The Federal Government has introduced new legislation to outlaw “doxxing” — the malicious online sharing of someone’s private information, like their phone number and address.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said doxxing has led to “public embarrassment, humiliation, shaming, discrimination, stalking and identify theft and financial fraud.”
Under the proposed laws, offenders could face up to seven years in prison.
It follows calls for better regulations to protect users online.
What is doxxing?
According to the eSafety Commissioner, doxxing is “the intentional online exposure of an individual’s identity, private information or personal details without their consent”.
The online watchdog says some perpetrators are “motivated by wanting to expose wrongdoing,” but that doxxing can also be used “to exert control” after a breakup.
This is known as ‘technology-facilitated coercive control’.
WhatsApp leak
A 2023 report from the Australian Institute of Criminology found that around 4% of people had experienced doxxing in their lifetime.
The Government announced plans to ban the practice earlier this year. It came after the contents of a WhatsApp group with over 600 Jewish Australians was leaked online and shared widely by pro-Palestinian activists.
The leak also included a spreadsheet of more than 100 Jewish people with photos of them and links to their social media accounts.
A collective statement posted by some activists defended the leak, saying the chat demonstrated “the coordinated efforts of many working to silence support for Palestinian liberation”.
The statement said: “There were no addresses shared. There were no phone numbers shared. These were deliberately redacted.”
The leak was condemned by the Government and Opposition. Dreyfus said the incident was “shocking” but not isolated.
He pledged to introduce legislation to criminalise doxxing this year.
Criminal penalties
The Government has now introduced legislation to make doxxing a criminal offence.
This includes a maximum penalty of up to six years in prison for sharing someone’s data without their permission in a “menacing or harassing” way.
A harsher penalty of up to seven years in jail will be introduced for deliberately doxxing someone based on their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, or ethnic origin.
Dreyfus noted that doxxing is “often used against women in the context of domestic and family violence.”
In a speech to Parliament, the Attorney General said existing laws to protect Australians online hasn’t “kept pace” with digital technologies.
He said: “Strong privacy laws and protections are critical to building public trust and confidence [online]”.
Next steps
The Government needs support from the Coalition, or the Greens and a handful of crossbenchers, to pass the bill.
The Opposition has previously said it would support efforts to outlaw doxxing. However, the Government’s proposed ban will be put forward as one part of a bigger privacy reform bill. It’s unclear if the Coalition will vote in favour of the reforms.
Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash told TDA privacy reform is “highly technical and far-reaching”, and said the Coalition was examining the bill “in detail.”
