(1) DEFINITIONS. In this section: (a) “Data broker” means a commercial entity that collects, assembles, or maintains personal information concerning an individual who is not a customer or an employee of that entity in order to sell the information or provide 3rd-party access to the information. “Data broker” does not include any of the following: 1. A commercial entity using personal information internally, providing access to businesses under common ownership or affiliated by corporate control, or selling or providing data for a transaction or service requested by or concerning the individual whose personal information is being transferred. 2. A commercial entity providing publicly available information through real-time or near real-time alert services for health or safety purposes. 3. A commercial entity using information that is lawfully made available through federal, state, or local government records, or information that a business has a reasonable basis to believe is lawfully made available to the general public through widely distributed media, by the consumer, or by a person to whom the consumer has disclosed the information, unless the consumer has restricted the information to a specific audience. 4. A commercial entity engaged in the collection, maintenance, disclosure, sale, communication, or use of any personal information bearing on a consumer’s credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living by a consumer reporting agency, furnisher, or user that provides information for use in a consumer report, and by a user of a consumer report, but only to the extent that such activity is regulated by and authorized under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681, et seq. 5. A consumer reporting agency subject to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681, et seq. 6. A commercial entity using personal information collected, processed, sold, or disclosed in compliance with the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994, 18 USC 2721, et seq. 7. A commercial entity using personal information to do any of the following: a. Prevent, detect, protect against, or respond to security incidents, identity theft, fraud, harassment, malicious or deceptive activities, or any illegal activity. b. Preserve the integrity or security of systems. c. Investigate, report, or prosecute any person responsible for an action described under subd. 7. a. or b. 8. A financial institution, affiliate of a financial institution, or data subject to title V of the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, 15 USC 6801, et seq. 9. A covered entity for purposes of the federal privacy regulations promulgated under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, specifically 42 USC 1320d-2 note. 10. A commercial entity engaging in the collection and sale or licensing of personal information incidental to conducting the activities described in subds. 1. to 9. 11. Insurance and insurance support organizations. 12. Law enforcement agencies or law enforcement support organizations and vendors that provide data support services to law enforcement agencies. For purposes of this subdivision, law enforcement support organizations does not include charitable organizations. (am) “Designated officer” means an officer or employee of a government agency in a position designated in writing by the government agency to fulfill its duties under this section. In the absence of a written designation, “designated officer” means the highest ranking officer or employee for the government agency. (b) “Government agency” includes any association, authority, board, department, commission, independent agency, institution, office, society, or other body corporate and politic in state or local government created or authorized to be created by the constitution or any law. (c) “Home address” includes a judicial officer’s permanent residence and any secondary residences affirmatively identified by the judicial officer. “Home address” does not include a judicial officer’s work address. (d) “Immediate family” includes any of the following: 1. A judicial officer’s spouse. 2. A minor child of the judicial officer or of the judicial officer’s spouse, including a foster child, or an adult child of the judi- cial officer or of the judicial officer’s spouse whose permanent residence is with the judicial officer. 3. A parent of the judicial officer or the judicial officer’s spouse. 4. Any other person who resides at the judicial officer’s residence. (e) “Judicial officer” means a person who currently is or who formerly was any of the following: 1. A supreme court justice. 2. A court of appeals judge. 3. A circuit court judge. 4. A municipal judge. 5. A tribal judge. 6. A temporary or permanent reserve judge. 7. A circuit, supplemental, or municipal court commissioner. (f) “Permanent residence” means the place where a person’s habitation is fixed, without any present intent to move, and to which, when absent, the person intends to return. (g) 1. “Personal information” means any of the following with regard to a judicial officer or any immediate family member of a judicial officer, but does not include information regarding employment with a government agency: a. A home address, when directly associated with or displayed with a judicial officer’s name. b. A home or personal mobile telephone number. c. A personal email address. d. A social security number, driver’s license number, federal tax identification number, or state tax identification number. e. Except as required under ch. 11, a bank account or credit or debit card information. f. A license plate number or other unique identifiers of a vehicle owned, leased, or regularly used by a judicial officer or an immediate family member of a judicial officer. g. The names of children under the age of 18 of a judicial officer or an immediate family member of a judicial officer. h. The full date of birth. i. Marital status. 