EPIC Asks Third Circuit to Recognize that Not All Data Protection Laws are Unconstitutional

EPIC has filed an amicus brief in Atlas Data Privacy Corp., et al. v. We Inform LLC, et al., urging the Third Circuit to uphold New Jersey’s “Daniel’s Law” against a constitutional challenge from data brokers. The law, enacted after a judge’s son was murdered and her husband shot by a disgruntled lawyer who found their home address, allows judges and other officials to request removal of their home addresses and unpublished phone numbers from websites and data broker databases.

Data brokers have refused to comply with these privacy protections, claiming the law violates their First Amendment rights by imposing content-based restrictions on speech that fail strict scrutiny. The district court rejected these arguments, and the data brokers have appealed to the Third Circuit.

EPIC’s brief argues that First Amendment challenges to privacy laws should be evaluated case-by-case rather than through broad facial challenges, and that courts typically apply intermediate scrutiny, not strict scrutiny, to laws regulating commercial disclosure of personal information. EPIC warns that if the data brokers’ arguments are accepted, nearly all privacy laws could be deemed unconstitutional, leaving Americans without meaningful privacy protections.

EPIC regularly advocates for strong privacy protections for internet users and participates as amicus in cases where overbroad First Amendment arguments attempt to overturn reasonable data protection laws for minimal or no free speech benefits.