Australia criminalises doxxing – Telangana Today

Anyone found guilty of maliciously publishing personal information on the Internet – a practice known as doxxing – faces prison sentences

Canberra: The act of doxxing, or publishing a person’s personal information without their consent, will be made a criminal offence in Australia under the government’s new privacy laws.

Australia’s Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus introduced a bill in Parliament on Thursday that would make doxxing illegal and give victims of serious invasions of privacy the right to seek compensation in court, Xinhua news agency reported.

Under the law, anyone found guilty of maliciously publishing personal information online – a practice known as doxxing – faces a prison sentence. The law provides a maximum penalty of six years in prison for publishing a person’s personal information with the intent to cause harm.

The maximum penalty is increased to seven years in prison if a person or group is targeted because of their religion, race, gender, disability, nationality or ethnic origin.

The move to criminalize doxxing is part of broader reforms that Dreyfus says will bring existing data protection law into the digital age.

“Strong privacy laws are critical to Australians’ trust in the digital economy and digital services provided by government and industry,” he said in a statement.

“Australians have a right to have their privacy respected and when asked to provide their personal information, they have the right to expect that it will be respected,” the statement continued.

In addition, the law introduced on Thursday would give Australians the right to sue for damages if they have been the victim of a serious breach of their privacy.

Dreyfus said the bill was the first step in the government’s efforts to give Australians more control over their personal information.