2m. “Personal information” does not include addresses without owner or occupant names associated with the address on public-facing land records websites for address verification, including for utilities and emergency services. (h) “Publicly available content” means any written, printed, or electronic document or record that provides information or that serves as a document or record maintained, controlled, or in the possession of a government agency that may be obtained by any person or entity, from the Internet, from the government agency upon request either free of charge or for a fee, or in response to a public records request under ch. 19. (i) “Publicly post or display” means to intentionally communicate or otherwise make available to the general public. (im) “Secondary residence” means a place that is not a person’s permanent residence, but where a person regularly lives for at least 14 days each year. (j) “Transfer” means to sell, license, trade, or exchange for consideration the personal information of a judicial officer or a judicial officer’s immediate family member. (k) “Written request” means written notice signed by a judicial officer or a representative of the judicial officer’s employer requesting a government agency, business, association, or other person to refrain from publicly posting or displaying publicly available content that includes the personal information of the judicial officer or judicial officer’s immediate family completed and filed pursuant to sub. (4). (2) PUBLICLY POSTING OR DISPLAYING A JUDICIAL OFFICER’S PERSONAL INFORMATION BY A GOVERNMENT AGENCY. (a) A government agency may not publicly post or display publicly available content that includes a judicial officer’s personal information, provided that the government agency has received a written request in accordance with sub. (4) that it refrain from disclosing the judicial officer’s personal information. After a government agency has received a written request, that agency shall remove the judicial officer’s personal information from publicly available content within 10 business days. After the government agency has removed the judicial officer’s personal information from publicly available content, the agency may not publicly post or display the information, and the judicial officer’s personal information shall be exempt from inspection and copying under s. 19.35 unless the government agency has received consent as provided under sub. (4) (e) to make the personal information available to the public. (b) Nothing in this subsection prohibits a government agency from providing access to records containing the personal information of a judicial officer to a 3rd party if the 3rd party meets any of the following criteria: 1. Possesses a signed consent document, as provided under sub. (4) (e). 2. Is subject to the requirements of 15 USC 6801, et seq. 3. Executes a confidentiality agreement with the government agency. (3) DATA BROKERS AND OTHER PERSONS AND BUSINESSES. (a) No data broker may knowingly sell, license, trade, purchase, or otherwise make available for consideration the personal information of a judicial officer or a judicial officer’s immediate family, provided that the judicial officer has made a written request to the data broker. The data broker shall cease knowingly selling, licensing, trading, purchasing, or otherwise making available personal information for consideration pursuant to the written request within 10 business days of the written request. (b) 1. No person, business, or association may publicly post or display on the Internet publicly available content that includes the personal information of a judicial officer or the judicial officer’s immediate family, provided that the judicial officer has made a written request to the person, business, or association that it refrain from disclosing or acquiring the personal information. 2. Subdivision 1. does not apply to any of the following: a. Personal information that the judicial officer or an immediate family member of the judicial officer voluntarily publishes on the Internet after April 1, 2025. b. Personal information lawfully received from a state or federal government source, including from an employee or agent of the state or federal government. (c) 1. After a person, business, or association has received a written request from a judicial officer to protect the privacy of the personal information of the judicial officer and the judicial officer’s immediate family, the person, business, or association shall remove, within 10 business days, the publicly posted or displayed personal information identified in the request; ensure that the information is not publicly posted or displayed on any website or subsidiary website controlled by that person, business, or association; and identify any other publicly posted or displayed instances of the identified information that should also be removed. 2. After receiving a judicial officer’s written request, no person, business, or association may transfer the judicial officer’s personal information to any other person, business, or association through any medium, except as follows: a. The person, business, or association may transfer personal information that the judicial officer or an immediate family mem- ber of the judicial officer voluntarily publishes on the Internet after April 1, 2025. b. The person, business, or association may transfer the judicial officer’s personal information at the request of the judicial officer if the transfer is necessary to effectuate a request to the person, business, or association from the judicial officer. c. The business may transfer personal information otherwise protected by a written request if the business falls within one of the exceptions set forth in sub. (1) (a) 1. to 12., the transfer is to a 3rd party based on a business need of the business, and the transferred information would not be publicly posted or displayed by either the business or the 3rd party. (4) PROCEDURE FOR COMPLETING A WRITTEN REQUEST FOR PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION. (a) No government agency, person, data broker, business, or association may be found to have violated any provision of this section if the judicial officer fails to submit a written request calling for the protection of the personal information of the judicial officer or the judicial officer’s immediate family. (b) 1. A written request under this subsection is valid if the request meets the requirements of par. (d) and if the judicial officer does any of the following: a. Sends the written request directly to the designated officer of a government agency or directly to a person, data broker, business, or association. b. If the director of state courts has a policy and procedure for a judicial officer to file the written request with the director of state court’s office to notify government agencies, the judicial officer sends the written request to the director of state courts. 