Whitepages, a major data broker, is facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly violating West Virginia’s law that protects the personal information of law enforcement personnel. The lawsuit was filed by a retired West Virginia police officer, claiming that Whitepages unlawfully published his home address, breaching a 2021 state statute known as Daniel’s Law.
Daniel’s Law, named after a similar statute enacted in New Jersey in 2020, prohibits the disclosure of home addresses and other personal information of law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, and other public officials. The law was inspired by a tragic incident in New Jersey, where the son of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas was murdered by a disgruntled lawyer who had accessed the judge’s personal information online.
While a more limited federal version of Daniel’s Law was passed in 2022, which prohibits the sale or purchase of judges’ private information online, West Virginia’s statute is broader. It bars data brokers from sharing the home addresses or phone numbers of active or retired law enforcement officers if it could reasonably lead to harassment or endanger their safety.
Despite these protections, the lawsuit claims that Whitepages has published the personal information of thousands of West Virginia’s law enforcement personnel without their consent, including the plaintiff, retired officer Michael Jackson. Jackson’s career spans service with the Braxton County Sheriff’s Department and police departments in Sutton and Clendenin, West Virginia. According to the lawsuit, neither Jackson nor other law enforcement officers were notified by Whitepages that their information was being collected and made publicly available, putting them at risk.
Whitepages has yet to respond to the lawsuit, and attempts to contact the company’s leadership were unsuccessful.
This legal action is part of a growing movement to safeguard the privacy of public servants. In May, Maryland passed its own version of Daniel’s Law, allowing members of the judiciary to request that their personal information be withheld from public view. Though the Maryland legislation is considered weaker than those in New Jersey and West Virginia, it allows courts to impose punitive damages on individuals or companies that willfully refuse to remove such information.
Beyond West Virginia and New Jersey, privacy advocates like Tom Kemp foresee broader protections on the horizon. Kemp, who championed the California Delete Act, a law that allows residents to force data brokers to erase their personal information with a single request, believes that average consumers will soon demand similar rights. “There’s going to be a ripple effect,” Kemp explained, pointing to recent hacks like the breach at National Public Data, which exposed millions of Social Security numbers.
The lawsuit against Whitepages highlights the risks posed by data brokers, particularly companies like Whitepages that gather and sell vast amounts of personal information from various public sources, including court records and social media. The lawsuit claims that not only was law enforcement personnel’s information made public, but data on their relatives was also accessible to anyone using the platform.
A representative from Atlas Data Privacy Corp., which filed numerous lawsuits against data brokers in New Jersey, emphasized the importance of such legal protections. “Ensuring the safety of public servants and their families is a compelling state interest. We expect more states to follow the lead of New Jersey and West Virginia,” they said.
Judge Esther Salas, whose family tragedy led to the creation of Daniel’s Law, remains a vocal advocate for stronger privacy protections for public officials. “This individual knew where I lived, where my family worshipped, and had a complete dossier on me,” she recalled. “We need stronger solutions to keep the lives of federal judges and other public servants private.”
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