Key Points
- Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is set to introduce legislation to outlaw the practice known as doxing.
- Doxing involves people's personal information being shared online to encourage harassment.
- Under the new laws, people found guilty of doxing could face up to seven years in prison.
People who maliciously reveal private information about someone online could soon face up to seven years in prison.
People found to have doxed someone will face a maximum of six years in prison, while offenders will get up to seven years behind bars if a person has been targeted due to factors such as race, religion or sexual orientation.
Doxing refers to revealing a person's private information, such as phone number or address, without their consent and is often used to encourage harassment.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus pledged to move on the issue e, including photos and social media details were published online earlier this year.
Laws being introduced to federal parliament on Thursday will move to outlaw doxing.
The crackdown would strengthen online protection and give people greater control over their personal information, Dreyfus said ahead of introducing the legislation on Thursday.
"Australians have a right to have their privacy respected, and when they are asked to hand over their personal data, they have a right to expect it will be protected," he said.
A children's privacy code has been included to protect kids specifically from online harms.
The law won't cover changing small business exemptions, informal consent so big companies can't entrap consumers with complicated terms and conditions and the right to forget, which covers revoking access to public information.
The three measures and further considerations for a possible second tranche of privacy legislation are being considered by the attorney-general but are unlikely to be formalised before the federal election, which is due by May 2025.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was "unacceptable" people could be targeted due to their faith.
While hate speech laws promised alongside the doxing crackdown will be introduced on Thursday, they have been walked back after negotiations for separate religious freedom and anti-discrimination laws fell over.
The friction point between Labor and the Opposition over balancing anti-discrimination carve-outs for religious beliefs — such as being able to sack gay staff — and removing dangerous prejudices has spilled over into hate speech laws.
The revised bill is not expected to include serious penalties for vilification which were billed as a response to rising levels of antisemitism and vilification targeting minority groups.
It is likely to reignite debate over protecting minority communities and tackling antisemitism after some Jewish and Muslim groups and the queer community welcomed the initial announcement of anti-vilification laws.
Others have raised concerns about the impact on free speech.
State and territory laws cover vilification.
