St. Lawrence University and Christian Exoo Facing Lawsuit for Doxing

A recent lawsuit accuses St. Lawrence University of being complicit in the doxxing of New Jersey man Daniel D’Ambly.  The lawsuit, filed on Monday September 21 in New Jersey, claims that St. Lawrence University librarian Christian Exoo, known on Twitter by the handle @AntiFashGordon disclosed D’Ambly’s private information and directed his followers to send death threats to D’Ambly’s workplace, The Daily News. D’Ambly claims that he was terminated from The Daily News as a result of this doxxing.

Doxxing includes a number of actions that target an individual in an attempt to discredit this person, according to Megan Garber’s 2014 article in The Atlantic.  Regardless of the ethics of the situation, some forms of doxxing are illegal.  Exposing or publishing a person’s public information is legal, but exposing private information is a crime under state law, and engaging in death threats are a criminal offense.

D’Ambly claims that Exoo targeted him because of his association with the New Jersey European Heritage Foundation.  According to the Anti-Defamation League, the New Jersey European Heritage Foundation is a white supremacist group who “espouses racism, anti-Semetism and intolerance.”  The NJEHF has participated in white supremacist rallies and distributed recruitment fliers, and used the phrase “It’s okay to be white” as their rallying cry.  The Anti-Defamation League also reported hateful online propaganda shared by group members.

D’Ambly’s lawsuit alleges that St. Lawrence University knew of Mr. Exoo’s actions and allowed him to operate from St. Lawrence property during work hours.  “Christian Exoo is a part-time employee of St. Lawrence University,” Paul Redfern, Vice President of Communications responded, but stated that “it is not our practice to comment on pending legal matters.”  Christian Exoo and his lawyer were unavailable for comment, as were D’Ambly and his lawyer.

According to the lawsuit, Christian Exoo is “a self-described anti-fascist, notorious doxxer and leader of Antifa, who by doxing others has acquired a great deal of notoriety and infamy.”  This doxing allegedly took the form of publishing private information and threats sent to D’Ambly’s place of work.

The Daily News fired D’Ambly after an investigation into his political activities.  The letter of termination stated that  “[D’Ambly’s] choice to take these repulsive actions has now put our workplace and employees at risk of counter attacks by Antifa.”

Doxxing is a complicated issue as the motivation can be ethical, but the means can be either legal or illegal.  “The lines, as often happens, are not clear cut,” Megan Garber described in The Atlantic.