StateScoop: Beleaguered public servants are often left unprotected by state privacy laws

February 3, 2026

State consumer privacy laws do not offer adequate protections for public servants, who are dealing with escalating threats of violence, according to a report published Tuesday by the Public Service Alliance, a nonprofit that supports government workers facing harassment or security concerns.

The report, which examines the 19 state comprehensive privacy laws on the books, found that not one of those laws grants public servants the right to legally compel state agencies to redact their personal data from public records, or to compel data brokers to stop selling data once they’ve acquired it from public records. Allowing these practices to continue, the report notes, exacerbates “the widespread availability, aggregation, and sale of their personal data, which facilitates doxxing and physical violence.”