Internet vigilantism

Coalition Against Online Violence Launches PSA and Resource Hub to Address Digital Attacks

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Cyberbullying, Cybercrime, Crime, Human behavior, Internet vigilantism, Women's studies, Culture jamming, Internet troll, Doxing, Women in journalism, Online gender-based violence

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --The Coalition Against Online Violencetoday launched an Online Violence Response Hub to aid women journalists with the rising threat of violence online.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, July 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --The Coalition Against Online Violencetoday launched an Online Violence Response Hub to aid women journalists with the rising threat of violence online.
  • If we don't address the epidemic of online violence, we eliminate the future of diversity in storytelling.
  • The Online Violence Response Hub offering the latest information on online abuse allows journalists to focus on their safety instead of searching for support with censorship, doxing, harassment, threats, trolling, and more.
  • If we don't address the epidemic of online violence, we eliminate the future of diversity in storytelling."

Privacy Commissioner Provides Updates on Doxxing and Cyberbullying: Reiterating Criminal and Social Liability of Doxxers and Assisting Platforms

Retrieved on: 
Monday, December 23, 2019
Cybercrime, Information and communications technology, Articles, Social issues, Privacy law, Internet vigilantism, Cyberbullying, Human rights, Doxing, Privacy, Internet privacy, Internet
Key Points: 
  • Doxxing by Weaponising Personal Data
    • The Privacy Commissioner reiterated that “section 64(2) of PDPO provides that a person commits an offence if the person discloses, without the consent of a data user who controls or is in possession of any personal data of a data subject (such as public domain or platforms), especially the person who is innocent (including the spouse and children of a doxxing victim), and the disclosure causes psychological harm to the data subject, most of which came from intimidation. Upon conviction, the maximum penalty is a fine of HK$1,000,000 and an imprisonment for 5 years”
    • The Privacy Commissioner also stated that online social platforms and discussion forums have legal and social responsibilities of not assisting or promoting any illegal acts of doxxing.
    • In October this year, representatives from more than 120 data protection authorities around the globe attended the Global Privacy Assembly (formerly known as International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners). In relation to social media and online violent extremist content, the Assembly urged social media service providers to offer service protection to protect their services from being misused and prevent the dissemination of those content online. This highlights that acts of intimidation or incitement such as doxxing on the Internet are not acceptable to the international community.
    • The PCPD found that doxxing targets are individuals in the recent eye-catching incidents. Personal data of the individuals and their family members would be widely circulated at online platforms immediately.
  • Overall Situation
    • The PCPD received the first doxxing and cyberbullying case on 14 June. As at noon 20 December 2019, the PCPD received and discovered 4,359 related cases. Totally 16 online social platforms and discussion forums, and 2,916 web links were involved.
    • The victims of doxxing are from all sorts of backgrounds and all walks of life with various views, among which police officers and their family members are the single largest sector of people falling victim to doxxing. Of the 4,359 complaints and cases discovered in our patrol, 1,577 cases (36% of the total cases) involved police officers and their family members. There were 180 cases of doxxing on government officials and public servants (accounting for about 4% of the total cases). In addition to public servants, there are also members of the public (accounting for about 30% of the total cases) who have stated their support for the government or the Police and were doxxed.
    • On the other hand, some citizens were doxxed after making online comments against the government or the Police (accounting for about 10% of the total cases). Some others were dissatisfied with the behaviour of protestors and disclosed their personal data online. Also, there are websites that encourage citizens to provide the identity of protestors for bringing them to justice (accounting for about 20% of the total cases).
  • PCPD’s Follow-up Actions
    • The PCPD has referred 1,402 cases of this nature to the Police for criminal investigation and for consideration for prosecution.
    • A total of five people have been arrested in four cases by the Police on suspicion of contravening section 64 of PDPO, including an earlier case where prosecution was made by the Police. In that prosecution case, a man was charged with “conspiracy to disclosing personal data obtained without consent from data users”.
    • As at noon 20 December, the PCPD has written to the related 15 platforms 140 times, urging them to remove a total of 2,497 web links and to post warnings that netizens who engage in doxxing and cyberbullying may commit a serious offence under section 64 of PDPO. Among those web links, 1,677 web links (67%) have already been removed.
    • The PCPD has sent a letter to remind relevant platforms or website operators that the High Court has granted an interim injunction order (HCA 1957/2019) to, inter alia, restrain persons from unlawfully and wilfully disclosing personal data of Police Officers and/or their family members, intended or likely to intimidate or harass Police Officers and/or their family members. The order also restrains persons in assisting, causing, counselling, procuring, instigating, inciting, aiding, abetting or authorising others to commit any of the aforesaid acts. Another interim injunction order (HCA 2007/2019) also restrains persons from willfully disseminating any material or information on any internet-based platform or medium for the purpose of promoting, encouraging or inciting the use or threat of violence, intended or likely to cause bodily injury to any person or damage to any property unlawfully within Hong Kong. The order also restrains persons from assisting, causing, counselling, procuring, instigating, inciting, aiding or abetting others to commit any the aforesaid acts. The PCPD reminded relevant platforms or website operators that they are obligated to carry out legal and ethical corporate responsibility. They should not encourage illegal and unethical behaviour against public interest to avoid platforms being abused as a tool for infringing the privacy of personal data. If the platform or website operators deliberately publish or do not delete the aforesaid prohibited posts, it may be regarded as violation of the injunction and contempt of court.
    • After the interim injunction order came into effect, the PCPD received and found cases involving suspected violations of interim injunction order, and referred relevant cases to the Department of Justice for follow-up. As at noon 20 December 2019, 40 cases were referred.
    • We will continue to spare no efforts in enforcing the law to curtail these harmful doxxing acts. Since some involved platforms are based overseas, the Privacy Commissioner has written to the relevant local data protection authorities seeking for international cooperation to combat the doxxing acts.

