ECAJ statement calling for nationwide anti-doxxing laws.
Since 1944, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry has been the elected national representative body of the Jewish community, uniting and leading nearly two hundred diverse community groups throughout our country. In that time, we have endured difficult times and overcome many challenges, but never have we seen a period where so many in our community are so fearful for their physical security and loss of livelihood.
In the last few days this has been caused by the publication of lists containing the names, faces and other personal information of hundreds of individuals, whose only common trait is that they are Jewish. This has been done with coordination and with malice, in many cases resulting in harassment, death threats directed to named individuals and their children, professional and financial loss, vandalism of premises, and extensive psychological harm.
The individuals responsible for this are engaged in practices synonymous with the Nazi era. We cannot, as a free and democratic society, permit the compilation of racial blacklists and the ensuing exclusion, vilification and harassment to take place. The ECAJ is today calling for reform of the Criminal Code to make it unlawful to post private or identifying information about an individual or group with the intent that the information be used to cause harm to the victim. This abhorrent practice is commonly known as “doxxing” and has no place in our society.
We also call on social media platforms to permanently deactivate the accounts of those found to have used their accounts for the purposes of doxxing. Social media is intended to connect individuals and communities and allow the rapid exchange of information. Where accounts are used to threaten the lives and livelihoods of others, the platforms have a duty to act.
We urge any members of our community who feel endangered by this doxxing attack to immediately contact us so that we may direct you to the appropriate legal, mental health support, or security services.
We express our sincere appreciation to the members of parliament, Labor, Liberal and Independent who have contacted us to offer their support and convey their outrage. We are prepared to work with you to ensure the protection of the victims and to end the impunity of the perpetrators.
