It is called the “Samuel Paty” amendment, in reference to the history and geography teacher murdered last October after showing his students caricatures of Muhammad. Since Wednesday, August 25, the fact of revealing the identity of a person on the Internet as well as personal information concerning him, with the aim of harming him, is now criminally punishable.
The law confirming respect for the principles of the Republic, also called the “law against separatism”, which entered into force on Wednesday, introduces this new offense, which is called the doxing (Where doxxing).
Up to 5 years in prison and a 75,000 euro fine
“The fact of revealing, disseminating or transmitting, by any means whatsoever, information relating to the private, family or professional life of a person making it possible to identify or locate him for the purposes of exhibiting him or to expose members of his family to a direct risk of harm to the person or to property that the author could not ignore ”, is now punishable by article 36 of the law.
In fact, a person guilty of doxing now faces up to three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. But these penalties can be increased due to aggravating circumstances, when the victims have been targeted because of certain characteristics (civil servants, persons in charge of public order, journalists, elected officials, disabled people, minors, etc.), then increasing to 5 years in prison and a 75,000 euro fine.
The consequences of a doxing can be dramatic for victims: cyberstalking, threats, identity theft, and even physical assault. A few days before the assassination of Samuel Paty, his name, the city where he resided and the high school in which he practiced had been disclosed on social networks, information which could have helped the murderer to commit the crime.