
Fifteen Minutes of Unwanted Fame: Detecting and Characterizing Doxing [pdf] - lainon
https://www.cs.uic.edu/~psnyder/static/papers/fifteen-minutes.pdf
======
themistocle
> We find that doxing victims in our data set are overwhelmingly male, have an
> average age in their 20s, and a significant number are part of gamer
> communities (or maintain accounts with multiple video-game related
> websites). We also find that most doxes include highly identifying
> information of the victim and family members, such as full legal names,
> phone numbers and online social networking accounts.

I hope someone uses this research as a starting point for an investigation of
_why_ gamers are so heavily doxed. Might help us predict and prevent more
doxing in the future.

~~~
jstarfish
Gamers are particularly bad about it, but I think it can apply to anybody who
spends an inordinate amount of time attached to a computer or phone.

My theory is that they spend so much time playing games or screwing around,
performing repetitive activities that have no consequence, that other
activities they perform via virtual means just become an extension of their
gaming mindset.

I think the same goes for Dread Pirate Roberts, the guy who wrote Mirai,
perpetrators of cyberbullying and others-- they spend so much time wrapped up
in a digital world where they get to play God with no consequence that the
real-world implications of their digital lives start to become blurred.

* You can tell your parents you love them with the push of a button.

* You can have food brought to you with the push of a button.

* You can take a picture of your cat doing something stupid with the push of a button.

* You can send it to millions of people with the push of a button.

* You can buy clothes, household supplies or a car with the push of a button.

* You can conduct business with the push of a button.

* You can build and explore virtual worlds with the push of a button.

* You can create virtual life with the push of a button.

* You can destroy virtual life with the push of a button.

* You can tell someone they're ugly with the push of a button.

* You can distribute naked pictures of someone who trusted you with the push of a button.

* You can buy something expensive and make someone else pay for it with the push of a button.

* You can cripple the internet with the push of a button.

* You can put out a hit on someone with the push of a button.

You press buttons all day long for fun or for work, with no negative feedback.
What's one more button?

~~~
yorwba
I don't get what most of your comment has to do with getting doxxed. Are you
saying that gamers spend a lot of time on the internet, and doxxing is a thing
that happens on the internet, so they get doxxed more frequently?

~~~
pixl97
>Are you saying that gamers spend a lot of time on the internet, and doxxing
is a thing that happens on the internet, so they get doxxed more frequently?

Well, in some ways that make sense... Someone that rarely goes to the ocean is
far less likely to get bit by a shark than a person that operates a saltwater
fishing service.

So not only are most of their lives available in digital form and most of the
human interactions they have in digital form, there is also a competitive
angle to this. John beats Bob at $game, or John says Bob sucks at $game. Bob
in an attempt to defend his honor can use conventional retorts, but they are
less useful on the internet. Threats of physical violence are generally
thwarted by long distances between actors. Bob attempting to turn the crowd
against John to save face may be difficult, especially if John is actually
better at the game. This leaves Bob with the thermonuclear option, Doxxing. It
is likely highly effective in communities like this too. John in his attempt
to deal with the fallout from the doxxing will likely have less time to commit
to said gaming, and will have to deal with the stressful real life issues this
causes.

~~~
jstarfish
There's also botting and the true nuclear option, swatting.

Thanks for clarifying. I couldn't phrase it any better.

------
narrator
This story ties in eerily to the swatting death story (
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16030838](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16030838)
). If someone gets doxxed they can get swatted.

I sometimes hear people complain on political message boards with the common
refrain "Why aren't people out in the streets protesting <insert controversial
political thing>?" On the other hand, when people mess with the gaming
community, such as what happened with the infamous GamerGate and the recent
swatting business, their outrage and aggression is ridiculously large
considering it's just gaming. Weird world we live in.

~~~
chx
Do note the swatting death victim was _not_ doxxed. The intended victim
provided a different address where someone else died.

------
WatchDog
Has anyone setup a doxxing honeypot for themselves? Ie running some websites
that use your online identity keywords, ensuring they get indexed and trying
to monitor patterns of access to determine if someone is trying to identify
you?