    • PCPD Responds to Doxxing of Staff of a Media Organisation and Other Individuals and Posting of Their Personal Data in Public Places

    Retrieved on: 
    Wednesday, October 9, 2019
    Articles, Cybercrime, Information and communications technology, Digital media, Internet privacy, Terms of service, Internet vigilantism, Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Privacy, Doxing, Cyberbullying, Internet
    Key Points: 
  • In response to recent media enquiries about websites suspected of disclosing personal data of staff of Apple Daily and other individuals, and the posting of their personal data in public places, the office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) has made the following response:Websites Suspected of Disclosing Personal Data:
    • It was noted that the doxxing website in question had ceased operation.
    • For the newly emerged doxxing websites, as their servers are not located in Hong Kong and Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO) does not contain any express provision for extra-territorial jurisdiction, the PCPD has no statutory power to order the relevant overseas organisations (including the companies that assigned the domain names and the companies that host the servers) to disclose the website operators’ information.
    • If the proposed amendments to PDPO are accepted, the PCPD can:
    • apply to the court for an injunction when necessary to require the relevant social media platforms or websites to remove and stop uploading doxxing contents/posts;
    • directly undertake criminal investigations and lodge prosecutions for cases involving criminal offences; and
    • impose administrative fines, when appropriate, directly on offenders to enhance deterrence and protection of personal data privacy.
    • The PCPD has timely followed up on the present case of the newly emerged websites, on the longstanding principles of being just and fair, and impartial, by requesting the websites to remove and stop uploading all posts involving doxxing or illegal act. The PCPD has requested the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) to contact the corresponding authorities for follow-up actions. The PCPD will keep on monitoring the situation. In the same way as the other cases of doxxing and cyberbullying have been handled, since the present case has obviously contravened section 64 of PDPO (offences for disclosing personal data obtained without consent from data users), the PCPD immediately referred the case to the Police for criminal investigations, including investigation of the website operators, and consideration for prosecution.
    • The Apple Daily has obtained an Interim Injunction Order (the Order), which restrains persons from disclosing and disseminating personal data of its staff. But the emergence of the abovementioned websites showed that the Order has been violated. It is absolutely inappropriate to disclose others’ personal data arbitrarily on the Internet and the PCPD condemns such act. As the PCPD has no jurisdiction over the Order of the Court, the PCPD cannot enforce the Order or investigate the violation of the Order. However, the PCPD has taken the aforesaid follow-up actions immediately, hoping that the doxxing acts of those websites can be stopped.
    • The updated figures on cases of doxxing and cyberbullying are as follows:
      Number of cases related to online disclosure of personal data received and proactively found by the PCPD:
    • The PCPD received the first doxxing case on 14 June. As at noon 3 October 2019, the PCPD received and proactively found 1,720 related cases, in which 11 online social platforms and discussion forums, and 1,957 web links were involved.
    • The PCPD urged the related platforms 70 times to remove a total of 1,605 web links, of which 542 web links (representing about 34%) have already been removed. For those links that have not been removed, the PCPD would continue to urge the related platforms to remove them and would continue to monitor the platforms.
    • The PCPD has also urged the relevant online platforms to provide registration information and IP data of netizens concerned.
    • After preliminary investigation, if the PCPD considers the persons involved may have contravened the criminal offences under section 64 of PDPO, the PCPD would refer the cases to the Police for further investigation.  As at 3 October, the PCPD has referred 1,204 cases to the Police for further criminal investigation and for consideration for prosecution.

