Self doxing

Using various search engines like Google and Duck Duck Go, I searched up my name and was surprised to find my old accounts that I had long forgotten. Most of it were created when I was an adolescent and the content was immature and embarrassing to read. My friends gave my blog a read and they would not have imagined me writing content like that and posting it up on the internet for all to see.

I immediately deleted all my old accounts after discovering how easy it was to find out so much about myself just from entering my name into a search bar. I was also at the stage where I would be looking for an internship or job soon and I would not want my future employers to read such stuff that I had written – although it did not contain any sensitive topics it was still embarrassing. For social media accounts like facebook and twitter, I set them to private so only those who followed me could view my posts.

Self doxing ‘can help us make informed decisions about what we share online, and how’ (Guides.accessnow.org, 2020). Nothing is really private nowadays which makes me conscious of the image that I am portraying online. By self doxing, I can filter out what I want others to see. Self doxing also can also help protect my identity – someone else could have posted my information without my permission. With recent cases like ‘SG Nasi Lemak’ where a ‘chat group was used as a platform for sharing obscene photos and videos of women in Singapore’ (ALKHATIB, 2020) without their consent, I would be worried that this would happen to me as well. It is also shocking how easily such content can be found which means that it can be spread around in a matter of seconds, possibly tarnishing the reputation of the victim.

Guides.accessnow.org. (2020). Self-Doxing Guide | Access Now Digital Security Helpline End-User Guides. [online] Available at: https://guides.accessnow.org/self-doxing.html [Accessed 7 Jan. 2020].

ALKHATIB, S. (2020). SG Nasi Lemak case: Man faces 5 more charges involving pornography. [online] The Straits Times. Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/sg-nasi-lemak-case-man-faces-5-more-charges-involving-pornography [Accessed 7 Jan. 2020].