Last month, the Journal News sparked a firestorm of protest when it published a mappable database of every licensed gun owner in Westchester and Rockland counties, north of New York City. The paper obtained the data—which New York state law explicitly and unambiguously demands be made public—through open records…
The saga of the Journal News' decision to publish the names and addresses of gun owners in Rockland County now has another chapter.
If that bulky headline didn't give you warning enough, prepare to jump down the rabbit hole now. Cast your mind back to a few days ago. Neetzan Zimmerman noted that local New York paper the Journal News' decision to publish the names and addresses of gun owners in Rockland County had come under criticism:
In response to the controversy surrounding the interactive map of local gun permit holders published by a Lower Hudson Valley newspaper, one blogger decided to punish the paper's staff members by invoking a well-established principle of biblical law: A dox for a dox.
Doxxing has officially gone mainstream: The controversial practice of posting an individual's personal contact information in the name of public interest has been employed by a local New York daily to out area gun permit holders — much to the offense of many in conservative circles.
