Privacy Guide for Judges

Anti-judicial rhetoric online rose 327% between May 2024 and March 2025, and the U.S. Marshals Service logged 564 threats against federal judges in the most recent fiscal year. For judges at every level — from municipal courts to the federal bench — personal data exposure through data brokers has become a direct threat to safety. This guide covers the steps every judge should take to protect themselves and their families.

Why Judges Are Uniquely Vulnerable

Judges make decisions that directly affect people's lives, liberty, and finances. Every ruling creates a population of individuals with potential grievances — and their names are public record on every decision they issue. This makes judges easy to identify and target.

The threat landscape has escalated dramatically in recent years:

• Chief Justice John Roberts reported in 2024 that threats against judges had tripled over the prior decade
• Violent language targeting judges on TikTok alone increased 537% from May 2024 to March 2025
• Judges have been subjected to "pizza doxxings" — unwanted deliveries sent to their home addresses as intimidation — with over 100 such incidents reported since 2024
• Swatting attacks, where fake emergency calls trigger armed police responses at a judge's home, have become an increasingly common harassment tactic

The tragic case that catalyzed legislative action came in 2020, when a gunman used online people-search sites to find the home of federal Judge Esther Salas. He shot and killed her 20-year-old son Daniel Anderl and seriously wounded her husband.

How Data Brokers Expose Judges

People-search sites like Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, and TruePeopleSearch aggregate public records into detailed profiles that anyone can access. For a few dollars — or sometimes for free — anyone can find a judge's:

• Home address and address history
• Personal phone numbers and email addresses
• Names and addresses of family members
• Property ownership records
• Vehicle registration details
• Estimated income and asset information

This information provides everything a motivated attacker needs to locate a judge outside the courthouse, where security protections are minimal or nonexistent.

Essential Privacy Steps for Judges

1. Remove Your Data From Broker Sites

The most critical action is removing your personal information from people-search and data broker websites. You can submit individual opt-out requests to each site, but with over 100 brokers to manage — and information that reappears regularly — most judges benefit from an automated removal service. PrivacyOn monitors more than 100 data broker sites continuously, submitting and tracking removal requests on your behalf so your information doesn't resurface.

2. Invoke Legal Protections

If you're a federal judge, enroll in the federal judiciary's PII removal program, which has assisted over 1,000 federal judges. If you're in a state with Daniel's Law-type protections, file the appropriate paperwork to require data brokers to remove your information within 72 hours of your request. Check whether your state has enacted specific judicial privacy legislation.

3. Obscure Property Records

Register your home under an LLC or trust rather than your personal name. Public property records are a primary source of address exposure on data broker sites. Consult with a real estate attorney familiar with your state's options for keeping ownership records private.

4. Use Official Addresses for All Filings

Use your courthouse address or a P.O. box for voter registration, vehicle registration, professional licenses, and all other public filings. Never use your home address on any document that could become part of the public record.

5. Secure Digital Accounts

Enable multi-factor authentication on all accounts — email, banking, social media, and court systems. Use a password manager with unique, strong passwords for every account. Judges are high-value targets for phishing and account compromise.

6. Lock Down Social Media

If you maintain personal social media accounts, set them to maximum privacy. Remove any posts that reveal your home, daily routines, or your children's schools. Critically, ensure that family members — especially teenage children — also lock down their accounts and avoid posting location-revealing content.

7. Monitor for Exposure

Set up alerts for your name, your family members' names, and your home address. Use dark web monitoring to detect if your information appears in data breaches. PrivacyOn includes dark web monitoring alongside its broker removal service, providing continuous visibility into your exposure.

Protecting Your Family

Threats against judges frequently extend to family members. A judge's spouse, children, and close relatives often appear in the same data broker profiles, making them collateral targets. Every member of the household should:

• Be enrolled in data broker removal services
• Maintain strict social media privacy settings
• Avoid publicly referencing the judge's role or workplace
• Be trained to recognize phishing, social engineering, and suspicious contact

PrivacyOn's family plans cover up to 5 people, making it straightforward to protect your entire household under a single account with continuous monitoring and automated removal from 100+ data broker sites.

A Continuous Process

Data brokers refresh their databases constantly from public record sources, which means removed information frequently reappears. A single round of opt-outs is not sufficient — judges need ongoing, automated monitoring and removal to stay protected. Given the escalating threat environment, proactive data removal is an essential component of judicial security, not an optional add-on.