    • SecureRedact Brings Video Anonymisation to All

    Retrieved on: 
    Wednesday, March 20, 2019
    Articles, Cyberspace, Technology, Cryptography, E-commerce, Anonymous, Internet vigilantism, Internet-based activism, Computer security, Educational technology, Machine learning, Deep learning

    Today,Pimloc islaunching SecureRedact, a platform that makes video anonymous by default.

    Key Points: 
    • Today,Pimloc islaunching SecureRedact, a platform that makes video anonymous by default.
    • From law enforcement agencies to security, smart cities and global brands, teams can now use machine-learning to make their video anonymous in an instant.
    • What's the difference between a video showing you were in a certain place at a certain time and the location data on your phone?
    • The Secure Redact service uses Pimloc's proprietary Deep Learning Platform which has been trained on millions of images and video.

    SecureRedact Brings Video Anonymisation to All

    Retrieved on: 
    Wednesday, March 20, 2019
    Articles, Security engineering, Cyberspace, Internet vigilantism, Internet-based activism, Crime prevention, Emerging technologies, Anonymous, Computer security, Deep learning, Machine learning

    Today,Pimloc islaunching SecureRedact, a platform that makes video anonymous by default.

    Key Points: 
    • Today,Pimloc islaunching SecureRedact, a platform that makes video anonymous by default.
    • From law enforcement agencies to security, smart cities and global brands, teams can now use machine-learning to make their video anonymous in an instant.
    • The Secure Redact service uses Pimloc's proprietary Deep Learning Platform which has been trained on millions of images and video.
    • It has been further fine-tuned with domain specific video from security and road survey footage.

    TengoInternet Provides Notice of Data Security Incident

    Retrieved on: 
    Friday, October 26, 2018
    Internet activism, Hacker groups, Internet culture, Internet vigilantism, Cyberspace, Internet-based activism, Cyberattacks, Password, Anonymous

    On September 23, 2018, TengoInternet received evidence indicating an anonymous individual had accessed its database of consumer usernames and passwords for TengoInternet accounts, without authorization, in or prior to April 2018.

    Key Points: 
    • On September 23, 2018, TengoInternet received evidence indicating an anonymous individual had accessed its database of consumer usernames and passwords for TengoInternet accounts, without authorization, in or prior to April 2018.
    • While TengoInternet's investigation is ongoing, they have no confirmation of any actual or attempted fraudulent misuse of consumer information resulting from this incident.
    • TengoInternet is emailing notice letters to the consumers whose personal information may have been accessed or acquired by the unauthorized actor.
    • TengoInternet has established a dedicated assistance line for individuals seeking additional information regarding this incident.

    TengoInternet Provides Notice of Data Security Incident

    Retrieved on: 
    Friday, October 26, 2018
    Security engineering, Cyberwarfare, Cyberspace, Cybercrime, Hacker groups, Internet vigilantism, Secure communication, Internet-based activism, Password, Computer security, Anonymous

    On September 23, 2018, TengoInternet received evidence indicating an anonymous individual had accessed its database of consumer usernames and passwords for TengoInternet accounts, without authorization, in or prior to April 2018.

    Key Points: 
    • On September 23, 2018, TengoInternet received evidence indicating an anonymous individual had accessed its database of consumer usernames and passwords for TengoInternet accounts, without authorization, in or prior to April 2018.
    • While TengoInternet's investigation is ongoing, they have no confirmation of any actual or attempted fraudulent misuse of consumer information resulting from this incident.
    • TengoInternet has strict security measures to protect the information in its possession.
    • TengoInternet has established a dedicated assistance line for individuals seeking additional information regarding this incident.