Anyone can be doxxed in the way you describe--harassed, slandered--for any reason, and a lot of people have been for terrible reasons. This thing has nothing to do with justice against idiots or hateful people. There are already courts, professional organizations, etc for that. It's nothing more than a disgusting, immature, backwards trend that has become an opportunity for hateful people themselves.
> in which case you should probably seek advice specific to your situation
This is really the key takeaway I'm getting from your comment and others so far: what is meant by doxxing and what I can do about it are very context-specific.
> having a post tied to your IRL identity blow up is usually a bad thing
Well... Then be careful with what you post tied to your real identity. I have separate accounts for separate use cases. My main on Reddit, for example, can (very) easily be doxxed so I hardly post anything controversial on that account.
Through all the recent data leaks it's getting even easier to dox people based on screen names too. I'm even considering getting a PO box next time I move house, just to decrease the chances of my home address ending up in a data dump.
> The best solution here is to completely disconnect from social media
I've thought about that, but your reputation is being destroyed. You'll offer no defense? You'll let everyone who you value get that impression of you? You'll allow it to become permanent, public record for anyone who ever looks you up with a search engine?
> You could just begin reading the message, then quickly trash it and ignore the user at the first sign of negativity. You might even be able to discern it isn't worth reading just from the subject.
Why should you? Especially if you're getting dozens of messages an hour.
It's weird when people say the victims are doing it wrong and if only they did something different everything would be okay.
>doxing me by posting my home address, contact information and personal history without any recourse
Why should that information be protected in the first place? It's not much different than a phone book. Your full name, address, phone number, etc are all linked to your identity. Once someone has one, it becomes nearly impossible to stop them from getting the others.
The problem with doxxing is that it usually comes with a threat of violence from ideological opponents. I think what many people should be fighting for is the right to anonymity. For your identity to never be revealed in the first place. Free speech can't truly be expressed if having the "wrong" opinion leads to some wingnut smashing your head with a bike lock.
> "If you don't want to be harassed, you shouldn't have a public presence."
I did not at all mean that. What I meant was that doxxing is a complex attack surface. If someone is already high-profile and public, they can't really be dox'd. If someone isn't, then staying anonymous is a more harder task than avoiding being dox'd. That's all I was saying.
If anything, I think that people who choose not to be anonymous need more social / political support, not less.
> The problem is when B comes across a A post and reposts it to B’s followers with a call to action to harass A.
Realistically, there is no way to prevent this.
Even if you prevent B from interacting with A via the platform itself, they can always just take a screenshot and post that. Or copy-paste the text. Or numerous other ways.
> If, for example, someone's mass tweeting at me via their followers (e.g. a blogger who dislikes me and posts my twitter handle), I'm going to be in a much better position if I turn off Twitter notifications for awhile than I would be if I let the notifications continue to show up on my phone.
Yes, when someone makes a death threat it's good if you stay away from the windows and hire bodyguards to check the car for bombs.
> there are two things at work here. Are you suggesting people shouldn't be allowed to spam someone else?
Denial of service attacks should carry some consequence.
> Or are you suggesting that people shouldn't be allowed to say harassing things to other people?
Depends on the severity and frequency of the harassment.
I read it as "If you don't want to be harassed, you shouldn't have a public presence."
FWIW, immediately before that sentence, the thread-starter called into question the real danger of doxxing and calls to "action" based on the released information/misinformation.
> let the internet have its field day and let's all go home...We all also know that nobody will get harmed regardless of all the drama
It's easy to say this when one is not the target. I imagine it would be difficult to ignore doxing, death threats, swatting, and/or harassing of family and friends.
Not if you're already doxxed, it doesn't. These situations can easily expand into hate mail and phone calls.
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