "Bring back our girls" campaign. Had everyone from Michelle Obama down making public statements of support. Go and have a read about how the # tag and search results basically disappeared after a month.

      While it sucks now, the people who send you stuff based on a forum are not really invested in you, and once the next object of their hatred arrived it will move on. Keep you head up and weather the storm.

    21. Re: Police? by rudy_wayne · · Score: 1

      I see this argument a lot and it's pretty stupid. Phone books were usually only distributed to the local area,

      And they didn't contain links to a million other bits of data on you, either. There wasn't much you could do with a phone book back then, really (at least not compared to present day maliciousness).

      Really, though, I blame social media and the "Cult Of Sharing Everything" for this shit. It all seems so innocuous to share and share and share and then one day you get doxxed...and by that time it's waaaaaaaaay too late to do a damn thing about it.

      Exactly. They didn't dox you. YOU DOXXED YOURSELF!

    22. Re: Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Wait, what? I'm pretty sure that if you side with gamergate, you are the a-hole. Although the whole thing about doxing - that is just wrong. Monkeys fling poo. The internet lets humans fling poo farther and wider than monkeys ever dreamed. Enabling internet a-holes to fling stuff IRL is just wrong. It doesn't matter if the person being doxed is a reasonable person or an a-hole. It is wrong to do that stuff.

    23. Re: Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There is practically nothing done on the Internet that couldn't have been done with phones, fax machines and the mail. It's the speed and convenience that changed everything.

    24. Re: Police? by Megol · · Score: 1

      You have to be quite stupid to equalize a phone book in "the good old days" to doxxing on the Internet.
      What next: claiming a DDOS is like someone knocking on your door?

    25. Re:Police? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      They do that for free where you live too?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    26. Re: Police? by known_coward_69 · · Score: 2

      don't get into flame wars on the internets with people over stupid things, or anything at all. herd mentality and vigilantism is alive and well

    27. Re: Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Are there a lot of single Jewish women on reddit?

    28. Re: Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yup. I may have G+ profiles under my real name and the name I go under when dealing with internet-stuff. My domains point to PO boxes. Good luck mailing shit to a PO box.

      Doxx'ers get their stuff from public Whois first, Phonebooks second, legal records third, and insiders of Verizon/AT&T or other Utility companies. Sometimes even having a cop or someone who works at the DMV in the state is leaking the information.

      It's very hard to figure out who leaks your information, thus every time you change physical address, you should change utility providers (gas, internet, electricity, phone, tv/cable) until you figure out which one leaked the information. Unfortunately it's usually the phone companies that do this. Good god, when I first got a landline out here in the city, I was getting a dozen calls per day of telemarketers, that I just stopped answering the phone. My Mobile phone, other than the random "obviously fake same NPA-NXX" calls, I get no calls whatsoever. When I briefly subscribed to the Cable Company's digital phone line... I got no phone calls whatsoever than one day I got a call... from the Phone company trying to sell me on switching to them. What does that tell me? The Cable Company sold a list, or is abusing their LNP database.

      So... to the OP...

      Your best bet if you really want to get away from this crap is to change your physical name (costs about 300$ here and a lot of document replacement costs thereafter) , physically move, even if it's to another unit in the same building (but better if you move to a different city altogether,) change your mailing addresses on everything to a PO box, if you have a job, get a new one under the new name. Delete your facebook/twitter/linkedin/etc profiles and stay off those sites going forward.

      I've actually done all of this after I had a falling out with an insane roommate who is one of those 4-chan types. I needed to disappear just enough that I couldn't be found in Google, but anyone who followed the bread crumbs long enough would only come to old contact information. My cell phone number changed as a result of moving to a different area code, so that wasn't even a possibility for stalkers to find me.

      But end result is that I've generally not had to worry about assholes doxx'ing me. At worst, I've had assholes that I sent DMCA requests to attempt to destroy the email address sent from with mailbait + botnet, but jokes on them, that email address is only used to SEND DMCA requests.

    29. Re: Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Pfft, Gamergate is the source of the Doxx'ers.

    30. Re: Police? by St.Creed · · Score: 1

      Do you still french kiss your dog every day?

      I mean, if we're asking inane questions I'd like to at least get a laugh out of the answers.

      --
      Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)
    31. Re: Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      If you care enough about flyingunder the radar that you are going to change your name, find the name frequency tables from the census and pick the most common name in your area. John Smith is a 1000x times harder to find that Richard Gazinya.

    32. Re: Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Had a friend have the same thing happen from a horri-bad breakup. Said ex was known to go to veteran forums and show "Old Glory" being pissed on with the person's name. Of course, there is a point where going too far will step into felony-hard territory and the popo will start going after IP addresses, which is what happened to the ex once the ex thought their reign of terror was unstoppable.

      As for E-mail addresses, thanks to tons of free sites, all it takes is a burner phone (bought anywhere) and an E-mail, and you can Joe-Job someone enough so they lose their employment, even if the employer is doing "where there is smoke, there is fire" CYA.

      From what I know, here is what the friend of mine did to mitigate getting doxxed:

      1: Do a name change. Joe becomes Joseph. Joe becomes Jose. Teresa becomes Theresa. Slight spelling.

      2: Use one's middle name or change it. Jane Charles Doe is different from Jane Doe and Jane C. Doe.

      3: As the parent states: physically move, even if it is the same apartment complex.

      4: Get an offshore corporation set up in Switzerland or some other place. Set it up so it owns another holding company with you as the physical employee who is authorized to do anything, and this info is classified as an offshore trade secret. Now, move assets to the corporation's name. The corporation's address should be a rental 1 room suite at a local Regus or some other item. This way, someone scanning license plates will find a company owned car, and stuff stops right there. To boot, police tend to do a lot more if a vehicle belonging to "XYZ, llc" has a car set on fire than if Jane Doe reports it. I have learned that a burglary of a business gets a lot more interest than a burglary of a habitation.

      5: Trade your car in and have it titled under the corporation. Keep it somewhere secure until you get plates for it (so it isn't obvious to a vandal looking for a vehicle to key or slash tires.)

      The biggest problem is that until lawyers get involved, an attacker has free reign even with a restraining order against them (assuming they are not mind-fuckingly stupid). There are whole books devoted to destroying people's lives as vendettas.

    33. Re:Police? by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 1

      "If you want to get the police to do anything in this world, don't contact them yourself, have your lawyer contact them." Wrong. In places where the rule of law or lawyers is strong, yes. But in most places, contacting Benjamin Franklin is the better option.

    34. Re: Police? by Dan541 · · Score: 1

      What next: claiming a DDOS is like someone knocking on your door?

      People do exactly that.

      --
      An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
    35. Re: Police? by JWSmythe · · Score: 4, Informative

      I worked at one of those background check companies for a while. It's amazing how much information people will give up for the chance of winning a contest, or even just asking.

      The credit headers have some good information, but it's nothing in comparison to people filling out random forms for free shit.

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
    36. Re: Police? by ultranova · · Score: 2

      don't get into flame wars on the internets with people over stupid things, or anything at all.

      Know your place, shut your face.

      Don't you just love our brave new world?

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    37. Re: Police? by ayesnymous · · Score: 1

      Good thing I never signed up for G+

    38. Re: Police? by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      they probably had lots of pressure from big brother on them. that's why i chose fake names that sound like real ones, only slightly more vulgar. it's less hassle. yours, peter le coq

      Not big brother. The NSA? They probably can figure you out from your fake name G+ profile quite easily.

      No, Google wanted it because it gave them better data to sell you as a product. Of course, Google could probably already track you around until you screwed up and used your real name with a Google service, then bingo.

      Humans are simplistic - if they think Google can't match them up without "real names", then that's as far as they'll go to hide "their identify". Meanwhile, Google is laughing all the way to their customers because they've already linked you.

    39. Re: Police? by jsh1972 · · Score: 1

      Amanda Hugankiss

    40. Re: Police? by jlar · · Score: 1

      If you live in the EU you have a "right to be forgotten":

      Right to be forgotten

    41. Re: Police? by Eunuchswear · · Score: 1

      It's about crying because they aren't getting any.

