v1als:

with all the talk about doxxing going around recently, here’s a quick and simple guide:

doxxing: finding out your information through means that are not public, for example location searching through IP addresses, accessing private databases, stalking, hacking, or social engineering (the act of extracting information from a person using a false pretence, like pretending to be your bank and asking for your name and address to confirm it’s you)

not doxxing: using public information you have placed on the internet yourself to link your profiles and confirm it’s you

this is why you have to be careful what you post. if someone finds your twitter handle on page 140 of your blog, and your twitter has a link to your youtube videos, and on youtube you have a link to your facebook, and someone goes to your facebook and finds your full name and place of work, and then looks you up on an online address book, that is not illegal doxxing. you voluntarily put that information online.

yes, people shouldn’t do it, but they do. use different usernames for different sites. register different accounts to different emails. lock down your privacy settings. don’t post your full name or place of work anywhere public. don’t have a handy list of all your social media accounts in one place. practise basic internet safety. stop trusting the internet so easily. it has never been a benevolent place.