How ‘Doxxing’ Became a Mainstream Tool in the Culture Wars
SAN FRANCISCO — Riding a motorized pony and strumming a cigar box ukulele, Dana Cory
led a singalong to the tune of “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.”
“You’re a Nazi and you’re fired, it’s your fault,” she sang.
You’re a Nazi and you’re fired, it’s your fault.”
“All together now!” Ms. Cory, 48, shouted to a cheering crowd in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood on Saturday.
“Originally it was little black-hat hacker crews who were at war with each other — they would take docs, like documents, from a competing group
and then claim they had ‘dox’ on them,” said Gabriella Coleman, a professor at McGill University who wrote a book about the hacker vigilante group Anonymous.
“If isolation and shame is the driver for people joining these types of groups, doxxing certainly isn’t the answer.”
In short, once someone is labeled a Nazi on the internet, that person stays a Nazi on the internet.
“For a long time it was only a certain quarter of people on the internet who would be willing to do this,” Ms. Coleman said.