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
    42. Re: Police? by naich · · Score: 1

      Real name policies are brilliant for scammers. I had a Paypal scammer use my email address to look up my real name on Facebook. He made a supposed email from Paypal look more authentic by starting it off with "Dear ..." Luckily I use a fake name on FB, so it was easy to spot.

    43. Re: Police? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      And instead of Directory Assistance, you could go the Public Library and look up phone numbers based on address for free. Low budget telemarketers would just make copies.

      Unlisted numbers became popular because some people didn't like getting phone calls from people they hadn't seen since the 60s. Facebook teaches that most people actually welcome those calls.

    44. Re: Police? by DuckDodgers · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm Tina Crumpett, and I work in London in hospitality.
      I'm Luke A. Boyd, and I work as an ornithologist.
      I'm Imelda Czechs, and I work in payments.
      I'm Turner Luce, and I work in animal control.
      I'm Lisa Carr, and I work in car sales.
      I'm Otto DeLupe, and I'm a CIO.
      I'm Picov Andropov, I work as a chauffeur in Moscow.

      ...with apologies to the folks at the old Car Talk radio show.

    45. Re: Police? by DuckDodgers · · Score: 1

      I know this is going to sound like a sales pitch, but I use the VOIPO voice over IP phone provider, and their account settings control panel gives you the option of blocking numbers, reporting them as spammers (if a number gets reported as spam often enough, it's blocked from all VOIPO customers), or setting them to direct-to-voicemail. After about three annoying months where I had to keep logging in and adding numbers to the respective lists, my land line quieted down a lot.

    46. Re: Police? by DuckDodgers · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Whatever legitimacy there might be at the core gamergate complaint that launched the shitstorm is buried under the mountain of insults, rape threats, death threats, swatting, and doxxing of anti-gamergate people. No matter how valid your original point was, if you haven't disavowed the 95% of your movement that is a bunch of assholes, you're part of the problem. If it really matters to you, pick a new tag and start over. But you can't team up with a bunch of babyfuckers and call yourself one of the good guys.

    47. Re: Police? by greenfruitsalad · · Score: 1

      i'm all for poisoning the available information. tag yourself in pictures of random people, create multiple twitter/fakebook/g+ accounts with your (possibly real) name but where everything else is a bit off. and for f*cks sake, do not keep the same online accounts for too long for sentimental reasons. it's ok to have a high UID on slashdot even though you've been on slashdot for 10+ years. the feeling of prestige in an online community is what feeds this doxing phenomenon.

    48. Re: Police? by invid · · Score: 1

      I am reminded of the 70s movie The Jerk, where Steve Martin's character Navin R. Johnson becomes all excited when his name is put in the phone book for the first time. He exclaims "I'm somebody now!" The next scene shows a crazed psychopath picking out his name at random from the phone book to hunt and kill him.

      The big difference between the 70s and now is that because of the internet, we are able to perform many of our social interactions anonymously. This simply was not an option in the 70s. Let's face it, with all this anonymous communications, people are more willing to perform actions that will make them enemies, because they don't see any consequences to themselves for their actions. Unfortunately, the big danger from this is that it could potentially lead to the end of the anonymous internet. A large percent of the population don't post anything anonymously (posting primarily on Facebook), and wouldn't care if all internet communications could be traced to their source. If the internet becomes "too scary", you could potentially see an end to anonymity.

      --
      The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
    49. Re: Police? by neoritter · · Score: 1

      Your house does come crashing down because of it though.

    50. Re: Police? by budgenator · · Score: 1

      Good thing I never signed up for G+

      that you know of.

      Everybody that has a gmail seems to automagically have a G+ account and google don't seem to understand that many of us have our professional personaes where everything has to be work place safe, and our in the bar with our trash talking bro's personaes where I don't really care if Sears injects lingerie ads into every web page I load.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    51. Re:Police? by MrLint · · Score: 1

      This is a legitimate topic of conversation. "No doxxing" rules (and said enforcement) are really a measure of the forum. Is publicly available information 'dox'? Ostensibly yes, but where do you draw the line? Sometimes its hard to say. If someone goes around with a pseudonym all the time, but then files legal papers, are you forbidden from talking about or linking to the documents because it has that person real name and other public info on it? Does it mean you can no longer reference the public record?

      Restriction on doxxing appear to exist for the purpose of preventing overly lazy persons from acting badly. However, as above, once you even talk about the existence of a document in the public record all it takes is to be slightly less lazy to find information. How far do you go? You cannot stop bad actors from acting badly.

    52. Re: Police? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      Ah yes... I loved Car Talk, and "Picov Andropov" was one of my favorite names. And their law firm, "Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe".

      If I had mod points, they'd be yours.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    53. Re: Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's funny you don't ask the SJWs to disavow the 95% on their side too. Get off your high horse you poser.

      Why? SJW's, by the very definition of the term, are trying to make things better for everyone. Well, everyone except the assholes. But the way they do this is simply by reacting to the assholery they hear about.

      If GamerGate had really just been about journalistic integrity the SJW's wouldn't have thrown out such a huge shitstorm over it. Instead, they threw out a huge shitstorm over how the woman in the situation was treated because the actual fucking journalist who let his integrity be compromised was being defended as the victim. And then it came out later that he never even reviewed her game, so the guy was lying the whole damn time and STILL never got hassled about it by GamerGate because by that point they were....what, too busy defending how they were all about journalistic integrity and not all the misogyny that was going on in the general discussions they were having that didn't involve journalists at all? I mean really, how many of them seriously believe that Anita Sarkeesian is a journalist? But go ahead and ask what they think of her and watch the shitstorm boil over.

      Really, GamerGate never had a chance. GamerGate only stands against the journos. SJW's stand against the assholes.

    54. Re: Police? by anyGould · · Score: 1

      To dox someone with a phone book I need to know something about them. A phone number, a name, a place. At least one of those. Then I need to get a phone book for their area.

      Or you simply call directory assistance and get the number from the operator. Seriously - it's hilariously easy to get help finding a number. I used to do it for university fundraising.

      Doxxing on the Net is completely different. It's a person taking someone is is mostly anonymous and presenting that information to millions of people at once via a quick-n-ease form. Then those people can harass the victim in multiple ways, not just by mail and phone, but also on social media, find connections to their peers and harass them too, bother them by e-mail, swap them, etc.

      Anyone who thinks looking someone up on a phone book is even remotely similar to doxxing obviously hasn't thought about how different the situation is, even for a second.

      The difference is twofold today. One, it's easier to disseminate the info - once one person has done the legwork, it's just a post and everyone has it. Two, people can hide behind *their* anonymity to harass you from a distance, which makes them bolder (and lets more people do it, because they're too lazy to drive over and egg your house).

      Doxxing is a problem; it's just not a *new* problem. Like patents, it's the same problem with "on the internet" attached to it.

    55. Re:Police? by stoatwblr · · Score: 1

      "It's not illegal to post public information on someone "

      In a lot of countries, it is with intent to facilitate harrassment, or reasonably knowing that doing so will result in harrassment.

    56. Re: Police? by OutOnARock · · Score: 1

      Dewey, Dickem, and Howe.....Three Stooges

    57. Re:Police? by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      The police don't care,

      If you want to get the police to do anything in this world, don't contact them yourself, have your lawyer contact them.

      In all seriousness, this is the kind of thing that the Mafia was created to deal with, long ago. But oddly enough, they got corrupted by power just as the police had before them.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
    58. Re:Police? by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      Unless this doxxing contained anything beyond public records what are they police going to do even then? It's not illegal to post public information on someone (barring things like victim shield laws, etc.).

      Could have all your email and phone calls automatically forwarded to the police department.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
    59. Re: Police? by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      You know, back in the day they published whole doxxing books. One per town (though you could request another town's by mail). In fact many such doing books were shipped for free to everyone. They were white and yellow too, if I remember correctly.

      Ah, but the identities were cleverly hashed, so that for instance, P. Diddy would be coded as Diddy P.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
    60. Re: Police? by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      Ben Dover, Max Imum, I.P. Daily, Fuq Q. Googel....and the list goes on. :)

      Deez Nuts.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
    61. Re: Police? by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      Do you still french kiss your dog every day?

