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85 Fordham L. Rev. 2451 (2016-2017)
The Doxing Dilemma: Seeking a Remedy for the Malicious Publication of Personal Information

handle is hein.journals/flr85 and id is 2491 raw text is: THE DOXING DILEMMA: SEEKING A REMEDY FOR THE MALICIOUS PUBLICATION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION Julia M. MacAllister* In recent years, malevolent actors have seized upon a new tool to harass, silence, threaten, and injure people online: doxing-the malicious publication of personal identifying information like a home address. Although doxing is an online tool, it causes concrete and serious harm to victims by moving harassment from the Internet to the physical world. Congress and state legislatures have begun to address different forms of cyberharassment. However, no effective and consistent legal remedy for doxing currently exists. This Note examines and critiques current federal and state schemes, and it ultimately proposes that lower federal courts should adopt a new intent standard to make the federal Interstate Communications Statute more applicable to doxing and that states can and should criminalize malicious doxing. INTRODUCTION............................................ 2452 I. DROPPING Dox: UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM AND ITS UNDERLYING DOCTRINES ........................ ...... 2455 A. Doxing Defined................................ 2455 B. Doxing Actors and Their Intent; Doxing Subjects and Their Injuries.................... ................. 2457 1. Punching Down: Doxing for the Lulz, or Worse......... 2457 2. Doxing for Political Purposes ............. ...... 2460 3. Internal Regulation: Unmasking Troublemakers............2461 C. Doctrinal Background .................... ....... 2462 1. Right to Privacy ................................... 2462 2. The First Amendment ............................ 2463 a. Background .................................. 2463 b. The True Threat Exception ........ ........ 2464 * J.D. Candidate, 2018, Fordham University School of Law; A.B., 2008, Dartmouth College. Thank you to Professor Joel Reidenberg for his guidance, and thank you to my family and friends, especially to my mom and dad, for their love and support-it takes a village. 2451