The Office for Personal Data Protection (GPDP) urged institutions and individuals yesterday to respect others, treat personal information in accordance with the law, maintain a “reasonable balance” between the two fundamental rights of personal data protection and freedom of expression, and not to engage in “doxxing”, in order to avoid violating the law.
Doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organisation, usually via the internet, according to Wikipedia.
The statement said that “doxxing” generally refers to collecting personal data through different means and releasing it publicly through the internet, social media or other means, including offline means, without the consent of the person concerned and other justification. The statement added that as doxxing often implies threats, bullying and other purposes in which personal information is deliberately released to the public or spread to varying degrees, it is “highly likely” to violate the provisions of the Macau Personal Data Protection Law, possibly constituting an administrative illegality or even a crime.
Since the rise of the internet, the statement pointed out, the disclosure of other people’s personal information online, commonly known as so-called “human flesh search engine “ or “doxxing”, has gradually become a social concern, with a number of cases, involving pecuniary, sales or capital-labour disputes, which have been transferred to the police with penalties imposed in recent years.
According to the statement, among those cases, a company was fined 4,000 patacas for posting a resignation notice containing the identity card number and name of the employee on the staff notice board, while an offender was fined 8,000 patacas for posting partially masked photos and partial names of borrowers on social media to recover arrears.
In the event that the rights and interests of people’s personal information are violated, residents can visit the GPDP in person or call the hotline for enquiries and complaints on 2871 5666.
This screenshot taken from the Office for Personal Data Protection (GPDP) website last night shows its office on the 17th floor of China Plaza on Avenida da Praia Grande.