      I mean, if we're asking inane questions I'd like to at least get a laugh out of the answers.

      doesn't everybody?

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
    62. Re: Police? by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      Reasons a Phone Book is different from being doxxed:

      1. More than just your name, phone number and address might be shared.
      2. It is linking offline and online, not just posting your info in isolation. Imagine if a phone book contained every single one of your online identities and logons.
      3. Phone books don't link to material that could threaten your personal relationships or career.
      4. Doxxing is used as a tool to intimidate and attack people. It is a form of retaliation, not a public service.
      5. Often(though not always) a single person is singled out.

      As others are pointing out, this is a poor argument and should not be modded up.

      Yes, you could do most of a doxxing manually in the days prior to the Internet and google, via looking things up in city hall and newspaper morgues and etc., but it was harder. Sometimes, making something easier makes a significant qualitative difference. As you would learn if you ever tried to push a .45 caliber bullet into somebody's chest by hand.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
    63. Re: Police? by DuckDodgers · · Score: 1

      Even if we grant that the SJWs are whiners, the Gamergaters are using insults, death threats, rape threats, DDOS, doxxing, and swatting. Tell me again that the SJWs are the villains in the story.

    64. Re: Police? by DuckDodgers · · Score: 1

      Disavow the 95% of their side that.. what? How many of the SJWs have been caught doxxing Gamergaters? Swatting? DDOSing? Death threats? Rape threats? Give me a list.

      All I've seen the SJWs do is throw insults and make extensive use of ignore lists. Big deal.

    65. Re: Police? by DedTV · · Score: 1

      Are you a patent attorney? Adding "on a computer" to something does not make it different. The difference between having info released online or via phone book is no more than the difference between being published in a New York City phone book versus being published in a Owensboro, Kentucky phone book. It's a difference in scale, not mechanics.
      A phone book gives people just as much malicious potential as someone releasing your personal info on an internet forum.

      Regardless of the medium in which it's released, the likelihood of someone using the information maliciously is highly proportional to the number of people with access to that information who perceive you to be a douchebag. A Pediatrician who has their name, address and phone number plastered all over the internet is far less likely to have that information used maliciously than a paroled child molester who has the same info published in the Owensboro, Kentucky phone book would.

      The only real difference is that online, people perceive themselves as being free from any real world consequences to their words and actions because they're less likely to have their personal information revealed when they spout off on an internet forum than they would if they showed up on their local news talking shit. Just because a Klan member wears a hood in public, doesn't mean he's free from the consequences if someone is somehow able to identify him.

      The only real solution to doxxing is to try and behave online in a way that if your information is revealed, no one has any reason to want to use it maliciously.

    66. Re: Police? by DuckDodgers · · Score: 1

      http://wehuntedthemammoth.com/...

      There are others, I don't feel like digging them up. Many of the death threats and rape threats are directly on Twitter.

    67. Re: Police? by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      No idea who "Car Talk" are or were, but the British satirical magazine "Private Eye" has cartooned the antics at (law firm) "Sue, Grabbit and Runne" for decades.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    68. Re: Police? by DuckDodgers · · Score: 1

      Car Talk ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ) was a one hour weekly radio show broadcast throughout most of the United States for 35 years. It was about 50% customers calling in with car repair and car purchase questions, and 50% puzzles and humor. They ended every show with a fictional list of people that worked on the show, and all of the names I used and hundreds more rotated through the list.

  2. "popular forum" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Which forum exactly is this so we can avoid going to that trash heap?

    1. Re:"popular forum" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Probably Something Awful. They have a forum dedicated to "doxxing" people, mostly "for fun," sometimes because they don't meet the crazy standards of the left-wing SJWs that run that site. Really all you need to know about Something Awful was that it became so toxic that 4-chan was created to escape it.

    2. Re:"popular forum" by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      SA is left wing SJW material? The name alone could've fooled me...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:"popular forum" by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yep, Zoe Quinn originally was a helldump poster (their doxing board) over at SA.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    4. Re:"popular forum" by St.Creed · · Score: 2, Insightful

      In the new reality, Ronald Reagan was an SJW.The term has lost all meaning.

      --
      Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)
    5. Re:"popular forum" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Pretty sure it was EEVblog. This guy has been complaining all over the internet this weekend.

    6. Re:"popular forum" by dhasenan · · Score: 1, Troll

      She posted on a board on which people called out others' bad behavior online. Doxxing was against that board's rules. Calling for online-only raids on other sites was against their rules, as I recall. That was around 2004, so it's hardly representative of her current behavior.

      Do at least a modicum of research before repeating lies, please.

    7. Re:"popular forum" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      She posted on a board on which people called out others' bad behavior online. Doxxing was against that board's rules. Calling for online-only raids on other sites was against their rules, as I recall. That was around 2004, so it's hardly representative of her current behavior.

      Do at least a modicum of research before repeating lies, please.

      Said board also bragged about harassing people, including proudly announcing they had one "confirmed kill" -- they were mentioned in someone's suicide note, which they took as a badge of honor. And Zoe Quinn bragged about being part of that community -- until she decided to start playing the Feminist Victim card.

      But remember, poor widdle Zoe Quinn is an innocent pure princess and you should give her patreon funbux, plz. And ignore that nasty man she admitted to raping 5 times, he's just a mean old jilted ex.

      Oh and definitely ignore that time Zoe and her friend, DailyKOS Intern Margaret Pless swatted a free speech lawyer who had the wrong politics. Remember: Zoe Quinn is a feminist and a girl -- ON THE INTERNET -- which means she's an innocent victim and should be coddled no matter how vile she acts. I mean, pure and innocent. Not vile. Girls can't be vile, that would be as if they were human beings and capable of fallibility -- or responsible for their own actions.

      And besides, that Cernovich guy's a conservative, he probably has bad thoughts that make it ok to try to have him killed by the police.

      Posting as AC because when you talk about Zoe Quinn, her psychotic supporters (who are currently busy defending Sarah Nyberg, a self admitted pedophile and child pornography trafficker) tend to doxx you, swatt you, and send dead animals to your house. Then act like they never did nuthin' but by god you're evil so you did deserve what they didn't do, and besides, didn't you know white men are the cause of all the evil in the world?

    8. Re:"popular forum" by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 1

      The only person repeating lies here is you. Helldump was a doxing and harassment board and its users were proud of being mentioned in someone's suicide note. As for her current behavior considering she's STILL doxing and SWATting people I'd say nothing's changed.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    9. Re:"popular forum" by Sowelu · · Score: 1

      Well now I'm morbidly curious

    10. Re:"popular forum" by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

      Wow... when did they become a place for SJW's? They used to be the de-facto forum for (mostly) harmless internet shenanigans.

  3. It is really very simple by TheAngryCat · · Score: 1

    You Don't everything you post and everything someone posts about you are here forever. I have a good friend who was impersonated by an internet troll, one of those LBGT activist types, what was said about here even though it is not true just won't go away. The technical term for this; like she you are Screwed. Life isn't fair.

    1. Re:It is really very simple by NicBenjamin · · Score: 1

      Inquiring minds want to know:
      Was your friend an LGBT activist who got trolled by the opposition, or an opposition activist who got trolled by LGBT activists?

    2. Re:It is really very simple by TheAngryCat · · Score: 1

      She was the opposition, she was against men in dresses being allowed in women's bathrooms in California.

  4. Paranoid's Bible. by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 5, Informative

    Start Here. Unfortunately there's really not much you can do if the webmaster doesn't care other than maybe try to go over their head somewhere in that chain.

    --
    A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  5. DMCA to the rescue? by nmpg · · Score: 2

    By simply asking to the forum owner, well, he may simply not be motivated.. A lot of people seem to use fake/automated/careless/troll DMCA complaints, and they do tend to actually work, even if when they are not legit, and with no subsequent consequences to the complainer afterwards... Maybe this can help you.

    1. Re:DMCA to the rescue? by MrLogic17 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      OP said the forum owner was not within the US, so it's a fair guess that the hosting site isn't either. A DCMA request will be met with either a "Aww, how cute. [delete]" - or a new round of "Hey everyone, check out Op's attempt to stop us! Let's get him!"

      In either case, a DCMA takedown request has done nothing positive.

