05-02-2024
In 2020, a lawyer targeted New Jersey Judge Esther Salas and shot Salas's son. In response, New Jersey enacted Daniel's Law to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of personal information of "covered persons." This law protects active or retired law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, child protective investigators, and any immediate family members living in the same household. Businesses and private entities must stop disclosing or making the home addresses and unpublished home telephone numbers available upon receiving a nondisclosure request from a covered person. Disclosures include "to solicit, sell, manufacture, give, provide, lend, trade, mail, deliver, transfer, post, publish, distribute, circulate, disseminate, present, exhibit, advertise, or offer, and shall include making available or viewable within a searchable list or database, regardless of whether a search of such list or database is actually performed.”
Politico says this new frontier in data privacy has resulted in over 130 lawsuits by tech startup Atlas Data Privacy. New Jersey chose private enforcement of the law through lawsuits. It is a test case for how to enforce the slew of data privacy laws across the country intended to protect the personal information of public employees. The Atlas lawsuits assert, "Companies in the business of disclosing this protected information have avoided accountability for far too long without sufficient regard for the risks and consequences imposed upon individuals who serve critical judicial and law enforcement roles."
Critics view the new law as a money grab for lawyers, tech startups, and venture capitalists to take companies to court. Data brokers are trying to get the law rolled back. Supporters see the law as allowing public employees to avoid the bureaucratic headaches and hours of work required to remove personal information from the web. Atlas states it is not seeking a significant profit from this work. It charges an annual subscription amount, returns 65% of penalties to the client, and donates most of what's left to nonprofit organizations.