Protection from doxing

[Lord Pounder]

Hi guys, hope someone here might be able to help.

My fiancé has recently been involved with a group called Women Aloud, promoting female writers on international women's day.

As is unfortunate on the Internet some MRA jackass got all upset about it and trolled the living shit out of their Twitter hashtag.

Trolls she can handle but he listed three streets were the writers live, including our address. I can only presume he doxed the ladies involved. For some reason the address he got for my fiancé was the street next to us.

Is there a way for her to prevent this guy from getting any more information.

If it helps she's on the latest Version of OS X and using chrome.

[Broomstick]

If he deduced her information from what she put on the internet, no. Which is entirely possible - I haven't done the dox and post thing, but occasionally someone I know from the internet invites me for a real life meet and when that happens I try to dig up info on the person to confirm they are who they say they are. It can be surprisingly easy.

[Purple]

What broom said. Once something is on the internet you can't take it back. The only way to protect your self is to hide your IP and censor your online posting so as to ensure you newer reveal anything private.

[General Zod]

The more substantial of an internet presence you have the more difficult it is to hide. Unfortunately the only real way to avoid doxing is to comparmentalize your internet presence, which can be almost impossible if anyone has any degree of prominence online.

By comparmentalize I mean separate usernames for different online activities, not posting information related to your employer and providing only minimal information to social networks. But if you don't start off with this approach from the get-go it's going to be tough.

[Ralin]

Indeed, what Zod said. If you're asking at this point then the answer is probably nothing and your financee should probably brace herself for creeps leaving threatening messages or whatever.

EDIT: Also this seems more like a Hall of Shame or ARSE thread

[Adam Reynolds]

The more substantial of an internet presence you have the more difficult it is to hide. Unfortunately the only real way to avoid doxing is to comparmentalize your internet presence, which can be almost impossible if anyone has any degree of prominence online.

By comparmentalize I mean separate usernames for different online activities, not posting information related to your employer and providing only minimal information to social networks. But if you don't start off with this approach from the get-go it's going to be tough.

Even if you do this, if you ever make a mistake and accidentally post something using the wrong account it can all fall apart as they become linked.

[The Romulan Republic]

Indeed, what Zod said. If you're asking at this point then the answer is probably nothing and your financee should probably brace herself for creeps leaving threatening messages or whatever.

EDIT: Also this seems more like a Hall of Shame or ARSE thread

While its not really answering the question of how to prevent it happening in the first place, wouldn't threats or harassment be a time to get the police involved?

That may not be the answer the OP is looking for, but if things get to the point where you feel your safety might be at risk it would definitely be my recommendation.

[Broomstick]

I've been on-line over 20 years now and have managed to keep my "Broomstick" persona and my "real name" persona separate.... but as noted it has been quite difficult and possible largely because I avoid social media in either guise. There's software on Facebook, etc. that is designed to ferret out links between your activities on line. Also, facial recognition software that tries to link people's faces with names on line - which is why there are VERY few pictures of me on the internet anywhere, and that strictly under my real name.

(OK, my avatar here is me, but it's so low-rez that I can't be identified by that. Yet.)

I have no doubt that the Feds could link the two, or a professional, but I'm reasonably insulted from the average on-line bully... even so, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if someone manages to link the two at some point. Actually, it has happened, once, but I don't really want to go off on that tangent.

[Ralin]

(OK, my avatar here is me, but it's so low-rez that I can't be identified by that. Yet.)

Huh. That's an impressive mustache you have.

[General Zod]

I've got the privacy settings on my FB page maxed out, but I don't include my home address there and I tend to leave out the details about my current job on FB so I can keep them separate. Aside from my IMDB page and LinkedIn, you won't find all that much about me when you plug my real name into Google.

[Broomstick]

(OK, my avatar here is me, but it's so low-rez that I can't be identified by that. Yet.)

Huh. That's an impressive mustache you have.

That's actually the mike for the radio headset.

[madd0ct0r]

One street over sounds like he got the postcode, and tried to convert it into a street name. If you send me her Twitter handle in a message I can have a go and send you where I found all the stuff?

[Zaune]

(OK, my avatar here is me, but it's so low-rez that I can't be identified by that. Yet.)

Huh. That's an impressive mustache you have.

That's actually the mike for the radio headset.

You know, I'd often wondered about that...

[Broomstick]

Yeah, it's attached to the green "earmuffs".

[TheFeniX]

Some of this is already covered and you have the option to go extremely paranoid.

1. Try and avoid using a single alias or (god forbid) your actual name for posting across multiple sites. Once they get your full name: pretty much any other tidbit of information, even a general area, narrows the list down of who you are to almost nothing.
2. Facebook is like a magnet for doxing information. I would say don't use it at all, but that can be a negative to some people. That said, even if all your stuff is set to private or friend's only, a friend's account can get compromised and people can still get access.
3. Consider not posting from your personal IP if you have landline Internet. Those can be traced. Consider a mobile hotspot or just pay for a decent proxy server service. Even more so: avoid posting from a work IP. Some ISPs will just put the name of the company in the DNS information which then, if they get your IP, opens up your company to harassment. This also, obviously, makes it easier to find out who you are.
4. Do not use the same password across sites that contain your personal information. Or anything that could tie back to your online alias. If one gets hacked, the others would be vulnerable due to the password.
5. Avoid posting any personal information you can, no matter how inconsequential. Even your birth year without the month/day can be used with other information to find out who/where you are.
6. If posting pictures or other documents from your own PC: remove the metadata. Some phones with GPS enabled will put this into the photos. It's an instant "here's exactly where and when you took this photo." For an unrelated example, a classmate years back in college got busted for cheating because "his" assignment .doc had someone else's name in the "created by" field.

If they've already narrowed you down to a street next door: pretty late in the game. Make sure to report and keep records on any harassment (PrtScn id your friends) and keep an eye out for any suspicious behavior you notice.

[Lord Pounder]

Thanks for all the advise guys.

My fiancé is an author and runs business promoting writing services so she does need to be visible online.

It seems there were several complaints about the guy in question and the Police Service of Northern Ireland had a wee word with him.

Following this incident my fiancé has bought extra security for her business website which protects her personal data.

Once again thanks to all.

[biostem]

Before I get into what I want to say, I want to make it crystal clear that I am totally against any form of harassment, (be it online or otherwise). I also want to make it abundantly clear that one party of an exchange interpreting the interaction as harassment does not necessarily make it so.

That being said, I feel that something needs to be done when it comes to people digging up what you do online and bringing it to the attention of your employer, as a form of revenge or as an attack. If you aren't acting in a criminal manner, and if what you're doing online doesn't directly relate back to your employer, then it should be illegal to use those activities as a way of terminating someone's employment or livelihood.