Daniel's Law is a New Jersey statute that lets current, former and retired judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers and child protective investigators, and the family members who live with them, stop businesses from publishing their home address and unpublished home telephone number. The process for websites starts with a written notice. Once a business receives one, it has 10 business days to stop disclosing the information. A separate process, run by the state's Office of Information Privacy, covers government records.
This page summarizes the statute as amended by P.L. 2023, c. 113. It is not legal advice, and the law is the subject of ongoing litigation and proposed amendments (see the end of this page). If you are a covered person, your employer, union or the Office of Information Privacy may have guidance specific to your role.
Who is a covered person
The statute defines a "covered person" as "an active, formerly active, or retired judicial officer, law enforcement officer, or child protective investigator in the Division of Child Protection and Permanency... or prosecutor," and "any immediate family member residing in the same household" as one of them.
An "immediate family member" is "a spouse, child, or parent of, or any other family member related by blood or by law to" the officer, and "who resides in the same household."
The notice can be sent by an "authorized person," which means the covered person or, in specific cases, someone acting for them:
- for a federal judge, a designee of the US Marshals Service or the clerk of a US District Court;
- for a covered person who has died or is incapacitated, a trustee, executor, or someone acting under a power of attorney or similar instrument;
- for a minor family member, a parent or legal guardian.
What the law protects
The protected information is the covered person's home address and unpublished home telephone number. The 2023 amendments define "home telephone number" as any number "used primarily for personal communications, including a landline or cellular telephone number."
Daniel's Law doesn't reach everything a people-search profile shows. Names, relatives, email addresses and employment history are outside it.
Websites and businesses: the written notice
Under N.J.S.A. 56:8-166.1(a), as amended:
- The authorized person sends written notice to the person or business disclosing the information, stating that they are an authorized person and "requesting that the person cease the disclosure of the information and remove the protected information from the Internet or where otherwise made available."
- Not later than 10 business days after receiving it, the business "shall not disclose or re-disclose on the Internet or otherwise make available" the home address or unpublished home telephone number.
- If an immediate family member who sent a notice moves out of the household, they must tell the business within 30 days.
A notice you can adapt
There is no official form in the statute. The wording below follows the statute's language; adjust it to your situation, and keep a record of when and how you sent it.
To: [the business's privacy or legal contact]
Subject: Daniel's Law notice: request to cease disclosure
I am an authorized person under N.J.S.A. 56:8-166.1. I am
[a covered person / an authorized person acting for a covered
person] as defined in that section.
I request that you cease the disclosure of the home address and
unpublished home telephone number listed below, and remove this
protected information from the Internet or wherever else you
make it available, within 10 business days of receiving this
notice, as N.J.S.A. 56:8-166.1(a) requires.
Name: [name of the covered person]
Home address: [the address to be withheld]
Home telephone number: [if unpublished]
Profile URL: (paste the URL of the page showing it, if any)
Please confirm in writing when this has been done.
The notice only asks a business to stop publishing your address and phone. To ask a site to delete the rest of your profile, send a separate request under New Jersey's comprehensive privacy law, using the letter in state privacy laws with a right to delete.
What happens if a business doesn't comply
The statute lets the covered person, or an assignee, bring a civil action in the Superior Court. The court shall award actual damages, with a floor of liquidated damages for each violation set by the statute; punitive damages "upon proof of willful or reckless disregard of the law"; reasonable attorney's fees and costs; and other equitable relief.
An "assignee" is a person or entity to which an authorized person has assigned, in writing, the covered person's right to sue. This provision is why companies, not just individuals, have brought Daniel's Law cases.
A separate criminal provision (N.J.S.A. 2C:20-31.1) applies to anyone who, after notice, posts the information "with purpose to expose another to harassment or risk of harm to life or property, or in reckless disregard of the probability of such exposure."
Government records: the Office of Information Privacy
The Office of Information Privacy (OIP), in the Department of Community Affairs, runs the government side. The statute directs the OIP to set up a secure portal through which an authorized person can submit or revoke a request to redact or withhold a covered person's home address from certain public records. Once the OIP approves a request, a public agency must redact or stop disclosing the address within 30 days.
The OIP describes its role as shielding covered persons' information "from disclosure on those agencies' websites." For non-government sites, it notes that an authorized person must "provide written notice to the entity or person." In other words, OIP approval doesn't send notices to people-search sites or data brokers for you. You can contact the OIP at OIP@dca.nj.gov.
Litigation and proposed changes
Daniel's Law has been heavily litigated, and its future shape is not settled:
- In 2025, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit asked the New Jersey Supreme Court what mental state, if any, the law requires for liability. On August 12, 2026, in Atlas Data Privacy Corp. v. We Inform, LLC, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the law "contains no mental state requirement for claims in which the plaintiff seeks actual damages." The case returns to the Third Circuit, which will decide whether the law is constitutional.
- On November 13, 2025, a bill was introduced in the New Jersey Senate that would remove the ability to assign claims, give judges discretion over damages, and lengthen the compliance period. We could not confirm that it has been enacted; check the current statute before relying on the 10-business-day figure.
Using Daniel's Law alongside ordinary opt-outs
Notices take time to send site by site. Many people-search sites also run ordinary opt-out forms that anyone can use, and our opt-out guides list each one, including property sites such as BlockShopper where a home address often appears. The free OptStub kit writes standard deletion requests you send from your own email; it doesn't send Daniel's Law notices.
Whichever route you use, removal is not guaranteed, and data can be re-listed from new sources. Check the sites again after each deadline passes.