Is unmasking an anonymous author addressed by Halacha?

Question

If an individual writes a document for public consumption anonymously or pseudonymously and either explicitly or presumably desires to remain anonymous, is there a Halachic issue with publicly unmasking the author, or with publicly assembling information about the author toward the goal of unmasking them?

This activity ("doxing," in Internet slang) is practiced in various Internet forums, and the ethics thereof are a subject of controversy. It's potentially relevant on a forum like this one that values contributions from pseudonymous authors.

If sources address this activity, do they distinguish regarding the nature of the material that was anonymously authored - whether it was Torah, objectionable, controversial, etc.?

Answer 1

The Talmud (Yoma 4b) relates:

ויקרא אל משה וידבר למה הקדים קריאה לדיבור? לימדה תורה דרך ארץ, שלא יאמר אדם דבר לחבירו אלא אם כן קורהו. מסייע ליה לרבי חנינא, דאמר רבי חנינא: לא יאמר אדם דבר לחבירו אלא אם כן קורהו. לאמר אמר רבי (מוסיא בר בריה דרבי מסיא משמיה דרבי מוסיא) +מסורת הש"ס: [מנסיא]+ רבה: מניין לאומר דבר לחבירו שהוא בבל יאמר, עד שיאמר לו לך אמור - שנאמר +ויקרא א+ וידבר ה' אליו מאהל מועד לאמר.‏
And the Lord called unto Moses, and spoke unto him; why does Scripture mention the call before the speech? — The Torah teaches us good manners: a man should not address his neighbour without having first called him. This supports the view of R. Hanina, for R. Hanina said: No man shall speak to his neighbour unless he calls him first to speak to him. Rabbah said: Whence do we know that if a man had said something to his neighbour the latter must not spread the news without the informant's telling him ‘Go and say it’? From the scriptural text: The Lord spoke to him out of the tent of meeting, lemor [saying] . (Translation from Soncino)

If one is forbidden to say over something until one knows for sure that he can, all the more so one should be forbidden to do so if he knows he cannot.

Answer 2

According to an article on "Internet Privacy in Halacha" by R' Asher Meir in the Winter 2014 issue of Jewish Action, it is forbidden to publicize someone's secret identity.

R' Meir says that revealing someone else's private information violates the prohibition in Vayikra 19:16:

... לֹא תֵלֵךְ רָכִיל בְּעַמֶּיךָ

You shall not go around as a gossipmonger amidst your people.

He notes that Rashi, there, says that the word "רָכִיל," "gossipmonger," is etymologically related to the verb "לְרַגֵּל," "to spy," and that this verse prohibits spying to obtain private information and then going around telling it to people. According to R' Meir, revealing private information about people online is included in the prohibition, and "the only real difference between now and the time of Matan Torah is that the potential for harm is multiplied when gossip reaches the Internet, where it can easily 'go viral.'"

R' Meir goes on to provide some intriguingly-applied sources to demonstrate that even digging up someone's private information without disclosing it to others is "halachically questionable." I recommend taking a look at the whole article for his complete treatment.