    2. Re:DMCA to the rescue? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Maybe you can declare that your aggregation of your personal info into one place, as part of living your life, is copyrightable, and file a DMCA notice on those grounds? Even if you would probably lose in court, it might be effective here. Is the original poster going to file a counterclaim? Because if they did, you'd have their real info and could file a civil suit for being horrible.

    3. Re:DMCA to the rescue? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      OP here. The host us in the US but doesn't take much interest. They ignore TOS violations like the prohibition on hacking and copyright infringement. It's Bluehost, FWIW.

    4. Re:DMCA to the rescue? by bugnuts · · Score: 1

      The OP already said they're not in the same country. DMCA doesn't have much reach outside the USA.

    5. Re:DMCA to the rescue? by bugnuts · · Score: 1

      If you can show it's copyrighted work, they'll take notice when you file a DMCA. But I believe this has to be under penalty of perjury.

      If they do ignore it, file a DMCA on the ISP's provider.

      However, the info posted is likely not copyrighted.... which falls under other rules of anti-harassment and state laws. Unfortunately, there's still not a lot you can do about it in that case, due to the annoyance of having to deal with a company across the world.

    6. Re:DMCA to the rescue? by Pliny · · Score: 1

      Buy an hour or two of a lawyer's time to send a nasty letter to Bluehost's lawyers. They'll listen to them.

      --
      What does this button d$#%* NO CARRIER
    7. Re:DMCA to the rescue? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      OP here. The host us in the US but doesn't take much interest. They ignore TOS violations like the prohibition on hacking and copyright infringement. It's Bluehost, FWIW.

      What steps have you taken with Bluehost? As someone who works there, I'm pretty sure we don't ignore TOS violations...

  6. Re:Don't... by MrLogic17 · · Score: 1

    Doxxing, by definition, is the public release of private information. Op didn't release the info. Nefarious 3rd parties did.

  7. Golden rule! by gimmeataco · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I understand you're trying to avoid further publicity, but you left the context of your crisis blank. Why are you a personality that's driving these people to bombard you? In the off chance this was retaliation for a negative action on your part, use this as a life lesson to behave better. Golden rule!

  8. Time by Thagg · · Score: 4, Informative

    That's the only real solution. All of those people who are hassling you now, will be hassling somebody else in the future. I hope that the "popular forum" you mention isn't something that's vital to your life; if it isn't then abandon it. If it is, it's a more interesting question.

    If you need to continue to participate in that forum, I would suggest you just be yourself. Say what you believe, and don't get too fussy about it.

    I've heard from a lot of women who participate in public fora that this kind of abuse is not just commonplace, it's ubiquitous. You might also think of the 34,000,000 people doxxed last month. It's just a common thing, it's going to happen to everybody sooner or later.

    --
    I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
    1. Re:Time by Harlequin80 · · Score: 2

      99% of the abuse you will be receiving will be from dickheads who don't really care about you. Just wait them out.

    2. Re:Time by Improv · · Score: 3, Informative

      If I had any mod points, you'd be being upvoted for this - time normalises everything, and whether someone is getting kudos or negative attention, eventually people forget, whether it's the teeming masses or troll groups. Plenty of us have been victims at least once, and it sucks (and can be scary) at the time, but it gets better.

      --
      For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
    3. Re:Time by Vermonter · · Score: 1

      I completely agree. 99% of harassment is done for personal reasons, ie, the harasser wants to feel powerful knowing they are causing someone to feel a certain way (and making someone feel bad is usually much easier than making them feel good). When you give them nothing, they quickly move on to another target that will give them what they want. Only when you get someone mentally unstable do they continue to harass someone with no feedback whatsoever.

  9. Wait it out? by MrLogic17 · · Score: 1

    Not sure how to attack this problem, but a couple ideas:

    Like you said, you can't change your name, and you probably don't want to move. Said information is therefore static. If you fight it, you risk the Barbra Streisand effect. Raising a ruckus and loudly complaining will only draw more attention.

    I think your best bet is to wait it out. The best way to become invisible is to be boring. Lay low, wait for the mob to some some new, more interesting person to bother.
     

  10. Simple answer: You don't. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You have to realise that once that information is out you will never be able to completely get rid of it.

    It's all about damage control, and tedious link removal, possibly for years to come.

    The best behaviour is ofcourse to make sure doxxing can't really harm you, ie don't post/do stupid things on the net that can be exposed.

  11. Well, your first mistake was by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    trying to live on the web, a "place" that does not really exist. The internet is a great thing for communication and to go looking for information, but there is really no reason for most people to have a "web presence" and people who do not (like 99.99% of all people in human history) do not end up with these sorts of totally artificial and unnecessary problems.

    Your first question therefore should be: "why do I care?" followed shortly after by "what does it REALLY matter?"

    People who actually know me know what I am like and no amount of online dirt about me would convince them otherwise. People who do not know me could be easily convinced to believe anything about me they might find online - but they do not matter to me; since I do not know them I do not care if they know me or if they imagine they know me. I do not know the internet reputations of any of the people I deal with in the real world, I do however care very much about their actual reputations in the real world and I know who I can trust on their word or a handshake.

    This silly mental disorder of the Twitter generation that thinks that an online reputation or identity matters at all need to seriously contemplate what really matters in life and need to remember that NOBODY on Earth in all of human history even had an online reputation before about 20 years ago. In most places, the people you actually need to interact with in the real world care nothing about your internet identity/presence.

  12. Re:Don't... by Desler · · Score: 2

    Doxing is releasing personally-identifiable information. Pretty much all of what is part of "doxing" can be bought from public records sites for like $15.

  13. Block, filter, ignore by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you go to a user page on GitHub, you can report abuse and/or block users.

    Even if they are using an alt account, reporting abuse is a good first step because if they create more alts, GitHub may eventually block those, and even the main account if they have one.

    On email, mark the sender as spam, for the phone if you can just disable voice mail for a while and whitelist calls.

    It's probably just a handful of idiots so if you ignore them and carry on eventually they will tire of getting nothing out of their efforts.

    If the moderators of a forum are against you not much you can do except carry on and complain to the web site owners. But do be really sure about what you are complaining about and present evidence of what you are claiming they did.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Block, filter, ignore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Get a google voice number. Then follow the instructions on google voice to change the voice mail on your real phone to use google voice instead. Start blocking numbers. A block on google voice plays the not in service tone to anyone you have blocked.

      In the future, pass out your google voice number. Then you'll not only be able to trivially block voice mail but the entire call itself.

    2. Re:Block, filter, ignore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      GitHub blows anyways. I had a few projects that got bombarded with SJW wording change requests. Admins don't care even though I could prove it was brigaded on reddit. I just stopped using it and moved to BitBucket.

  14. Someone doxxes me, I doxx them by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 2

    This is a stupid word in any case. There is tons of publicly available information on people, just the municipal tax roll for starters, then the business registry.

    No special leet skills required.

    --
    Mostly random stuff.
  15. If your info is out there, it's out there by poity · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is only prevention
    Besides the obvious tip of not using the same password:
    - Never use the same username
    - Never register on any website using the same email address you use to receive bills and bank statements
    - Never use 3rd party authentication (facebook, twitter, google+) to log in to other sites, much less multiple sites

    --
    your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
    1. Re:If your info is out there, it's out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You forgot:
        - Post as an AC

  16. Re:An armed society is a polite society by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Insightful

    the fear of someone showing up on your door step with a weapon is the difference between a genuine doxxer epidemic and your typical interwebs asshats.

    No, that's exactly what happens.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  17. Re:Don't... by JMJimmy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    More often than not, 'doxxing' is just compiling information that is already available on the internet. People think they've been 'hacked' or 'stalked' but they often forget that they posted the information in some forum/comment section using the same username they use everywhere. I once had a guy ask me to do it to him because he didn't believe that I could. He'd posted 6 times on the forum in question using that username. I was able to identify 2 or 3 other anonymous accounts he'd used on that forum, pictures of not only the exterior but the interior of his house, his real name/social media profile and all the troves of information that provides. It took me about an hour to tease out his data from a woman in Florida. Why? Because he'd mentioned his cats names in one of those 6 posts. That lady in Florida had the same names for her cats, otherwise it was the only thread I needed to pull to unravel exactly who this guy was.

