Australia’s federal parliament will today introduce laws that could jail offenders for up to seven years for making people’s personal information public.
The practice known as doxing involves taking someone’s personal information and publishing it without their consent, usually with the intention of garnering harassment.
The word itself comes from “document,” the idea of sharing a “doc” containing someone’s information.
Under the new legislation, to be introduced to the government on Sept. 12, people carrying out doxing offences will face up to six years in prison, while targeted attacks due to race, religion or sexuality will attract an additional year.
The federal government first announced its doxxing crackdown in February 2023 after the personal information of 600 Jewish Australian members of a WhatsApp group for artists and creators was leaked.
According to the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, names, images, professions, and social media accounts of the members of the online group had been made public in the attack.
Prominent Australian feminist and anti-Israel activist Clementine Ford was one of the high-profile figures who shared the document containing the doxxing to her 250,000 followers.
Australia’s Attorney General Mark Dreyfus said the increasing use of doxxing as a tactic of harassment was “deeply disturbing.”
“Action to combat doxxing would complement other critical reforms being progressed by the government to strengthen the Privacy Act, as well as laws against hate speech and to further protect online safety,” he said in a statement.
“Australians should have trust and confidence that their personal information is kept safe and secure in the digital age.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that in Australia, no one should be targeted due to race or religion.
The federal opposition has supported the introduction of anti-doxxing legislation.
Reforming Laws
Hate speech laws will also be introduced alongside the doxxing crackdown. But they have been the subject of friction between parties as Labor seeks to negotiate the junction of free speech and hate.The laws are set to target remarks against gender, sexuality, race, religion and disability.
States and territories oversee vilification laws.
Reforms to the Privacy Act will also include a children’s online privacy code based on social media use.
However, they are not expected to include the scrapping of an exemption that prevents small businesses from being legally obligated to protect customers’ information.
The existing exemption predates the digital era, but small businesses have expressed concern about the cost of such measures.
The reforms are not expected to include informal consent so big companies can’t entrap consumers with complicated terms and conditions and the right to forget, which covers revoking access to public information.
