Scientists Keep Accidentally Doxxing Endangered Species - Vocativ

"Publishing information about the specific locations of endangered species helps scientists, but it’s also putting those same animals at risk. A team of researchers, writing in the journal Science, is sounding the alarm bell.

In the past, it was really only scientists who read scientific journals. They were physical copies, sent to a researcher’s mailbox or the library of an academic institution. So there wasn’t much risk to publishing the exact places where rare species lived — it helped others in the field learn more about these ephemeral creatures.

Today, the stakes are different. Journal articles new and old are published online, and the rise in open access journals make more information available to the public. In some fields of science, sharing data is considered a good thing. But in the study of endangered species, it sometimes does more harm than good...."