I never considered what I am doing to Don
Stovner “DOXing”. In my mind, it is
simply playing the game he started, by following the Rules as he changes
them. You know, Goose & Gander.
He went out of his way to track down
intimately personal information about me, dating back to the Pre-Internet Age
and claimed that it was “technically legal” because he used Publically
Available Information. Well…. I’m just
making this information public. Just
like he did.
"DOXing", is hacker slang for publishing someone's
personal information in order to intimidate or punish them.
DOXing is a technique of tracing someone or gather
information about an individual using sources on the internet. Its name is
derived from “Documents” or “Docx”. DOXing method is based purely on the
ability of the hacker to recognize valuable information about his target and
use this information to his benefit. It is also based around the idea that, “The more you know about your target, the
easier it will be to find his or her flaws”
Hearing the term “DOXing” in the media is
almost like fingernails on a chaulk board.
Since the beginning, the Internet Generation has had an unwritten
agreement that even though we know, or could easily find out who Beachwitch really is, we don’t.
Recent Example in the News of DOXing-
"A now-deleted tumblr, predditors, linked reddit usernames to real
people. One user, for example, had the same username on reddit.com and music
site last.fm, and the last.fm profile contained a link to his Facebook page. Cross-referencing comments about his age,
university and hometown allowed the connection to be confirmed, and meant
that the blog could put a name and a face to [a reddit username]
***
In fact, the author of Predditors is simply stringing together information available on public
profiles posted by the users.
***
"They do it because they think they're safe and doing this to women
won't result in any form of retaliation,"
I am reading
various reactions to the national DOXing of Michael Brutsch aka Violent_Acrez,
and there are so many people who are deeply offended by the public outing. Somehow it’s ok for men like Brutsch and
Stovner to stalk women they don’t know, collect information, photos, anything
they can get their hands on, because it’s “technically legal”. Yet, even though
what Adrian Chen did and what I am doing is also “technically legal”, and it is
EXACTLY
what Brutsch and Stovner did to their victims, it is somehow morally
reprehensible:
“DOXing
isn’t okay because you’re publishing someone’s personal information online,
purposely creating an angry vigilante mob, and throwing them to the wolves.”
GeekWire Commentary
GeekWire Commentary
There is
this collective mind set that if someone does something to you that is
“technically legal”, you as the victim are required to sit back and take
it. Fighting back, or in this case,
providing Brutsch and Stovner a taste of their own medicine, is not only wrong,
it is morally wrong. The
Social Norms are out of whack here. What
you see as Internet
Vigilantism, I see as a leveling of the playing field.
“You
also chose to DOX his whole Family. What
was his wife guilty of?”
GeekWire Commentary
GeekWire Commentary
Brutsch’s wife and Stovner’s wife, in fact both of their
Families and Friends, became collateral damage when these men made active
decisions to harass, troll, DOX and otherwise make life difficult for their
victims. Adrien Chen, nor I, had any
part in the decisions these Jack Asses made.
They opened themselves and their families up to risk, ridicule and
public shaming. They truly believed
their victims would go away quietly to cry in an obscure corner of the
Internet, shamed, and humiliated.
Brutsch and Stovner never had any fear of reprisals because for so many
years, there hasn’t been any consequence to their actions.
And then I came along.
When Stovner was rattling off my ancient and personal
history for everyone to hear, making me the topic of conversation in nearly all
our social interactions in the Summer of 2009, it was startling and felt out of
context. I could never put my finger on
why it felt out of context, which is why I played along. The only way I would ever know the truth was
to keep listening.
Then I read Adrien Chen’s article on Unmasking
Reddit’s ViolentAcrez.
Suddenly it all made sense.
Stovner spent the Summer of 2009 “publishing” his work. Unlike the average Internet Troll, Stovner brought
his work to the feet of his victim.
Unlike the average hacker who must wait any number of cycles for his
victim to provide the desired reaction to the publishing of personal
information on a forum or website, Stovner received immediate response, in real
time, live streaming in HD.
This blog has been dormant for about a year now, no new
posts. So, had I not received an anonymous email six weeks ago, I probably
would not have been thinking about all of this.
There is the distinct possibility that had I not received that email, I
may have skipped any publications this holiday season. And then of course there was Adrien Chen’s
masterpiece and the resulting national media conversation behind DOXing and
Private versus Public Information.
I have a list of names, provided to me by Don Stovner
(remember, the listening part). These
are people who, according to Stovner, assisted him and made it possible for him
to continue to stalk me. Think of these
people as you would the Administrators of Reddit – they know there is a person
misbehaving, and because he is their buddy, pal and friend, they look the other
way or implement policies which facilitate their buddy’s bad behavior.
Oh, did I mention this list of
names consists of CIO’s, CTO’s,SVP’s, VP’s and Corporate Directors of Publicly
Held Companies (aka Wall Street)?
This blog entry is about “DOXing”, the act of publishing an
individual’s personal information collected from Publically Available Internet portals
and Social Networks. You can figure out
what’s going to happen next. How’s that
LinkedIn Account workin’ for ya?
I don’t want
anyone to get the idea that this entry or the blog in general is in any way a
self-justification. I am simply
providing the courtesy of a heads up.
You should be grateful, a hacker or a Troll would never be so kind as to
give you a heads up,
“Hey dude, I’m DOXing you!”
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