Steps To Help Shield You and Your Company from Online Doxxing

Todd McMurtry — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 19:51:56 +0000

An aggravated consumer, industry rival, former employee or another person who is upset with your company may try to exact revenge by use of “doxxing” — the practice of gathering a person or entity’s personal information and publishing it online. This may include sensitive information about the finances, health, residence, political affiliation, family and private lives of executives and employees at targeted organizations. Whether performed by an experienced hacker or an amateur sleuth, doxxing can take a serious toll on a company, leaving it and its employees vulnerable to embarrassment and possible financial injury.

Doxxing is distinguishable from defamation, which is the publication of false information about a person or entity. The danger from doxxing is that the information released is true but sensitive. Unfortunately, there is a wealth of data that can be legally obtained online by clever searchers.

Fortunately, there are ways to help prevent hackers from finding the information they want. Cyber security professionals recommend the following actions:

Provide digital security training for employees — Create standard protocols for Internet activity and teach information-protection practices to employees. This helps prevent the release of information that should remain private.
Limit what is shared on social media — People with bad intentions can latch onto one detail your employee posts online and use it to uncover much more about the person’s life. Changing social media privacy settings can limit access to identifying data points — like addresses, employers, schools and email addresses — making it harder to track you on other platforms.
Use encryption tools — A hacker who accesses someone’s computer system may obtain important data and metadata from documents like Word, Excel and Powerpoint files. Documents and communications should be encrypted to keep their contents virtually inaccessible to anyone except the intended recipient.
Use strong passwords and vary them — Passwords are the keys to your data online, yet many users favor simple passwords that are easy to remember and, worse, include identifying information. Security experts recommend long passwords with a mix of numbers, symbols and upper- and lower-case letters. Also, use different ones for different accounts.
Update computer security — Internet firewall and antivirus software should be frequently updated. New versions are issued frequently to keep ahead of hackers that learn to exploit security weaknesses and mine hard drives for data.

Doxxing may warrant civil legal action or criminal charges, depending on the type of information released, the means used to acquire the information, the intent of the publisher and the reputation damage or other harm inflicted.

If you or your company has been doxxed, you should consult with an attorney to see what can be done to limit the damage to your reputation and hold the bad guys responsible. But it is far better to avoid the problem in the first place by being careful about your online activities and how you or your business share information with others.

Todd V. McMurtry is a Member at Hemmer DeFrank Wessels, PLLC. He is a commercial trial attorney and Harvard trained mediator. You can reach him at (859) 344-1188 or tmcmurtry@hemmerlaw.com.

The post Steps To Help Shield You and Your Company from Online Doxxing appeared first on Todd McMurtry.

Why the Communications Decency Act May Elect a Democrat in 2020.

Todd McMurtry — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 14:56:42 +0000

I spent a day last week in Washington, DC to meet with some of the nation’s leading conservative thinkers to discuss the threat social media presents to President Trump and other conservative candidates. I was invited to discuss my research on ways to hold social media companies accountable in the courts. Every one of the fifteen or so participants agreed that Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter can swing the election. It is widely accepted that the leaders of most social media companies are decidedly liberal—even Leftist![1] Dr. Robert Epstein, a leading figure on this topic, has presented extensive research and analysis to support his contention that Google alone can swing over ten million votes in favor of the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.[2] Combine the power of social media with the threat of manipulation from foreign powers such as China and Russia, and it becomes clear that our democratic process faces its greatest challenge since the Civil War.[3] Now, as then, we confront threats from within and without.

The participants in the meeting believe that social media companies are well-organized, well-funded and prepared to act across all spheres to retain their influence. For example, social media companies are willing to spend lavishly on widely-panned reports, such as former Senator John Kyl’s recent “investigation” into Facebook.[4] [5] They routinely hire the most influential lawyers in the nation to fight every challenge to their power.[6] And, they lobby the Washington power structure to keep legislative protections in place.[7]

The source of Big Tech’s power is 47 U.S. Code §230 of the Communications Decency Act.[8] The relevant portion of the Act provides civil immunity to social media platforms for “any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected . . .” Put another way, social media platforms can control what anyone posts online, including elected officials and influential organizations.[9] They have absolute control, and there are no clear ways to limit their power. Perhaps of greatest importance is that the language of §230 is so powerful that courts practically never question the unlimited authority it grants social media companies. Highly persuasive lawsuits from the likes of PragerU, Tulsi Gabbard, Devin Nunez and Laura Loomer either have already been dismissed or most likely will be.[10]

Prior to the election of President Trump, social media platforms were strong adherents to First Amendment values and the free exchange of ideas. The platforms’ commitment to free speech had few limitations. Terms of service and community guidelines were careful to prohibit only child pornography, spam, phishing, fraud, impersonation, and copyright violations. Over time, the platforms experienced increasing pressure from advertisers to restrict content.[11] As well, critics blamed the loss of the 2016 presidential election on the influence of conservative social media influencers.[12] Now, in place of a commitment to free speech, the platforms claim they are committed to a goal of striking a balance between free expression and abuse prevention.[13]

The reality of striking a balance, however, is that conservative voices are being suppressed. In 2018, the Media Research Center produced an exhaustive study titled, Censored! How Online Media Companies are Suppressing Conservative Speech.[14] As this suppression continues, conservative voices are muted and liberal ones are elevated. Obviously, this change could easily swing an election. To play this out, were the Democrats to win the presidency in 2020, they would be able to grow the influence of liberal-dominated social media thus locking in their advantage in perpetuity. This is scary stuff.

What is to be done? We must find a way to reduce the protections of §230. I am personally exploring novel ways to sue social media companies on behalf of content creators and consumers. With a conservative Supreme Court, there is a chance to have §230 of the Communications Decency Act repealed as unconstitutional. For example, it could rule that social media companies are state actors that unconstitutionally limit freedom of speech. There are also a few legal avenues by which a plaintiff could seek substantial damages from the social media platforms. We hope to hit them in the pocketbook. But lawsuits are very expensive and time consuming. There is little a lawsuit can do in the short term to stop social media platforms from influencing the 2020 elections.

What we can do today to address this problem is to educate others. We must make people aware of what is happening. So, share this article with your friends. The more who appreciate the threat the Communications Decency Act presents to our democracy, the better our chances to avoid the malign influence of social media companies in the 2020 election. Don’t let the Communications Decency Act decide who wins in 2020!

[1] https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/i-confronted-google-about-its-liberal-groupthink-at-a-shareholder-meeting-heres-what-happened-next/

[2] https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Epstein%20Testimony.pdf

[3] https://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-covertly-subverting-trump-reelection/

[4] https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/techwatch/corinne-weaver/2019/08/20/facebook-audit-fails-address-conservative-censorship

[5] https://fbnewsroomus.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/covington-interim-report-1.pdf

[6] 700+ lawyer firm Wilson Sonsini represents Google against claims brought by PraegerU. https://www.wsgr.com/WSGR/Default.aspx

[7] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-22/google-set-2018-lobbying-record-as-washington-techlash-expands

[8] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/230

[9] https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-apple-news-bans-lifesite-without-warning-shows-intolerance

[10] https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article234258302.html

[11] Danielle Keats Citron, Extremist Speech, Compelled Conformity, and Censorship Creep, 93 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1035 (2018).

[12] https://www.cjr.org/analysis/youtube-breaking-news.php