States crack down on doxxing, but there's still no federal law.
The Civil Liability for Doxing Act, which takes effect on January 1, 2024, passed after a unanimous vote. It allows victims to recover damages and to request "a temporary restraining order, emergency order of protection, or preliminary or permanent injunction to restrain and prevent the disclosure or continued disclosure of a person's personally identifiable information or sensitive personal information."
It's the first law of its kind in the Midwest, the Daily Herald reported, and is part of a push by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to pass similar laws at the state and federal levels. ADL's Midwest regional director, David Goldenberg, told the Daily Herald that ADL has seen doxxing become "over the past few years" an effective way of "weaponizing" the Internet. ADL has helped similar laws pass in Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.
Hmm, this makes me think of the tradition on certain parts of the internet where people publicly announce the name and crime of this convicted rapist. They'll explain where he's currently living, the name he's trying to go by, and bars he was seen at. This activity seems to stem from the outrage at the excessive leniency he was shown by the judge, although could also be protecting other potential victims.
I wonder if this kind of vigilante doxxing would fall under the scope of such a law, especially when his name is already in so many publications.
That was an interesting article. Thanks for sharing it.
That judge was trash. Although it turned out that recalling him had consequences, I don’t think those consequences are reason to tolerate unjust judges like him.
Section 10. Doxing.
(a) An individual engages in the act of doxing when that
individual intentionally publishes another person's personally
identifiable information without the consent of the person
whose information is published and:
(1) the information is published with the intent that
it be used to harm or harass the person whose information
is published and with knowledge or reckless disregard that
the person whose information is published would be
reasonably likely to suffer death, bodily injury, or
stalking; and
(2) the publishing of the information:
(i) causes the person whose information is
published to suffer significant economic injury or
emotional distress or to fear serious bodily injury or
death of the person or a family or household member of
the person; or
(ii) causes the person whose information is
published to suffer a substantial life disruption; and
(3) the person whose information is published is
identifiable from the published personally identifiable
information itself.
(b) It is not an offense under this Act for an individual
to:
(1) provide another person's personally identifiable
information or sensitive personal information in
connection with the reporting of criminal activity to an
employee of a law enforcement agency or in connection with
any lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or
intelligence activity of any law enforcement agency or of
an intelligence agency of the United States and the person
making the report reasonably believes the alleged criminal
activity occurred or the existing investigative,
protective, or intelligence activity is legitimate;
(2) disseminate the personally identifiable
information for the purpose of, or in connection with, the
reporting of conduct reasonably believed to be unlawful;
or
(3) provide a person's personally identifiable
information in connection with activity protected under
the United States Constitution or the Illinois
Constitution pertaining to speech, press, assembly,
protest, and petition, as well as the provision of
personally identifiable information to the press.
(c) Nothing in this Act shall be construed in any manner
to:
(1) conflict with Section 230 of Title II of the
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230);
(2) conflict with 42 U.S.C. 1983; or
(3) prohibit any activity protected under the
Constitution of the United States or the Illinois
Constitution.
This is incredible and I hope they are successful!
However I am expecting this to become targeted towards marginalized groups posting, say, judge alito's address for writing to him because he fights so hard against civil rights for favors
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Illinois state representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz told the Daily Herald that she introduced the anti-doxxing law as "a way to hold accountable those who perpetuate hate online."
The ADL's ultimate goal is to see a federal anti-doxxing law passed, but right now, Congress is only taking small steps in that direction by mulling the Doxing Threat Assessment Act introduced in May.
ACLU of Illinois' director of communications and public policy, Ed Yohnka, told the Daily Herald that his organization remained opposed because the law could infringe on free speech rights.
“Arming our national security officials and law enforcement with knowledge of how these groups operate and for identifying vulnerabilities and preventing attacks is a first step to protect our communities from harm.”
Since the Doxing Threat Assessment Act was introduced, the number of co-sponsors has doubled, suggesting the bipartisan bill is gaining popular support and has a decent chance of passing.
), said that persecuted religious groups and businesses appeared most vulnerable and "with more information, our law enforcement will be able to develop a more robust approach to the protections of Americans and their data.”