Doxing is the practice of collecting personal info (public or private) and publishing it online. It has been used as a means of intimidation and harassment and CLDC has been asked more than once “what if it happens to me?”
The easiest way to be doxed is from information that is already available online — your harasser collects that information and makes it more easily accessible, on, for example F*c*book or 4chan. Unfortunately, if your information is already online for the doxer to take, it can be very difficult (or impossible) to remove. Feminist Frequency has advice on how to get such information removed, written by three outspoken feminists that have experienced plenty of online harassment. To see how vulnerable you are to doxing, you could try to dox yourself (without that final step of publishing it online) by trying to find information about yourself online (and then try to get that information removed). This article give a detailed guide on how to do that with some tools and resources you might not otherwise think to use.
The Intercept recently reported that doxers are using phishing emails to determine physical locations of their victims. They do this by sending you an email that encourages you to click on a link. Doing so can reveal information about your physical location (via your computer’s routing address or IP address) to the person controlling the website. While you should always be on the lookout for phishing attacks, when in doubt, using the Tor Browser will hide your IP address.
If you’re worried about or have been doxed already and are concerned for your physical safety, as always, we recommend surrounding yourself with a strong community of folks who will look out for each other.
Published September 1, 2017