Word Smith: Doxxed
The New York Times had an article in the Sunday, October 15, 2023 edition about parents who were trying to remove the images of their children from the internet. Why? For fear that their children’s images would be used without their own or their parents permission and they would be “doxxed.” I had to look that word up: What does it mean if you Doxxed someone?
According to urban dictionaries, DOXXING is a form of online harassment that means publicly exposing someone’s real name, address, job, or other identifying info without the victim’s consent. According to the company Rexxfield, which designed the image above and loves the double XX symbol, the aim of doxxing is to humiliate, bully, harass, or otherwise harm a victim.
Doxxing is an abbreviation of the concept of “dropping documents” from someone else in public places in order to harm their reputation, often for a fee. It is shorthand for cyberbullying, internet harassment, extortion and identity theft. It is both harmful and illegal in most states.
Henry E. Hooper 