Key Points
- Doxing is the online release of someone's identity, private information or personal details without their consent.
- While it is already unlawful in Australia, Albanese said he wants to "strengthen" the legislation.
- Some experts suggest the laws would be hard to implement, and questioned whether more legislation is the answer.
The Australian government is planning to roll out new laws that would further criminalise 'doxing' in order to protect people's privacy online and combat hate speech.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the proposal on Monday, after the Executive Council of Australian Jewry called for legislative changes following the publication of details of a WhatsApp group involving more than 600 Jewish writers, creatives and other public figures.
The mass doxing event involved the leak of a spreadsheet with links to social media accounts and a photo gallery of more than 100 Jewish people.
Speaking to 2GB on Monday, Albanese said the publication of the details had led to people being "targeted", and said his government would aim to criminalise such leaks.
"I've asked the attorney-general to bring forward legislation in response to the Privacy Act review, including laws that deal with so-called doxing, which is basically the malicious publication of private information online," Albanese said.
Doxing — an abbreviation of 'document dropping' — is defined by Australia's eSafety Commissioner as the intentional online exposure of an individual's identity, private information or personal details without their consent. It can lead to public shaming, harassment, intimidation and cyberstalking.
Australia’s criminal code already classifies doxing as unlawful, stipulating that it is "an offence to menace, harass or offend someone using a carriage service". But Albanese has said he wants to "strengthen" laws against it and hate speech.
Nasser Mashni, president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, said that the "overtly political nature" of the WhatsApp group had been made clear.
"It should be abhorrent to us all that this group conspired to target, intimidate and silence people who are speaking out against the genocide in Palestine," he told SBS News.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry welcomed the announcement. Experts, however, are sceptical about the efficacy of the proposed laws, and whether the rollout of more legislation is the best way to combat these issues.
Nigel Phair, a professor of cybersecurity at Monash University and former member of the Australian Federal Police, predicted that such laws would only achieve "a very minimal movement of the needle".
"I think holistically it's a good idea; we need legislation in this space," he told SBS News.
"However, doxing has been around for eons. There's been the malicious outing of people and where they live and their personal identifying information on social media for a very long time."
Phair noted that the latest incident, while attracting a lot of attention against the backdrop of the conflict in Gaza, is just one of many such instances. Creating more laws, he added, "only gets you so far".
"It's enforcement of those laws which matter, and in this case, enforcing laws is going to be particularly difficult because you're dealing with Australian legislation trying to interact with US-based companies — the social media organisations — who operate under the US jurisdiction, not the Australian one," he said.
"We're dealing with the town square that is run by social media companies. It's their responsibility, in my view … they need to enforce their own community standards."
Carolyn McKay, a senior research fellow at the Sydney Law School and co-director of the Sydney Institute of Criminology, similarly noted that there are already laws to protect against doxing and urged the need to "be cautious about just rushing in new legislation".
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has said the government would bring forward legislation "as soon as possible" to protect Australians from "the malicious use of their personal and private information".
But McKay suggested that education and awareness is crucial to addressing the issue.
"I do think that any new laws have to be accompanied by significant educational programs as well. I really do feel that people need to be better educated about their behaviours online," she said.
"People just have to be very vigilant about how they behave online and their responsibilities to each other as citizens."
While the specific details of the proposed legislation remain to be seen, McKay speculated that its effect on everyday Australians would likely be that it forces them to "try and be a bit more responsible, which they probably should be doing already".
Phair said he'd like to see the current legislation applied more effectively, as well as further education around how people should and shouldn’t behave online. Albanese's proposal to further criminalise doxing, he stressed, "isn't the silver bullet".
"It won't affect anyone because the vast, vast majority of us are considerate, polite kinds of people online, and we don't dox and we don't be nasty to people," he said. "We have an enjoyable, transparent experience."
