Tuesday Word: Dox(xing)
dox [däks]:
origin: [2000] neologism; abbrv.= "dropping documents"
verb
Ever had your identify stolen? Back account compromised? Or maybe some idiot just passing out your phone number willy-nilly? Heard of the hacker group Anonymous?
Then you've witnessed doxxing (sometimes spelled with only one "x"), or the process of researching & publishing someone's private information online (commonly done for revenge purposes). To dox someone may be immoral, but it's currently not necessarily illegal, and in some cases may be used by law enforcement & courts to root out activity like human trafficking, torture, child pornography, and murder.
You can dox someone using data collected from online social media: Facebook, Twitter, Livejournal (against ToS, btw), etc. As well as hacking into people's encrypted information: credit cards, bank accounts, cell phones, etc.
Recently, you may have witnessed a landlord allowing cameras to film inside an accused terrorists Syed Farook & Tashfeen Malik's apartment, accidently broadcasting personal addresses & credit card data of family members to millions of viewers.
Is doxxing the new journalism?
origin: [2000] neologism; abbrv.= "dropping documents"
verb
Ever had your identify stolen? Back account compromised? Or maybe some idiot just passing out your phone number willy-nilly? Heard of the hacker group Anonymous?
Then you've witnessed doxxing (sometimes spelled with only one "x"), or the process of researching & publishing someone's private information online (commonly done for revenge purposes). To dox someone may be immoral, but it's currently not necessarily illegal, and in some cases may be used by law enforcement & courts to root out activity like human trafficking, torture, child pornography, and murder.
You can dox someone using data collected from online social media: Facebook, Twitter, Livejournal (against ToS, btw), etc. As well as hacking into people's encrypted information: credit cards, bank accounts, cell phones, etc.
Recently, you may have witnessed a landlord allowing cameras to film inside an accused terrorists Syed Farook & Tashfeen Malik's apartment, accidently broadcasting personal addresses & credit card data of family members to millions of viewers.
Is doxxing the new journalism?