Further to my posting, One tweet takes a journalist on a voyage of discovery, I learn (via Twitter) from my Guardian colleague, Charles Arthur, a word that's new to me - doxing.
But plenty of people clearly do know it, as a Google search proves. One excellent summation can be found at Treasure's Security Blog:
"Doxing is the process of gaining information about someone or something by using sources on the internet and using basic deduction skills.
Its name is derived from 'documents' and, in short, it is the retrieval of 'documents' on a person or company."
And the people who do this are described as doxers. (Forgive me if you know this already, but it appears I've been a doxer for years without being aware that I was one).
Treasure, a self-described hacker based in Sr Lanka, goes on to give some practical advice on doxing.
I ought also to mention, courtesy of another colleague, Mary Hamilton, the Data Miner UK site, which aids journalists to pursue "facts in plain sight."
Written by Nicola Hughes, a graduate of both journalism and physics, she also offers guidance in computer-assisted reporting.
See, for example, her posts on social searching and a list of useful sites. I just tested one of them, snapbird, which traces tweets, and it was amazingly quick and comprehensive.
Incidentally, I also tried out a Treasure recommendation to trace people, Pipl. That worked brilliantly too.
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