Privacy in Hawaii for first responders
What state law protects, what still leaks, and what we sweep beyond it.
§92H (2024) broad coverage of governor/judges/election workers/families. New, untested.
Address Confidentiality Program
Hawaii maintains a state-level program that lets eligible officers, judges, and other protected workers use a substitute address for public records.
Apply or learn more →Public-records carve-outs
- Hawaii Revised Statutes §92F-13(1) and §92F-14(b)(10) — UIPA exemptions for records whose release would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, and for information whose release would create a substantial and demonstrable risk of physical harm.
- Hawaii Revised Statutes §11-14.5 — voter registration residence-address confidentiality that law enforcement persons and their families can request only when a life-threatening circumstance exists, granted at the county clerk's discretion.
Applicable laws
What protects you in Hawaii
Hawaii has no privacy law that names police officers or other first responders as a protected class. The protections that exist are general, and you have to fit yourself into them.
Voter rolls. Hawaii Revised Statutes §11-14.5 lets a law enforcement person and their family ask the county clerk to keep their home address and phone number out of voter registration records. It applies only when a life-threatening circumstance exists. File the request in writing with your county clerk. The clerk decides on good cause shown, and that decision is final. If your registration is later challenged, the clerk still releases your address to the challenger.
Public records. The Uniform Information Practices Act is Hawaii's public-records law. Two parts of it can keep your information out of a released record. §92F-13(1) covers records whose release would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. §92F-14(b)(10) covers information whose release would create a substantial and demonstrable risk of physical harm. There is no officer-specific filing. The agency answering the request decides whether to apply the exemption, so ask your records custodian to flag it up front. If you are denied, you can appeal to the Office of Information Practices.
Address Confidentiality Program. Hawaii runs an Address Confidentiality Program under HRS Chapter 801G. It covers survivors of domestic abuse, a sexual offense, or stalking, and gives them a substitute address to use with state and county agencies. Police officers and other first responders are not eligible just for doing the job.
Broker-removal law. A data broker bill, HB2463 (the Hawaii Drop and Delete Act), was introduced in the 2026 session. It would have let consumers ask data brokers to delete their personal information. It did not pass. Hawaii has no officer-specific broker-removal statute like New Jersey's Daniel's Law, so there is nothing here to file under today.
Federal judges. Federal judges based in Hawaii have one more tool. The Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act (Lieu Act) is a federal law that lets federal judges and their families demand removal of their personal information from data brokers and government agencies. It covers federal judges only, not police, fire, or EMS.
What still leaks
- Out-of-state brokers. Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, and similar sites don't follow Hawaii law. They pull from aggregators and commercial feeds outside the state.
- Property records. Hawaii has no address-redaction process for officers. The Bureau of Conveyances and county real property records stay public. A property record ties your name to your home address and the people who live there.
- DMV records. Hawaii has no state DMV confidentiality for officers. The federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) limits who can pull motor vehicle records, but it doesn't take your address off a broker site.
Laws that work for you here
- Hawaii Revised Statutes §11-14.5: file in writing with your county clerk to keep your home address and phone number out of voter registration records. Covers law enforcement persons and their families, but only when a life-threatening circumstance exists, and the clerk's decision is final.
- Hawaii Revised Statutes §92F-13(1) and §92F-14(b)(10): UIPA exemptions an agency can apply to withhold a record on privacy or physical-safety grounds. Ask your records custodian to flag them when a request comes in, and appeal a denial to the Office of Information Practices.
What we do
The state protections stop at voter rolls and case-by-case UIPA exemptions. They do nothing about the data broker and people-search sites that publish your home address, phone number, and relatives. That is where most of the exposure is, and that is where we work.
We scan people-search sites for your information, file opt-out and removal requests on the listings we find, and keep checking, because removed listings often come back. When a site needs something from you to process a removal, we tell you.