DeleteMe, one of the companies which offers to help people remove their private data from data brokers (full disclosure: I am a DeleteMe customer, though after what I write about here I’m questioning that), publishes a monthly newsletter. The November issue misrepresents what doxxing is and falsely claims that data brokers are doxxing people all the time, all for the sake of fear-mongering and selling more DeleteMe subscriptions. This is gross, and it needs to be called out.
Here’s what the newsletter says:
Doxxing—the terrifying exposure of someone’s private personal details online—is a term most people associate with high-profile feuds: influencers, politicians, or those who argue with internet trolls. While those high-value targets are certainly vulnerable, the frightening truth is that doxxing can happen to anyone. In fact, it’s almost certainly happening to you right now.
But here’s the thing: You’re not being doxxed for any particular reason. Most likely no one’s out to “get you” or looking to exact revenge (two of the most common motives behind individual doxxing). You’re not being targeted by an individual. There’s an entire industry.
And their motive for doxxing you? Money. (Yes, we’re talking about data brokers.)
“In order for data brokers to make money, they must advertise our information for sale, and therefore they are doxing us,” DeleteMe’s CEO Rob Shavell observed in a recent interview with Cybernews.
(Incidentally, in the actual newsletter, the link to the Cybernews article ends with “?utm_source=chatgpt.com”. Wow, that’s kind of embarrassing for DeleteMe. I edited the link above to remove the tracking information.)
So, let’s talk about why this is ridiculously wrong.
First, intent is a nearly essential element of doxxing [ref]. Pretty much nobody talks about “doxxing” when they’re just talking about somebody’s private information being exposed online without malicious intent. Saying that the entire data broker industry is “doxxing” people is wrong and ridiculous.
Second, an absolutely essential element of doxxing is public exposure to a large number of people. Most data brokers don’t let you see people’s private data without paying them. While it’s true that a few data brokers make some private data accessible for free if you go to their site and search for an individual, that’s still not doxxing.
And third, what the hell is going on with that quote from the CEO of DeleteMe? “In order for data brokers to make money, they must advertise our information for sale, and therefore they are doxing us”? What? That’s nonsense. It makes no sense.
The whole thing is nonsense.
It’s hiliarious that DeleteMe is criticizing the data brokers for being in it for the money, while accusing them of something they’re not doing in a marketing pitch to convince people to, you know, give DeleteMe money.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no love for data brokers, and I wish the entire industry would die in a fire or get legislated out of existence. But misusing terms to make what the data brokers do sound more ominous than it is helps no one. Words have meanings, and distorting those meanings to make a buck is shitty.
