make online doxing illegal in the UK. · petition

What the petition asks

we the British public, want to make going online to be a safe place and secure place for everyone. at present many thousands of people across the u.k run the risk of themselves and there family and friends inc children being doxed by other people across many social network platforms.

the British public would like the u.k government to take this extremely seriously. some forms of people using others information includes there personal information being shared without consent.because at present there is no clear law making this illegal. this has many implications, this can give others the opportunity to ruin lives of many people who sould have the right to privacy under the human rights act 1998. we believe doxing sould also be covered under the same act.

Why it was rejected

It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.

There are a number of offences under which people engaged in "doxxing" can already be charged, including communications offences and other offences where social media is used to facilitate another offence.

Investigating possible offences and prosecuting these are a matter for the police and Crown Prosecution Service, not the Government or House of Commons.

The Crown Prosecution Service has published guidance on prosecuting cases involving communications sent via social media: https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/social-media-guidelines-prosecuting-cases-involving-communications-sent-social-media

We have published the following related petitions, which you might like to sign:

Ban anonymous accounts on social media: Ban anonymous accounts on social media

Debate an Online Harms Bill by the end of 2020 and make it law by July 2021: Debate an Online Harms Bill by the end of 2020 and make it law by July 2021

Require social media platforms to validate user IDs: Require social media platforms to validate user IDs

Strengthen laws against online abuse and harassment: Strengthen laws against online abuse and harassment

You could start a petition calling on the Government to create a new offence, but it would need to be clear exactly what action you want the Government to criminalise.

Timeline

31 May 2020	Petition opened for signatures
10 Aug 2020	Rejected by the Petitions Committee