Is Doxxing Illegal In Oregon?

With laws against doxxing cropping up around the country, you may be wondering: Is doxxing illegal in Oregon? 

This guide illuminates what residents of the Beaver State can expect when it comes to the legality of having their information shared online without their permission, along with how Oregon’s legal system handles related activities that can arise from doxxing.  

Is Doxxing Illegal in Oregon?

No. Doxxing – the act of publishing someone else’s personal information online without their consent – is not covered by any specific laws in Oregon. 

Doxxing Related Activities That Are Illegal In Oregon

Just because doxxing itself is not illegal in Oregon doesn’t mean that other related activities aren’t. 

In Oregon, there are laws against menacing, recklessly endangering another person, harassment, telephonic harassment, stalking, and misconduct with emergency telephone calls – all of which are activities that can occur after someone exposes your personal information. 

Menacing

If someone intentionally attempts to put you in fear of imminent personal injury by verbal or physical threat in Oregon, they can be charged with menacing, as per Oregon Revised Statutes § 163.190. 

Menacing is considered a Class A misdemeanor that could result in up to one-year imprisonment and a fine of up to $6,250. The penalties increase to a felony if a dangerous weapon is involved in the threat.

Recklessly endangering another person

Under Oregon’s Revised Statutes § 163.195, reckless endangerment refers to the act of engaging in conduct that “creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury to another person.” 

It is typically charged as a Class A misdemeanor with possible charges of up to one year in prison and a maximum fine of $6,250. 

Harassment

In Oregon, harassment (Oregon Revised Statutes § 166.065) is defined in three ways:

• Harassing or annoying someone by subjecting them to unwanted physical contact or publicly insulting someone with abusive words/gestures with the goal of being incendiary.
• Conveying a false report (such as about someone’s death) to cause someone alarm.
• Communicating a threat (either verbally, by telephone, or in electronic form) to inflict serious injury on someone or their family members, which would be reasonably expected to cause alarm.

Harassment is considered a Class B misdemeanor in Oregon, with a charge of up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $2,500.

Telephonic harassment

Telephonic harassment, as the name implies, refers to harassment made using a telephone. 

Under Oregon Revised Statutes 166.090, this can include calling a person without actually wanting to speak to them or leaving text messages or voicemails even though they’ve been forbidden to do so by the owner of the phone. 

Perpetrators charged with telephonic harassment face a Class B misdemeanor with penalties of up to six months in prison and up to a $2,500 fine.

Stalking

Stalking is illegal under Oregon Revised Statutes 163.732. 

In Oregon, stalking happens if someone:

• Engages in repeated and unwanted contact with a person.
• The victim is alarmed or coerced by this contact.
• The victim feels apprehensive about their or their family’s safety.

Stalking is considered a Class A misdemeanor in Oregon, meaning perpetrators who are charged with it could face up to a year in jail and $6,250 in fines.

Those charged with stalking previously will be looking at a Class C felony, meaning they could be imprisoned for as long as five years and fined up to $125,000.

Initiating a false report

In Oregon, you can be charged with initiating a false report to law enforcement or other organizations that deal with emergencies (Oregon Revised Statutes 162.375). 

Making a false report to the police is sometimes also known as swatting. 

Perpetrators who face this charge are looking at a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $6,250. Any convicted person will also have to repay the costs of responding and investigating the false report. 

In cases where a law enforcement special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team (or similar) responded to the report, the court can impose a term of incarceration of at least 10 days or 30 days if the deployment resulted in serious injury or death of a person. 

Is Doxxing Illegal at the Federal Level?

Despite all of the harmful behaviors that can stem from doxxing, it is not illegal at the federal level. 

However, some states, such as California, Illinois, and Arizona, have implemented anti-doxxing laws. 

Regardless of where you live, you should take preemptive measures to limit how much of your personal information is available on the internet. This will make it less likely that you will be doxxed, which in turn will make it less likely that bad actors will be able to find your contact information and engage in criminal activity with it. 

How to Protect Yourself Against Doxxing In Oregon (And Elsewhere)

To make yourself undoxxable, you should doxx yourself. This will give you a good idea of where your information is showing up online and what steps you need to take to delete it. 

To do so, follow our guide on doxxing yourself using our list of doxxing tools.

Once you’ve doxxed yourself and removed as much of the information that appears about you online as possible, consider the following:

• Changing your social media settings so that your profile information is private and your posts are only visible to friends. 
• Opting out from data brokers and people search sites to remove your profiles from their records. Data brokers are companies that collect your personal information and then sell it to more or less anyone who wants to buy it. Remember to opt out continuously as data brokers relist your data when they find more of it. Alternatively, you can sign up for DeleteMe – our privacy experts will opt you out from data brokers on your behalf. 
• Using unique usernames and passwords on each platform or app to make it harder for bad actors to track you.
• Scrubbing your personal data from Google’s search results. 
• Being very careful about what information you share online, especially in public places.

Read our guide on how to prevent doxxing to learn more.