Grapperhaus wants to make sharing private data with the aim of intimidation a criminal offense

Outgoing Minister of Justice and Security Ferd Grapperhaus wants to make the distribution of someone’s private data with the aim of intimidation a criminal offense. The minister submitted a bill on Monday that should achieve this.

According to the Ministry of Justice and Security doxing is becoming more and more common ‘due to the rise of the internet and social media’, among others in professions such as social workers, opinion formers, scientists, journalists and politicians. Doxing is a term for the deliberate distribution of someone’s personal information, such as home addresses, for the purpose of intimidating or frightening that person.

Currently, this is not yet punishable, in contrast to stalking and threats. The Ministry of Justice writes that this is because doxing does not involve ‘a threat of a serious crime’ or ‘a systematic invasion of the privacy’ of the person concerned. With the bill, Minister Grapperhaus wants to lower this criminal law bar, so that doxing can be tackled with a maximum prison sentence of one year.

“The great ease with which some people think they can intimidate by spreading private information about others is beyond scandalous,” Grapperhaus writes in a statement from the ministry. “It’s about the limit of the permissible when people’s lives are hindered, our agents are hindered in their work and scientists can no longer speak freely.”

The Ministry of Justice and Security writes that there should be a penalty for ‘providing, distributing or otherwise making available identifying personal data of another person’ with the aim of intimidating that person, causing serious nuisance or hindering the person concerned in performing his or her profession.

There are some exceptions to this, however. “Journalists and whistleblowers who publish news facts and abuses are not punishable if the disclosure of data is necessary in the public interest. After all, the intention is not to intimidate others,” the ministry said.

It was expected that the bill would not only allow for criminal prosecution of doxing. According to the ministry, it should also make victims more resilient. For example, the law must ensure that people can more easily appeal to internet providers or online platforms to have ‘unlawful content’ removed.