E3 Leaks Information on More Than 2,000 Game Journalists

The Entertainment Software Association, the company behind the E3 video game expo, accidentally leaked a spreadsheet containing the contact information of over 2,000 video game journalists, vloggers and streamers. Dated from May 2019 but discovered last week, the spreadsheet remained online for an undetermined amount of time.

The list was hosted on a public page on the ESA's website and contained the names, address, email address and phone numbers, among other pieces of information, of attendees of 2019's E3 convention. Additionally, the ESA has contacted attendees of the expo from 2004 and 2006 about their contact information being hosted on a "third-part internet archive site."

YouTuber Sophia Narwitz discovered the list and reported on it in an August 2nd YouTube video.

"To my knowledge, this hasn't spread far," Narwitz said. "Very few people in the world were aware of this mishandling of private information, but I have no way of knowing with certainty if someone is dwelling somewhere just waiting to use this info."

However, Names found on the document have since been found on various other message boards and YouTube videos. BuzzFeed reported that "A copy of the list, viewed by BuzzFeed News, was archived on several popular message boards for trolls, and includes the home addresses of many reporters."

BuzzFeed continues, "Harassment against those included on the list appears to have already begun." One journalist who spoke to BuzzFeed explained that they had already begun to recieve messages as a result of the list.

In a statement to Kotaku, ESA wrote:

ESA was made aware of a website vulnerability that led to the contact list of registered journalists attending E3 being made public. Once notified, we immediately took steps to protect that data and shut down the site, which is no longer available. We regret this occurrence and have put measures in place to ensure it will not occur again.