  18. Re:And You? by TheAngryCat · · Score: 1

    There was a situation on a forum I belong to sometime in the last two weeks where a forum member was complaining that many phrases used by other forum members were not PC. Well long story short the complaining member made a big nuisance of himself, we are talking a real PITA of the first magnitude. This is in a forum where very few people ever get banned, where you can delete your own posts and the owner will occasionally lock a thread, he doesn't like the Gun Debate. At this point there are probably twenty people who know this forum and twelve that remember the incident. The individual's first and last legal name was released, that is something that is public knowledge, I guess the malcontent who got DOXXED didn't have a criminal reccord, wasn't a sex offender, and was not a known terrorist. I Googled his name, but since you cannot change the stripes on a Tiger I suppose he hasn't learned anything from his experience.

  19. Bury it. by meta-monkey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You're not going to be able to wipe stuff off the internet. You need to bury the bad with something good. Here's an article that might help about how the woman whose tasteless joke picture was taken out of context and blown out of proportion got her life back together.

    Good luck and God bless.

    --
    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  20. Rule # 1 of Forum Posting by arthurpaliden · · Score: 1

    Never use an account of any sort that can be traced back to yourself. Never post a photo of yourself as it can be traced by the likes of Google images et al.

    1. Re:Rule # 1 of Forum Posting by rl117 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Serious question. Why?

      I always use my real full name. My slashdot account is an exception now (it was my email address back in '97) but my email is real. I don't see the benefit of total anonymity--as a free software developer both as a hobbyist and professional programmer, I don't want to participate in development behind some random handle, I want people to know who they are interacting with both in real life and via email/usenet/forums/bugtrackers/whatever. And vice versa Hiding behind anonymous handles is the exception rather than the rule, and while there are sometimes reasons for it, it's unusual. For whatever subconcious reason, I also tend to prefer to know who I'm dealing with--I'd be more likely to ignore or postpone dealing with a bug report from an anonymous person, for example. For some random unimportant forum it might not matter, but when you're participating in development with others over an extended period (years to decades) it would be a bit weird to be anonymous. While I think "doxxing" sounds like childish bullying, I don't see that hiding my name would help much should someone single me out. If they cared enough, they'd find out anyway.

      That said, while my name and email addresses are not kept secret, I do value the privacy of my actual personal details etc., and I wouldn't be amused if they were published, but as mentioned in this discussion, stuff like phone numbers and addresses are "public" if you know where to look. Mine is in the paper phone book and you can look it up online. While it would be nice if idiots didn't abuse this, it's not realistic to keep secret stuff we need to communicate with each other. If you do a google image search for my name, three of the first two rows of images are me; two take you to my work profile page and my work contact details (email, phone, address), the other is my github profile. It would probably only take a few more minutes to work out my home address as well for a determined person. Occasionally I do get people contacting my via all these work details for legitimate purposes. While it would be nice to not have idiots abusing these things, we equally can't wall ourselves off from the world in an isolated bubble.

      Regards,
      Roger

    2. Re:Rule # 1 of Forum Posting by EdwardFurlong · · Score: 1

      "Childish bullying" might escalate into the criminal, identity theft, defamation of character, swatting, and so on. I have seen someone talk about getting a traffic ticket on a form, then people figuring out who they were, posting pictures from google street view, finding out where they work, etc. just because they could, imagine if you pissed someone off? In general you are probably pretty safe, piss someone off and they might get a kick our of trying to ruin you. Unless you really have to I would not open myself up to that sort of risk.

    3. Re:Rule # 1 of Forum Posting by rl117 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes, but I'm a mature adult and a professional. I'm not going to "hide" just on the off chance that some nutter is going to take exception to something--that's their problem, not mine. You don't see Larry Wall, Guido van Rossum or anyone else vaguely serious hiding behind a pseudonym for this reason. I've used my real name from the start as a free software developer, Debian developer, and professional scientist and professional software developer; I've also been involved in some heated discussions in my more youthful days, but that's never been escalated into anything outside being flamed by someone. There's a tradeoff here, and I don't think being anonymous/pseudoanonymous is sufficiently beneficial to warrant it; there's a certain loss of trust in doing so, and it hasn't been a problem for me in the last 18 years of free software- and software development-related activity. I don't think it's realistically possible to reconcile being a professional without being completely transparent as to your identity.

      You're right that maybe different accounts are in order for different things. I certainly use separate accounts for "work", "free software development" and "personal" stuff, though I use my real identity for all of them in any case. Though in practice the latter two are somewhat blurred--I don't do much "personal" stuff online anyway--it's pretty much restricted to software-related stuff with personal things being primarily offline "real life" activities.

    4. Re:Rule # 1 of Forum Posting by sinij · · Score: 1

      You can't have privacy if your real name is out there. Plus, by using your real name you are one cultural shift away from being turned into paria.

    5. Re:Rule # 1 of Forum Posting by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      You may be a mature adult and a professional. But there are about a half billion others who are the exact opposite. It only takes one to do enough damage that it would take you years to undo the hit you take to your reputation, that hit could have very real financial and social hit, all because someone disagreed with your opinion or because you did something they didn't like. I never use a real identity online for anything beyond basic family stuff, the world is full of self entitled fuckheads who take delight in causing pain, I choose not to be an easy target for them.

    6. Re:Rule # 1 of Forum Posting by wienerschnizzel · · Score: 1

      I sympathize with your sentiment about human to human interaction, but it misses the point. If you've been doxxed it means people are trying to hurt you. The more details they have on you, the more they can hurt you. You can get death threats including things like getting a grenade mailed to you. You can get trouble with the police - like getting swatted or accused of sexual offences etc. People can call your employer/bank/spouse to bad mouth you or call your utility provider to have them disconnect you (cause you are leaving the country for 6 months etc.).

      There are a lot of ways you can fuck somebody's life up just with the real life information you have on them. I'm happy for you that you don't have these kind problems and hope you never will, but don't assume nothing bad can happen just because it never happened to you.

    7. Re:Rule # 1 of Forum Posting by Otis_INF · · Score: 1

      I've used my real name from the start as a free software developer, Debian developer, and professional scientist and professional software developer; I've also been involved in some heated discussions in my more youthful days, but that's never been escalated into anything outside being flamed by someone. There's a tradeoff here, and I don't think being anonymous/pseudoanonymous is sufficiently beneficial to warrant it; there's a certain loss of trust in doing so, and it hasn't been a problem for me in the last 18 years of free software- and software development-related activity.

      I know what you mean, I'm on the internet since '89 and used my real name on e.g. usenet too but you have to realize that today is different than back in the days on usenet and forums and IRC channels where flamewars were kept inside and seldom bled out to other areas, left alone real-life. There are certain areas where I don't use my real name (e.g. in areas that are gaming related) and that's simply because they can be hostile like we know from usenet, but at the same time they DO bleed to outside areas and can affect other aspects of your life, i.e. bleed into your professional life. Back in the days that was uncommon (if you were in a flame war with some people on some IRC channel, chances are if they contacted your work your boss would likely answer "IR what?"), but today it's not. The tools are there, and more than before the concept of 'identity' is different: it's no longer only your passport and the information in it, it's also your combined profile online of all the sites you frequently visit and leave your opinion. So it's best to be careful, e.g. not to use a real name in places which have nothing to do with where you're using your real name.

      --
      Never underestimate the relief of true separation of Religion and State.
    8. Re:Rule # 1 of Forum Posting by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      I am with rl117 on this. The fear of doxxing reminds me of the people that support the school and police arresting the kid with the clock. The author is complaining about harassment. It is annoying but does no real harm. Even harm to your reputation is probably very unlikely. It is a case of fear and paranoia.

      The thing is just how many people praise doxxing when the victim is someone they do not like?

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  21. Well.. by grasshoppa · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Your first mistake was being an asshole. How do I know? Because people, as a rule, are lazy. I'm lazy. You're lazy. We're all lazy. So why, I'm forced to ponder, are so many people intent on fucking with you that it overcomes their natural laziness?

    The only answer that makes sense is that you were a raging asshole.

