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Attacks on journalists increase in 2019 with rise in doxxing, cyber attacks: LBH Pers
The Legal Aid Institute for the Press recorded 79 attacks against journalists in 2019, including doxxing and online threats.
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An illustration of a person committing a cyber attack. (Shutterstock/File)
T
hroughout 2019, the Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers) not only recorded an increasing number of incidents of violence against journalists, but also observed new types of attacks such as cyber attacks and doxxing.
While 71 cases were recorded in 2018, the LBH Pers identified 79 in 2019.
LBH Pers executive director Ade Wahyudin said on Monday that journalists were increasingly becoming the targets of online attacks for stories they had published. Some have even become victims of doxxing, while many others have had their social media accounts hacked.
“A journalist from Tirto.id received an email demanding he take down his story about the mastermind of the riots in May,” Ade said, referring to the postelection protests in front of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) building in Central Jakarta.
“At first, he ignored it but continued to receive threats, several days later he was notified by Google that internet users were trying to change his email and social media account passwords,” he added.
Doxxing, meanwhile, involves the publishing of an individual’s personal information without their consent and often leads to further online attacks. LBH Pers recorded 5 cases last year.
Besides the attacks, last year the LBH Pers recorded an increasing number of cases of journalists from online news organizations being reported to the police over copyright issues.
