Ask HN: What to do when doxxed

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5188205

by jimworm • 13 years ago

2 1 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Someone I know was a victim of vandalism and posted pictures of it online in hopes of finding an eyewitness. Instead he was blamed for provoking the attack and had his $social_network information posted.

He quickly pulled down all his other social network profiles, leaving up the one that was posted as it was.

Is there anything else he could do to protect himself in this circumstance?

Pyramids• 13 years ago

To be honest, the more you do in these situations you usually amplify the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

See sites like EncyclopediaDramatica.se (NSFW) for details why.

With that being said, abuse reports to network and hosting providers in first world countries usually are quite effective in these cases. If you can mitigate the exposure without ever communicating to the aggressors or stirring the pot, that's the way to go.

If it's a known 'shady' provider or someone not likely to care (Read: Voxility, Ecatel, Any ISP in mainland China, Most ISP's in NL/SE/IS) it's probably better not to send a report, as you'll just get it forwarded to the aggressor and show that their efforts are working to aggravate you.

Good luck, it's a tough situation to deal with.