Privacy in South Dakota for first responders

What protects you in South Dakota

South Dakota has no address confidentiality program and no broker-removal statute. Two laws passed in 2026 help, and both are narrow.

HB 1298, effective July 1, 2026, makes it a crime to electronically publish a law enforcement officer's or judge's home address, date of birth, or Social Security number when it is done with intent to put that person or their family in reasonable fear of death or great bodily injury. A violation can carry up to two years in prison. This is a criminal deterrent against someone who posts your data to threaten you. It is not a notice-and-takedown right, so it does not force a data broker to remove your address when you ask.

HB 1084, also effective July 1, 2026, lets law enforcement officers ask to keep their home address, phone number, and email off the public voter registration list. You have to request it, and agencies were given guidance on how to opt their members in.

For contrast, New Jersey's Daniel's Law is a broker-removal statute: it lets covered officers require a data broker to take their home address down within ten business days and sue if the broker refuses. South Dakota has no equivalent. Your leverage here is criminal and civil exposure for a bad-faith publisher, not a routine removal channel.

In April 2026 the South Dakota Supreme Court held that an officer who is the victim of a crime can ask a court to redact their name from public records under Marsy's Law, the state's victims-rights amendment. The court said this is decided case by case, not automatically. The ruling came out of the prosecution of a man who shot at two Sioux Falls officers in 2025.

What still leaks

1. County property records: Deeds, tax assessments, and recorder filings are public and are not covered by HB 1298. Buying or selling a home in South Dakota puts your address, and the household living there, on a record that brokers copy.
2. Out-of-state data brokers: Sites like Spokeo and Whitepages pull from national aggregators that do not follow South Dakota law. They can post your address regardless of where you live.
3. DMV and driving records: The federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act, the DPPA, sets the floor for who can access your motor-vehicle records. South Dakota adds no officer-specific confidentiality beyond that floor.

Laws that work for you here

• HB 1298 (2026): Criminalizes publishing an officer's or judge's home address, date of birth, or Social Security number with intent to cause fear of death or serious injury. Used after a bad-faith publication, not as a removal tool.
• HB 1084 (2026): Lets officers request that their home address, phone, and email be withheld from the public voter registration list. Request it through your agency or county.
• DPPA: Federal limits on who can access your DMV and driving records.

What we do

HB 1298 punishes people who publish your data to threaten you. It does not take existing broker listings down. That is the part we handle.

We scan the major people-search and data-broker sites, match the records that belong to you, and file opt-out requests to get them removed. Because brokers re-list from fresh public records, we keep checking and file again when your information comes back. When a site needs something from you to finish a removal, we tell you clearly instead of leaving it half done.

South Dakota's courts and legislature have started treating doxxing risk as real. The state still gives you no way to make brokers delete your address on demand. We work that gap directly.