Doxing

Relaying real-life identifying info is prohibited, unless:

Relaying an alias is prohibited, unless:

Relaying non-identifying info about a subject, which was obtained through illicit means, is prohibited.

⚠️ Info-Hazard: Potentially-violating material is subject to deletion at any time.
⚠️ External: May apply to activity outside of Cabal.
⚠️ Public Interest: Does not apply when posting is likely to prevent non-trivial unethical actions, or create awareness of serious crimes.

In cases where there is no ambiguity that a post is doxing, primary identifying information is included, and it is deemed to be malicious:

⚠️ Terminal: Violators are subject to reprimand without warning.

Terms

Many of these definitions may require an official to make an arbitration on their applicability.

Post(ing/ed)

Displaying in any way which is viewable to the public, including via message, nickname, voice, third party, link, etc.

Identifying Info

Info of a type which, if it were accurate, would practically-measurably discriminate one person from another, such as account username, real name, address, phone number, house or vehicle description, etc., especially including info whose only purpose is identification.

Real-life Identifying Info

Identifying info which pertains to a person's real-life circumstances, such as real name, address, phone number, house or vehicle description, etc., including any account names which include any such information.

Subject

Any individual which info refers to, names, describes, locates, etc.

Relay(ing/ed)

Posting info which pertains to a subject other than the poster.

Volunteer(ing/ed)

  • Either:
    • Posted by the Subject
    • OR explicitly apparently-sincerely permitted by the subject to be posted by others
  • UNLESS the post or permission:
    • Is deemed a momentary accident
    • OR:
      • Occurred while the subject was under 18, otherwise incapable of adult consent, or if consent was coercive
      • AND It cannot be removed

Venue

The context in which these rules apply, for example a Discord server.

Alias

Any name used by a person, except their real-life name. This primarily refers to online account names.

Momentary Accident

Posting accidentally, where the error is in the realm of impulse control, lapse in memory, physical input mistake, etc., which was undone without hesitation, once noticed by the poster.

Trivially-inferred

Found by means of information which is easily-recognisably identical between two ostensibly-separate users, such as username, voice, etc. For a username, this can include simple transformations such as the removal of numbers, adding/removing blank characters, adhering the username to the format of a platform, etc. Inferences which reveal real-life identifying information may be challenged by an adjudicating officer for plausibility before they may be shared. Where possible, inferences of real-life identifying info should remain vague enough not to identify any fewer than roughly thousands of people, or, where applicable, roughly the size of a UK or US county.

Illicit Means

Means likely to violate justified UK or US law, or any rule of this venue, or using information which would count as doxing if it was posted in this venue.

Addenda

  • Real-life identifying info used as the primary online identity in this venue has, by the above definitions, been volunteered, and so relaying it is not restricted. Evidence of this volunteering may still be requested if the association is not obvious to the adjudicating officer.
  • Sincere attempts at doxing which use inaccurate information may be treated just as severely as if they had used accurate information. In fact, adjudicating officers should almost never care whether the information is accurate or not, only concerning themselves with the type of such information, as per the above definition.
  • As per the "info-hazard" tag on this rule, potentially-violating posts may be deleted before their illegality has been determined. It is an imposition upon users, therefore, to proactively prove the info they're posting abides by the rules, namely by posting the evidence of its legality alongside or nearby to every post which includes the info.
  • Some leniency may be applied to cases of doxing where the info has become widely-spread public knowledge, even if its original spread was also doxing. This only applies in cases where info about a public figure has spread in major publications and through other public figures to the point that attempting to retract the info would be futile.