Doxing: How the NYC Council Can Effectively Deal with the Issue
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams
On February 29, From The G-Man published the op-ed A Warning to NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, and Other Members. The article was posted in response to the Gothamist report on high-ranking members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) doxxing a state Supreme Court judge. Doxxing (also spelled “doxing”), according to the Avast website, “is the act of revealing someone’s personal information online. Doxxing is a form of online harassment that means publicly exposing someone’s real name, address, job, or other identifying info without a victim’s consent. The aim of doxxing is to humiliate, bully, harass, or otherwise harm a victim.”
On March 1, Gothamist reported that NYPD spokesperson Tarik Sheppard doubled-down by stating people should “expect more posts calling out judges and other officials,” and the New York Daily News recently reported that City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams expressed concern about the NYPD calling out critics and members of the press on social media, “as well as others in the criminal justice system it believes are not acting in the best interest of public safety.”
From The G-Man conducted an investigation to determine if legislation was sponsored and/or introduced to address the issue of doxing in the state of New York, and three extremely important items were uncovered: an article on the legal consequences of doxing, Senate Bill S7646, sponsored by former senator Anna Kaplan, and Assembly Bill A9060, which was introduced by Assemblyman Clyde Vanel.
Lee Koch, a New York City attorney, stated the following in a 2021 article entitled “Is Doxing a Crime?”
“Doxing is a cybercrime that occurs when you take real world information about a person and circulate it online without permission. It doesn’t matter how you got the information: it’s doxing if the victim trusted you enough to give it to you, it’s doxing if you hacked their machine, and it’s doxing if you just did really good detective work.
“It also doesn’t matter why you doxed the victim. Doxing someone because they made a racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or similar type of comment seems noble and even satisfying. Nevertheless, doxing is often done with the intent of stalking, harassing, and ruining victims. The damage can further spread to their families, hurting far more people than the doxer tends to consider.
“And yes, doxing can lead to criminal charges.”
Click here to read the article in its entirety.
The Bills
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Open in new tab Source: New York State Senate
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Source: New York State Assembly
From The G-Man called and emailed the office of State Senator Cordell Cleare, who represents District 30 in Harlem, and Assemblyman Vanel of District 33 to discuss the bills and the issue in general. The representatives did not respond to the invitations or requests for comments.
From The G-Man urges New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and fellow city council members to carefully review the bills. They could serve as blueprints on how the New York City Council can effectively address the issue of doxing and hold perpetrators accountable.
Photo credit: NYC Mayor’s Office