    --
    Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
    1. Re:Well.. by Ash-Fox · · Score: 2

      Your first mistake was being an asshole. How do I know? Because people, as a rule, are lazy. I'm lazy. You're lazy. We're all lazy. So why, I'm forced to ponder, are so many people intent on fucking with you that it overcomes their natural laziness?

      I've seen this happen to software developers who happen to not make complicated, hard feature some community wants. That's not being an asshole.

      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
    2. Re:Well.. by myowntrueself · · Score: 1

      Your first mistake was being an asshole. How do I know? Because people, as a rule, are lazy. I'm lazy. You're lazy. We're all lazy. So why, I'm forced to ponder, are so many people intent on fucking with you that it overcomes their natural laziness?

      The only answer that makes sense is that you were a raging asshole.

      Also likely is that he gave responses that made him an entertaining target. Seeking entertainment also overcomes peoples natural laziness.

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    3. Re:Well.. by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      humm....
      So like the kid that started and anti-swearing site that was Doxxed on 4Chan?

      "The only answer that makes sense is that you were a raging asshole."
      AKA takes a stand on a subject that someone else really disagrees with.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  22. Why do you care? by Threni · · Score: 1

    If you turned your computer off now, and never turned it on again, would you notice any ill-effects? If someone in my office was doxxed, would I even know? I someone told me "bob in accounts was doxxed" I'd go "oh?". And that's it. Is it the fear that someone's going to turn up at your house and kill you? What is the fear?

    If it's only an online thing, then just changed your online presence. I create a new account on pretty much every site I use every year or so - or just stop using them - to help avoid stalkers, spys, people tracking my usage patterns etc. Just do that. You lose nothing except a few minutes a year and whatever reputation you've earned (in the rare case that there's any reputation system in place).

    I seriously doubt random people are scanning the internet for people they don't know and have had no interaction with and who've been doxxed so they can then turn it into a real world problem of some sort; it's just spotty little bedroom boy virgins with internet access and nothing better to do.

    1. Re:Why do you care? by FranTaylor · · Score: 1

      If you turned your computer off now, and never turned it on again, would you notice any ill-effects?

      sudden, immediate, and complete loss of all income, but otherwise no

  23. Check out Crash Override Network by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    you can find them at http://www.crashoverridenetwork.com/

    they also have a guide on what you should do after you've been doxxed (http://crashoverridenetwork.tumblr.com/post/114270394687/so-youve-been-doxed-a-guide-to-best-practices)

    1. Re:Check out Crash Override Network by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You mean that website that was created by a person that started doxxing left and right and then claimed to be the victim when people told said person to stop?

      Yeah, thanks but no thanks.

  24. Online identity management by beakergeek724 · · Score: 1

    I heard an interviewee on Mixergy talk about how his company protects clients' brands online and I realized it resembled my own approach to online identity management. He said you can't control what people say about you, but you can deliberately fill the internet with information of your choosing. I have lots of online accounts and they're all in my real name. (A password manager helps for keeping track of them all.) If you google me you'll find my Twitter, my Google Plus, my Flickr, and on and on. You'll also find that my accounts reference one another. Most of them reference my personal domain, which references my Google Plus and my professional domain. My professional domain references my LinkedIn while my Google Plus points to all my other social media accounts. And I also have an About Me page that points to a lot of my social media accounts as well as my personal domain. Someone claiming to be be would have a very hard time convincing anyone interested in the truth.

  25. This sounds familiar by Chelloveck · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "OMG! Like, Tiffany? She totally told Heather that I had sex with Trevor. I mean, no way! He's such a dork! Anyway, Heather told Megan who told Sierra who wrote a note and passed it around 7th hour band and now everyone in the school thinks Trevor and me are an item! My life is like totally ruined! Now I'm afraid no one will ask me to the prom because they're all gonna think I'm a slut!"

    That's what you sound like, and your doxxing problems are going to be about as meaningful a year from now. Your life will suck for a short period of time, then everyone will forget about you and move on to the next bit of juvenile drama.

    If you're honestly concerned about your safety (not just your reputation, that damage will blow over and be forgotten) take the evidence to the police and get real legal advice instead of asking a bunch of jerkwads on a random tech web site.

    --
    Chelloveck
    I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
    1. Re:This sounds familiar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Because shit that happened on the internet in the past never came back to haunt anyone while searching for work, or anything like that.

      You're the sort of dipshit who comes back later on and asks "Why didn't you do anything about it at the time?"

    2. Re:This sounds familiar by umghhh · · Score: 1

      This looks like a real advice.
      I like the part about us all being jerwads. It fits quite well actually.

    3. Re:This sounds familiar by sociocapitalist · · Score: 1

      "OMG! Like, Tiffany? She totally told Heather that I had sex with Trevor. I mean, no way! He's such a dork! Anyway, Heather told Megan who told Sierra who wrote a note and passed it around 7th hour band and now everyone in the school thinks Trevor and me are an item! My life is like totally ruined! Now I'm afraid no one will ask me to the prom because they're all gonna think I'm a slut!"

      That's what you sound like, and your doxxing problems are going to be about as meaningful a year from now. Your life will suck for a short period of time, then everyone will forget about you and move on to the next bit of juvenile drama.

      If you're honestly concerned about your safety (not just your reputation, that damage will blow over and be forgotten) take the evidence to the police and get real legal advice instead of asking a bunch of jerkwads on a random tech web site.

      Doxxing can have real life impact. http://www.businessinsider.com...

      The OP already said the police couldn't do anything and that as the sources are outside the US legal options are ineffective.

      Maybe you should have read more before posting something completely useless.

      --
      blindly antisocialist = antisocial
    4. Re:This sounds familiar by tigersha · · Score: 1

      Wow. Ever consider a career as a novelist?

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
  26. Re:Don't... by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Social Security numbers are most assuredly NOT supposed to be public records. Businesses try to treat them as if they are, because they like the idea of having a unique identifier for every person in the US.

    Don't ever provide your SSN to a website.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  27. Do Nothing by jon3k · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wait a couple of weeks for the internet's ADHD to kick in and everyone to move on to something else. Problem solved.

    1. Re:Do Nothing by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1
      The parent probably has the best advice.

      .
      The more you fight it, the more attention you'll bring to it, and the longer it will last.

  28. Post fake doxx and fake info by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 1

    Post fake doxxes and enough fake info mixed with real info, that google searches dont reveal anything real. If you are up for it, kill you public accounts (emails, social media), and start a fresh.

  29. Become someone new on the Internet. by goodmanj · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You can't become someone new in real life, but you can become a new person on the Internet, someone nobody cares about anymore. There are probably millions of doxx out there, and nobody has time to SWAT all of them. If your old identity disappears, people will stop caring.

    Change your email, create new logins for your forum and social media sites and give the new identity only to people you absolutely trust. And stop going to the forum that doxxed you (or if you insist on being a moron, create a new login).

    Two comments: first, this only works if people are interested in you because of who you are on the Internet. If you're somebody in real life, you're screwed, but you can probably get the cops to care. Second, yes, this is totally letting the doxxers win. But once your info's out there, it's not about being right on the Internet, it's about keeping your house from burning down.

  30. Re:Don't... by TrimTabTim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This. Wish I had mod points.

    In a perfect world one could be honest and use their real identities online. But we live in this world where shit's messed up at the moment.

    Unless you need a public persona for your job, or are really committed to being on the front line of an info-war, you are a naive fool if you don't carefully take all prudent measures to preserve your privacy. The "social" fad has just created human cannon fodder for trolls, corporate identity mining operations and nation state surveillance.

    So it is with regret that I must inform you: we need more people like you to keep getting doxxed and screwed as collateral damage until enough people wake up and realize that privacy is a pivotal component of a civilized and free society. Good and honest people have the MOST to hide if they want to avoid getting taken advantage of. Don't buy the lies of the "if you have nothing to hide" argument.

    Whatever you were doing on the website which screwed you: it should not have required any link to your true identity. If you provided personal info out of free will, then you only have yourself to blame. Sorry for the sour grapes, but there's no recourse. Take the black eye. Soldier on with your life with lessons learned.

