Cops Battle Data Brokers for Privacy in Constitutional Clash (1)

As Northern New Jersey cop Jane Doe investigated a criminal organization between 2021 and 2022, the gang acquired her home address from an online data broker.

When Doe’s investigation ultimately took down a group leader, text messages on a retrieved mobile phone confirmed she’d been the target of a surveillance operation tracking her movements “to and from her home,” according to court filings. Criminals had been stalking Doe, even as the task force was about to topple the gang.

Two years later, she’s now an unnamed plaintiff in a spree of lawsuits against the very websites that doxxed her and ...