Labor bill proposes up to seven years’ jail for doxing but drops promised new hate speech laws | Australian politics | The Guardian

Malicious release of personal data would be criminalised under a bill to be introduced by the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, on Thursday along with a separate bill implementing the first tranche of privacy reforms.

As Guardian Australia revealed on Monday, this will include a new right to sue for “serious invasions of privacy” and a children’s online privacy code.

The doxing bill, full details of which will only be revealed on Thursday, would criminalise “malicious use of personal data”, with a penalty of up to six years in prison or up to seven years for targeting a person because of their race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, disability, nationality or national or ethnic origin.

But despite promising a bill to criminalise vilification and hate speech more generally – such as inciting hatred, serious contempt, revulsion or severe ridicule – the government has dropped the commitment.

[Ed: Complicated. It will also make it more difficult for women to warn others of male sexual perpetrators using a changed name or sex.]

Source: Labor bill proposes up to seven years’ jail for doxing but drops promised new hate speech laws | Australian politics | The Guardian