    Signed your's truly,
    {any name I sign with is false}

    P.S. Get a password manager and lots of disposable email accounts. If you feel compelled to participate on a forum (hello Dice), do not reuse credentials, emails or nicknames. And even if the administrator is your best friend who you trust with your life, FOLLOW THESE RULES! It's the blackhat who p0wns his website or the troll who abuses it, who you need to protect yourself from, not your friend.

  31. Re:And You? by Rei · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry, by telling this story were you under the mistaken impression that the story puts you in a good light?

    --
    "This administration is so incompetent that they cover their tracks with bigger tracks." - Seth Meyers
  32. Nothing to hide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What's wrong with getting doxed unless you have something to hide? Why don't you go ask the Zuck, I'm sure he'll explain to you that anonymity is against freedom.

  33. Sue. Sue fast, sue everyone., by gurps_npc · · Score: 2, Interesting
    These people are not taking you seriously, and you need to realize how bad this is.

    It isn't a prank, it's not a joke, it's a serious invasion of your privacy that puts you at real risk of physical and financial harm - not just mental.

    You need to hire a lawyer and start suing them. Don't send warning letters and requests, send subpoenas and court orders.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  34. Re:Don't... by Kjella · · Score: 1

    More often than not, 'doxxing' is just compiling information that is already available on the internet. People think they've been 'hacked' or 'stalked' but they often forget that they posted the information in some forum/comment section using the same username they use everywhere.

    Also don't forget that once you're circling a target, you can find what someone else has posted. Like if you know someone comes from a particular place or goes to a particular school, just crawl through everyone else's social media feeds until you find the person you're looking for even if they're not tagged or named but they're at some event or class or group or whatever. A lot of "doxxing" is basically casting a big dragnet and have your own personal army sifting through it until you find the person you're looking for from vague references that ordinarily wouldn't identify you..

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  35. How to put a stop to it by mysidia · · Score: 1

    The police don't care, and since the forum owner is on the other side of the world it's unlikely there could be any legal consequences

    You can make it go away with enough cash. Either bribe the forum owner, Or hire some people who are within a stone's throw of the forum owner to make the problem post go away through any means necessary, up to and including physical force and violent coercion.

    If they're outside the reach of the law, and they're doing serious harm to you, then I guess you could possibly have to go around the lack of law through vigilante tactics that would otherwise be illegal.

  36. Re:Don't... by tompaulco · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately, congress never made a law that says the Social Security Number cannot be used as an ID. They did print that on the Social Security cards for the first couple of decades, and the government is required to issue you a privacy statement if they ask for your Social Security Number. It is good practice to not use the Social Security Number as an ID and we should encourage the practice by refusing to do business or be an employee of a company that uses the Social Security Number as a means of identification.

    --
    If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
  37. Re:Don't... by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    Accept the fact that you allowed your personal information out into the world and are now facing the consequences of that decision.

    Bingo. Whether careless or willfully complicit, the results are the same. Now you're screwed.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  38. How to recover? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    8 oz of whiskey, ice optional, in a glass of of your choice.

    Minimum 3-4 servings recommended daily, more is encouraged but not required. Repeat as necessary until the symptoms subside.

  39. Ask Barbara by kwerle · · Score: 1

    I think Barbara Streisand probably has some good advice on this subject.

    Seriously, though, once your information is out, what do you hope to do? It's like complaining about spammers - get a better anti-spam system. Be prepared to filter aggressively. Do not engage.

  40. NEVER EVER create any account in your own name! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    But I guess its too late for you now grasshopper.

  41. EEVBlog? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Are you by any chance that YouTube troll that claims to have been doxxed on the EEVBlog forum, but of said dox there are no info on the Internet whatsoever?

  42. Re:Don't... by NicBenjamin · · Score: 2

    You actually have to for a variety of finance services.

    If they're sending you interest income, they have to send out a 1099-INT with your SSN on it. The IRS also gets a copy, which they use to verify that you didn't lie on your tax return.

  43. Are You an Asshole? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    Live your life like you don't care what people know. And if you need to keep secrets your opsec better be perfect.

    What did you do that this is such a problem? If you've been an asshole maybe you'll reconsider future behaviors. But tell us the grand story about how the forum mods and owners were unjustified.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  44. People with nothing to hide hide nothing by 0dugo0 · · Score: 1

    Elaborate on why being doxxed is so bad in your case. I rarely hear this term outside the realm of script kiddies. Anyone else seems to be able to post their CVs, kids pictures, favourite catfood and whatnot without getting harassed.

  45. Re:Don't... by mysidia · · Score: 1

    You actually have to for a variety of finance services.

    Any service (financial or otherwise), where you might be paid money or given consideration, will require the SSN for the W-9 form, and the SSN is used to complete 1099-* forms.

    Basically... any service that facilitates monetizing or generating a profit for the customer, such as Ads for your Blog, or Uber where there is Cash exchanged for giving rides.

  46. Internet Attention Span by PPH · · Score: 1

    Yeah. Let's get this guy. I tell you what we ought to do, is .....

    Oooooo! Cat videos!

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  47. Double down. by o_ferguson · · Score: 2

    You can always do what I did. Anonymous Canada "D0xed" me a couple years ago, because I pointed out how week their OpSec was (they were posting highly sensitive d0x-in-progeress about minors on an open forum with no login or password required.) Once they released their incredibly cursory and inaccurate collection of stuff from public source, I replied with this: http://obsceneworks.com/blog/o...

    --
    - In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
  48. Re:Don't... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    boo hoo. if you can't stand by your words with your real name then fuck off. sincerely, anon.

  49. Use BS to fight BS by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Flood the internet with fake and silly stories and data about yourself so that people cannot tell the real from fake.

  50. The iPhone can block calls also by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I don't know how it comes off on the callers end, but you can also opt to block callers on an iPhone also and then they cannot reach you - just go to the recent call list, press "i" and you get an option to block that caller.

    Google voice might let you block ranges of numbers though? That might be helpful if you were under some kind of robo-attack (I had one call bank that tried to reach me with three sequential numbers, luckily after that they gave up [or ran out of numbers])

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  51. Read 'The Gift of Fear', not responding is KEY by VoxBoston · · Score: 1
    Read http://www.amazon.com/The-Gift... The Gift of Fear. Really insightful, talks about many issues with stalking, violence, etc.

    The main part relevant to this problem: responding to many stalkers even with negative / threatening behavior is a form of positive encouragement, and they'll keep at it. The only solution is to filter YOUR experience (delete / don't listen to VM, don't read emails etc) rather than trying to get the unwanted inputs to stop.

    That way there's no feedback to the jerks on the sending side, they get bored or angry at someone else, and go away.

    One subtlety is: don't turn off your phone, or leave a outbound message saying 'I will not be checking this voicemail because of the jerks". That's encouragement. Change nothing. Get a 2nd phone as needed, use that.

    Likewise, don't setup an autoresponder saying "I don't read this email because of the jerks" - same logic as above. GoF is a very worthwhile read, for everyone.

  52. Re:Don't... by koan · · Score: 1

    Mmmmm... We don't really get a choice in this, most information people are commonly concerned about are public information.

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
  53. SJW trying to do research? by sethstorm · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Something doesn't smell right about this. They're asking for advice in a potentially unfriendly forum (read: it doesn't purge material) and may not be fully honest about their intentions.

    If the Anonymous Reader is honest in their intentions for seeking advice, I hope they will understand the reason for suspicion.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  54. Re:Don't... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The amount of information out there on people is shocking. In 2008, there was a guy selling a custom camera attachment on a video camera forum I frequented. People started complaining that he had their money but they couldn't reach him. He hadn't posted in weeks. I decided to try to find out more. I found out his real name and city from his use of the same id on other forums. From this I found phone number and his address (and a google street view of his house). I even found the reason for his lack of communication; he had lost his house in a mortgage foreclosure. A week later he finally logged and confirmed what had happened. That's a hell of a lot of personal information to pull off the web in less than an hour starting solely with a forum id.

  55. Keep your digital footprint as small as possible.. by kheldan · · Score: 2

    ..and make yourself invisible, if possible. Stay away from forums, never use your real information, avoid so-called 'social media'. So far as 'recovery' is concerned: They'll get bored before too long, so long as you don't 'feed the trolls'. Don't respond to them. If you're being threatened in real life or your property is being damaged, then involve the police. Otherwise just ignore it and it'll stop on it's own.

