"As a refresher, to doxx someone is, definitionally, "to publicly identify or publish private information about [them], especially as a form of punishment or revenge." The word arose from '90s hacker culture, to describe the digital unmasking of someone otherwise known only by a username by sharing their identity or personal information publicly. Although it remained in the fringe realm of 4chan message boards for ages, doxxing went mainstream in the 2010s, with the Gamergate fiasco."
"In the years since, the word has seemingly come to mean any form of nonconsensual disclosure whatsoever, regardless of what is being disclosed or its relevance to public interest. During that unfortunate episode, disgruntled video game fans embarked on an online harassment campaign against women and marginalized people, falsely framing their efforts as a push for "ethics in games journalism.""
Concept creep occurs when words expand beyond original definitions until they lose precise meaning. The term doxx originally meant publicly identifying or publishing private information about someone as punishment or revenge, emerging from 1990s hacker culture as the digital unmasking of anonymous users. Doxxing became widely known during the 2010s Gamergate harassment campaign, when trolls revealed home addresses and personal emails of targeted women and marginalized people. Over time, the term has broadened to cover any nonconsensual disclosure, a dilution that undermines distinctions between harmful exposure and routine information sharing and that can be exploited for political ends.
Read at Fast Company
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