Doxxing: Who is behind the screen?

After Edward Snowden revealed just how much the National Security Agency spies on American citizens, people have hovered around hot-topic words like “cybersecurity” and “personal privacy.” And yet, while the NSA has been labeled as the big bully, many Americans remain unaware of the hacker activists who “dox” people and pose a far more severe public threat.

Doxxing, a term derived from the word “documents,” describes the compilation and release of private information about individuals to the public. This information can include full names, emails, workplaces, addresses, phone numbers, photos and Social Security numbers. If it’s online, it’s susceptible to doxxing.

Some doxxers are hackers with petty reasons for revealing information, whether it be money, revenge or bigotry. It’s clear that their actions can never be justified; one human’s petty satisfaction is no excuse for another’s loss of privacy.

However, doxxers also include online vigilante groups like Anonymous, known as @youranonnews on Twitter and Tumblr, and Getting Racists Fired, which appears on Tumblr. Anonymous has attacked organizations that range from media-censoring governments to the Ku Klux Klan, whereas Getting Racists Fired has targeted those they believe to be bigots.

One example of Anonymous’s vigilante doxxing occurred after the KKK threatened protesters in Ferguson. In retaliation, Anonymous unleashed a campaign with the hashtag #OpKKK and took over the KKK’s Twitter account in November, taking down multiple pro-KKK websites as well. The group then “unhooded” KKK members by publishing their identities and personal details online.

Some say the KKK members deserved this treatment. After all, the KKK is a hate group that is itself bordering on legality. And the fact that the organization threatened people who were exercising their right to protest only furthers the reasons for the KKK.

The truth is, though, that vigilante justice is not the way to solve these problems. It is a form of impulsive revenge that will not change people’s mindset or a cultural problem as large as racism.

One issue that complicates matters is that doxxing often leads to real-life consequences. Racists Getting Fired re-posts people’s racist comments. The blog then takes doxxing a step further by posting their work information and allowing its Tumblr followers to inform the target’s employers of the racist comments.

In the rare instances when employers take no action, the Tumblr followers promise to boycott their business. The racist commenters whose employees have not been contacted are filed under the tab “Gettin,’” while the people who have been fired are kept under the tab “Gotten.”

People doxxed by Racists Getting Fired and other groups have lost their jobs, have been stalked and have been harassed after their personal information was published. Many of them have families to support and responsibilities to uphold, and regardless of the inexcusable behavior of those being doxxed, doxxers do not have the right to inflict that kind of real-life punishment.

In fact, in the recent #GamerGate incident, gaming developers Zoe Quinn and Brianna Wu were forced to flee their homes after their addresses were posted online, and they suffered death and rape threats.

Even worse are more disastrous consequences that occur when doxxers pick on the wrong targets. Racists Getting Fired shut down for a while after discovering that the Facebook account of Brianna Rivera, who had appeared to post racist comments, had actually been created by an ex-boyfriend. The vengeful ex created the hoax account to get her smeared and fired from her job at AMC Theatres.

Although Racists Getting Fired has since updated its submission guidelines to say it will reject “not explicitly hateful” or “incorrect information,” there is no guarantee that it will accurately vet all posts. And while the account has changed its own submission criteria, other doxxers may not have such qualms about accuracy.

There is also the question of what doxxing accomplishes. Even if it could dissuade the few who have heard of it from publicly posting bigoted comments, it cannot change their mindsets or prevent them from sharing their views in private.  Racism is a cultural problem that will only subside through education and discussion, not individual threats and attacks.

Doxxing exists more for the immediate satisfaction of the vigilante, who prefers to seek vengeance rather than wait for the long and uncertain process of legal prosecution, if that is even an option. Unfortunately, they fail to realize that vigilantism is not the path to change and only hurts more people.

Perhaps more importantly, doxxing sets a dangerous precedent. By reasoning that they may violate the privacy of people they deem “bad,” doxxers claim the power to distinguish between right and wrong, yet the emotions that drive them to vigilante justice are often extreme and blind them from fairness or sympathy. Besides, the difference between morally right and wrong is often subjective and potentially spells disaster for innocent lives.

It’s part ridiculous, part terrifying to think that doxxing is punishable by law when doxxers are so rarely prosecuted. The problem is that they know how to conceal their identities and erase their tracks. Until law enforcement finds a way to identify doxxers efficiently, they are free to run rampant — and any potential target has good reason to fear them.