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  56. Re:Sue. Sue fast, sue everyone., by gurps_npc · · Score: 1
    Streisand effect works when YOU are being the shmuck. Attempting to hide your own bad behavior. That is NOT what is going on here, instead you are attempting to stop other people from acting badly.

    If you sue, the media will not think "oh, this random stranger is being a shmuck, lets talk about it. Instead they will say "X corp. is being a shmuck, let's talk about THEM.

    But frankly, the media is not likely to talk about it at all. Instead, what is most likely to happen is that once the people get court orders, they will suddenly become reasonable and say "we can handle this without the court right?

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  57. You mean Chelsea van Valkenberg. by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    ...a known harasser of others.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  58. They? by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 1

    " yes they kept pestering me for months"

    Pesky algorithms. They should know when to shut up.

    Seriously, I thought Google's "customer service" and whatnot was merely (mostly?) sophisticated spam, Turing-contest bots, and that you had to write a really nasty, threatening letter to get past the filters to a human.

  59. Sometimes it matters by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 2

    If I read right the OP said or implied that s/he was a software developer of some sort (Github?), so I think in this case an online reputation does matter. So unless the OP is Linus Torvalds, a bad web rep means your chances of getting hired or contracted for a project is significantly impacted.

  60. Social Networking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "I'm getting bombarded by email and social media, even via GitHub."

    Its called social networking.

    "social media" is something made up by dinosaur media companies broadcasting on TV and radio that are still trying to be relevant.

    Remember the movie The Social Network http://www.imdb.com/title/tt12... It 'doesn’t sound right if it was called "The Social Media" does it?

  61. Re:Don't... by www.sorehands.com · · Score: 1

    Until the 90s Massachusetts used social security numbers as License numbers as a default. In the 80s they started giving the option to use an "S" number instead. I jumped at it, and when I did a bunch of unpaid parking tickets disappeared from my record.

  62. The most effective solution. by idbeholda · · Score: 1

    Hit the power button and go outside.

  63. Re: Kill yourself. by JWSmythe · · Score: 1, Funny

    I read that as "Second Life is over. Suicide is the only course of action left to you, sorry." well, either way.

    --
    Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
  64. Re:Don't... by tompaulco · · Score: 1

    Oklahoma did that as well until also sometime in the 1990s.

    --
    If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
  65. Re:Kill yourself. by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry but we need to nuke him from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

  66. My solution is to "DOX" myself by StevenMaurer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seriously. Anonymity is a legal fiction and an illusion, and almost nothing you say anyone gives a damn about anyway. I mean, my God, seriously, what do you think is going to happen? Being embarrassed because you hold some sort of unpopular opinion? Currently in the U.S., the big news is that Carly "HP rose 6% when I was fired" Fironina, is considered to have "won" the Republican debate over Trump the Clown, because she brazenly lied multiple times about Planned Parenthood! And you think you're going to be affected by some pro- or anti- Gamergate opinion?!?

    The problem, ultimately, is that people really don't know who is wrong or right - so as a shortcut, they look to see if someone "caught" acts as if whatever it is they've been "caught" doing is embarrassing. This is why Trump is leading right now. No matter how wrong he is, or stupid, he never acts like it's important. So instead of clutching your pearls over some opinion you have, trying to "erase" someone DOXing you, when you really should be posting the entire DOX, saying "See what assholes these people are, trying to DOX me instead of actually engaging in a contest if ideas? That's because they're wrong and they know it. They can't fight my ideas, so they attack me. I guarantee that you will get an outpouring of support for whatever you believe in.

    TL/DR: I don't censor my opinions. I call 'em as I see 'em. Under my own "brand", as you will. And I guarantee you, I'll never be embarrassed being myself. You shouldn't either.

  67. Re:Pack and Move by mlheur · · Score: 1

    I came to say almost the exact same thing.

    Go offline. Live in the real world. Take up farming or some other sustainable life-style; olive farms in Tuscany are nice. You can probably find somewhere you can work in exchange for room and board. Probably 6 months or less before the band-wagon wears off and the supporters move on, but personally I'd go for 2 years to be sure.

  68. Stop putting real data on websites by mindmaster064 · · Score: 1

    I keep saying this, but nonetheless unless you have a legal obligation to provide real info don't. The problem is your data goes in databases and you have no idea how long it is going to be retained. Closing your account doesn't even delete the data. Next, change all the info that is relevant... STOP USING REAL INFO.. esh... I'm not going to say it again.... you aren't getting checks from these people they don't need your info.. New Github account New Phone/E-mails New Everything that can be remade. For non-essential accounts use bullshit information. Use different information on each site and record them somewhere safe. You can parrot them back if you have to. Close all of the accounts they are bombarding. Solved...

  69. I bet this is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Let me guess. Is this @srhbutts aka Sarah Nyberg, the self admitted pedophile?

  70. Don't register on a forum with a traceable by Karmashock · · Score: 1

    ... email address. I have many email addresses and I don't register anywhere with one that anyone i know in real life would recognize.

    Since you apparently didn't take that precaution, the solution is to kill that identity or embrace it.

    You kill the identity by going dark on it and creating another that cannot be traced and is not associated with the previous identity. Then you can participate on the forum etc using that new identity.

    People will forget the old one and eventually stop talking to you on it.

    This is one of the reasons I use email clients. It allows me to check 10 different email addresses at once. Webmail is shit.

    The alternative is to embrace the new identity. You say "Yeah, I am bob... I live here... deal with it." This will restrain you to some extent since you're going to have to not say things that you'll regret later. However, it is also powerful to be out in the open as well.

    Depends on what the forum is... is this for child porn or something? what are you doing on this forum?

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  71. Well DOH!! by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

    And people keep asking me why I'm not on facebook

    --

    Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

  72. Re:Don't... by necro81 · · Score: 1

    posting to undo a mistaken moderation

  73. Re:Keep your digital footprint as small as possibl by greenfruitsalad · · Score: 1

    or take the opposite approach and have multiple online personas. the trick is to first create a backstory for each. just making up a name and age isn't enough.

  74. Sigh. by 3dr · · Score: 1

    The solution to a bad hangover is to not drink excessively the night before.

    If you hang with assholes, and participate in assholery, prepare to be a target of it eventually. Was this 4chan? This sounds like 4chan nonsense drama. Fortunately for you, it will blow over quick.

    But I have to say, the sure sign of being a little bitch is participating in net.BS and then crying -- to the police! -- when the tables turn. Knock it off already.

  75. Re:Don't... by budgenator · · Score: 1

    Often it's not a matter of allowing, all it takes is one RadioShack going chpt11 and a Bankruptcy Judge ordering your personal data is sold to the highest bidder; then your cell starts blowing up from telemarketers and your suddenly "hot-babe1983" on Ashley Madison!

    --
    Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
  76. If iis on eht internet, it's not private. by plopez · · Score: 1

    And if you wouldn't shout it down the hall at work, don't post it.

    And never post a face pict.

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
  77. Re:Keep your digital footprint as small as possibl by kheldan · · Score: 1

    I should clarify: keep your digital footprint of your real name and information as small as possible, preferably invisible. By all means, make any pseudonyms as detailed as you like. Personally speaking, there are some sites that think I live in Barrow, Alaska, and that I'm 101 years old. ;-)

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  78. It's by gzuckier · · Score: 1

    Kind of a paradox.

    --
    Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
  79. Consulting with a harasser and doxxer == bad idea. by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    So you're asking them to have Chelsea van Valkenberg, a known and proven harasser, take on the case? You're asking for a wolf to the henhouse.

    If they're not already involved (directly or not), that group will make things worse. One would do better to study the people that have succeeded against them.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  80. Doxxing is not your problem by allo · · Score: 1

    Doxxing (stupid word, by the way) is not your problem. Now somebody knows you. So what? Your problem starts, when somebody tries to harm you using this information. And this are mostly illegal acts. Here the police is your friend.
    Getting spam? Learn to block the sender. Do not react. Let them do it, until it bores them.