Anti-Doxxing Policy

This policy defines and outlines expectations related to doxxing and provides resources to report and prevent doxxing.

This policy applies to RISD students, staff, and faculty in RISD-run or RISD-affiliated programs or activities, regardless of location. All RISD students and employees are responsible for understanding and complying with this policy. Although RISD cannot adjudicate instances involving non-RISD community members or dictate the management of external and independent platforms where harassment occurs, every member of the RISD community is encouraged to report suspected instances of harassment, including doxxing, immediately.

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) values the safety of its community members both in person and in virtual spaces, and it is of the utmost importance to the college to provide a safe and productive environment for students, faculty, and staff. RISD recognizes that harassment takes many forms and occurs across a wide range of communicative means and technologies. RISD is wholly committed to creating an environment free of harassment, including doxxing, as prohibited by this policy and applicable federal, state, and local laws.

Doxxing: harassment that involves the publishing of private identifying information, including personally identifiable information, to encourage further harassment by others and/or to intimidate the individual. Such personal information can be shared through various platforms, including, but not limited to, mass emails, social media, and other electronic and/or printed media.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII): any representation of information that permits the identity of an individual to whom the information applies to be reasonably inferred by either direct or indirect means. Accordingly, PII is defined as information: (i) that directly identifies an individual such as name, address, social security number or other identifying number or code, telephone number, email address, etc., or (ii) could be used to indirectly identify specific individuals in conjunction with other data elements. These data elements may include a combination of gender, race, birth date, geographic indicator, and other descriptors. Further, PII includes, but is not limited to, physical or mental health information and digital images of an individual or an electronic message of a harassing nature about that individual.

Publishing: the dissemination, production, release, or distribution of information through any tangible or intangible means, including, but not limited to, leaflets, email, hyperlinks, or making such information available for download.

Harassment: any knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person that seriously alarms, annoys, or bothers the person and serves no legitimate purpose. The course of conduct must be of a kind that would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress or fear bodily injury.

• “reasonable person”: an ordinarily prudent and rational person under similar circumstances and identities would be expected to react.

Doxxing, which involves the publishing of personally identifiable information to encourage further harassment by others and to intimidate the individual, is prohibited at RISD. Any known or suspected cases of doxxing should be reported pursuant to the procedure set forth below. Any RISD student or employee who violates this policy will be held accountable without exception. RISD reserves the right to review alleged violations of this policy in conjunction with other appropriate offices and under other applicable College policies and procedures, including, but not limited to, the Code of Student Conduct, the Respect in the Workplace Policy and the Nondiscrimination Policy & Procedures. Additionally, RISD reserves the right to refer the matter to local enforcement at any time.

• For any case involving potential exposure of any personally identifiable information and/or other information pertaining to physical or mental health conditions, individuals are encouraged to report the incident immediately to the Department of Public Safety (401-454-6666).
• Suspected cases caused by RISD students may be referred by RISD Public Safety to the Office of Student Conduct + Community Standards. Suspected cases caused by RISD employees may be referred by RISD Public Safety to RISD Human Resources. Incidents involving discrimination, discriminatory harassment, and/or retaliation may be referred to Equity and Compliance. Incidents involving unauthorized access to RISD electronic accounts or resources may also be referred to RISD Information Technology Services.
• For suspected cases of doxxing caused by non-RISD community members who fall outside the scope of this policy and beyond the bounds of RISD’s jurisdiction, individuals are encouraged to report the incident to local law enforcement as soon as possible.

Retaliation is Prohibited

It is the policy of the College that retaliation against anyone making a good-faith report of suspected doxxing is strictly prohibited.

Anonymous Reporting

Individuals who wish to remain anonymous are encouraged to utilize the college’s confidential EthicsPoint hotline. A report can be filed in two ways:

• Online through the RISD/EthicsPoint web page hosted on an EthicsPoint secure server or
• Calling the toll‐free EthicsPoint phone number 1‐866‐877‐5386. Phone lines are open 24/7 and multi-language operators are available.

Please also refer to RISD’s Whistleblower Policy for additional information.

Best Practices to Prevent Doxxing

RISD community members are encouraged to review the following practices to protect themselves from doxxing:

• Adjust social media settings to avoid sharing personal information that could be used to find you:
  • Make sure profiles and usernames are private;
  • Make sure posts are set to be viewed by “friends only”;
  • Review and employ the privacy settings of all social media platforms used;
  • Limit the use of third-party applications within social media;
  • Remove any personal addresses, places of work or locational specifics from accounts; and
  • Keep personal and professional personas separate and consider whether it is necessary to include personal information on professional accounts and vice versa.
• Enable good cyber practices such as setting up two-factor authentications for all accounts.
• Use strong passwords and vary usernames and passwords across all platforms.

For more detailed information, download the PDF from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s digital library titled “How to Prevent Online Harassment from Doxxing.”

Confidential RISD Resources

The following resources can provide advice and support to individuals who believe they are experiencing harassment and/or harm from doxxing. All information shared with these resources will remain confidential to the extent permitted by law and College policy. Discussions with representatives of these resources will not be considered a report to the college regarding the prohibited conduct.

RISD Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) - Students Only	72 Pine Street, 2nd Floor Providence, RI 02903 Available 24/7: 401 454-6637
RISD Health Services - Students Only	72 Pine Street, 2nd Floor Providence, RI 02903 401 454-6625
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) - Employees Only	Coastline EAP Available 24/7: 1-800-445-1195

Policy Sanctions

RISD faculty, staff, and students who engage in activities that violate this policy will be referred to the appropriate office for corrective action. Violating this policy may result in consequences, including possible expulsion of students or termination of employees. While these outcomes are not guaranteed, they represent the most severe actions that could be taken.

Additionally, RISD reserves the right to review alleged violations of this policy in conjunction with other appropriate offices and under other applicable College policies and procedures,including but not limited to those listed under Related Policies.

• Code of Student Conduct
• Respect in the Workplace Policy
• Nondiscrimination Policy & Procedures 2023-24
• Whistleblower Policy

This policy was created on: 9/16/2024

This policy was last reviewed/modified on: 9/16/2024

Next scheduled review: 9/16/2026

Issuing Office

Student Life

Human Resources

Responsible Officer

Vice President, Student Life

Vice President, Human Resources

Individuals/offices required for review and changes

General Counsel

Human Resources

Information Technology Services (ITS)

Public Safety

Provost

Risk Management

Social Equity & Inclusion