You would have remembered this: a BMW driver just wanted to top up $10 worth of petrol, but the pump attendant pumped full instead.
Soon after, shit hit the fan as people alleged that the pump attendant had to pay the difference (which is not true), and the driver became Singapore’s #1 enemy.
Soon, netizens somehow managed to track down everything about the driver and posted his personal details online, from his contact number to his job. People started to disturb him both online and offline, all in the name of online justice.
Now, we Singaporeans might know this as “CSI”, but there’s a term for it: doxxing.
In fact, it’s not something that only happens in Singapore: it’s a worldwide phenomenon and there’s even a long Wikipedia page about it.
If you think it’s harmless, think again.
Unless you’re a victim of doxxing, you might not feel the consequence of it. However, people have lost their jobs and privacy because of doxxing, and you’d have remembered many of them moving out of the country after being harassed.
And in Singapore, there has been an increasing trend in doxxing.
Rise in Doxxing in Singapore
According to the Ministry of Law, there has been a rise in doxxing in Singapore (pretty sure you can tell from the number of “CSI’s” online).
They mentioned in a statement, “Often, this arises in the context of online ‘vigilantism’. The amendments will prohibit the publication of such personal information where it is done with an intention to harass the victim.”
And the “amendments” they were referring to?
A change in the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA).
Today (1 April 2019), a number of changes to the act were tabled in Parliament, and a few of them were related to doxxing.
Under Section 3 of the new act, those found guilty of intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress can be fined up to S$5,000 or receive a maximum jail term of six months, or both.
People guilty of creating fear or provocation of violence will also face tougher punishment (e.g. they told others to “teach” the victims a lesson). They can be fined up to S$5,000 or receive a maximum jail term of 12 months, or both.
Yeah, still want to act hero online?
What is Considered Doxxing
Now that the law’s going to deter you from anyhowly publish people’s personal details online, you should be wondering: What is considered doxxing?
Here are a few examples:
- Posting personal information of someone who has done something wrong in a video (e.g. the BMW driver, the Go-Jek passenger and in the latest case, the Go-Jek driver)
- Posting personal information of someone and claiming he or she is involved in something when the person is not
- Posting a video or post about someone that contains his or her personal information and rallying others to “threaten” or “attack” the person
Now, these are all examples: you’d have to play by ear and the best thing to do is to remember this: don’t be an online judge, jury and executioner, and don’t anyhowly CSI others.
In fact, don’t CSI others at all lah. If you die die want your detective skills to be recognized, go join the police or something like that.
Watch this for a complete summary of what REALLY happened to Qoo10, and why it's like a K-drama:
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