2. In each quarter of a calendar year, the director of state courts shall provide to the designated officer for a government agency a list of all judicial officers who have submitted a written request under subd. 1. b. The designated officer shall promptly provide a copy of the list to the government agencies under his or her supervision. Receipt of the written request list compiled by the director of state courts office by the designated officer of a government agency shall constitute a written request to that agency for purposes of this subsection. (c) A representative from the judicial officer’s employer may submit a written request on the judicial officer’s behalf, provided that the judicial officer has given written consent to the representative and provided that the representative agrees to furnish a copy of that consent when the written request is made. The representative shall submit the written request as provided under par. (b). (d) A judicial officer’s written request shall be made on a form prescribed by the director of state courts, shall identify with reasonable specificity the personal information to be protected, and shall be notarized. If a judicial officer wishes to identify a secondary residence as a home address, the designation shall be made in the written request, but the judicial officer may identify no more than 2 secondary residences for protection under this section. A judicial officer’s written request shall disclose the identity of the officer’s immediate family and indicate that the personal information of these family members shall also be excluded to the extent that it could reasonably be expected to reveal personal information of the judicial officer. (dm) 1. Any person receiving a written request form submitted by or on behalf of a judicial officer under par. (d) shall treat the submission as confidential. 2. The form prescribed by the director of state courts under par. (d), whether blank or completed, shall be kept confidential, but the fact that a written request exists or has been submitted or received is not confidential. (e) 1. A judicial officer’s written request is valid for 10 years or until the judicial officer’s death, whichever occurs first. 2. Notwithstanding a judicial officer’s written request, a government agency, person, data broker, business, or association may release personal information otherwise subject to the written request under any of the following circumstances: a. As required in response to a court order. b. If a judicial officer or immediate family member of the judicial officer consents to the release of his or her own personal information as provided under subd. 3. c. If the judicial officer provides the government agency, person, data broker, business, or association with consent to release the personal information as provided under subd. 3. d. If the personal information is contained in a record that a government agency provides to any other government agency, provided that the record may not be made publicly available. A government agency that provides a record to another government agency under this subd. 2. d. shall, notwithstanding par. (d), provide the receiving government agency all written requests applicable to such records and notice to the judicial officer of the transmission in the manner indicated on the judicial officer’s written request. Upon receipt of any such written request, the receiving government agency shall be considered to have received the written request pursuant to par. (b) 1. a. e. If the release is part of the publication of a notice, including a notice of an administrative hearing or appeal, that is required by law. f. If the release is to a title insurance company, as defined in s. 708.15 (1) (v) , an authorized agent of a title insurance company, a professional land surveyor licensed in this state, or an attorney licensed to practice law in this state, provided that the record may not be made publicly available. g. If the release is to adjacent land owners seeking land records, provided that the record may not be made publicly available. h. If the release is a notice of sex offender registration or any associated notice relating to sex offender registration. 3. A judicial officer or immediate family member of the judicial officer may consent to release personal information otherwise protected by a judicial officer’s written request if the consent is made in writing on a form prescribed by the director of state courts and is notarized. An immediate family member of the judicial officer may only consent to the release of his or her own personal information. The form prescribed by the director of state courts under this subdivision, whether blank or completed, shall be kept confidential, but the fact that a consent to release exists or has been submitted or received is not confidential. 4. A judicial officer under sub. (1) (e) 1. to 3., or 6. may designate the director of state courts as the judicial officer’s agent for purposes of service of process, and if the director of state courts receives service of process, notice, or demand required or permitted by law to be served on a judicial officer who has designated the director of state courts as his or her agent for purposes of service of process under this subdivision, the director of state courts shall forward the process, notice, or demand to the judicial officer’s home address. 5. Notwithstanding subd. 1., a written request for protection of a judicial officer’s personal information relating to property expires, with respect to any information regarding the property, within 90 days of the property ceasing to be a permanent or secondary residence. A judicial officer shall provide written notice within 90 days of the property ceasing to be a permanent or secondary residence to the government agency that received the written request for protection of personal information relating to the property. 6. An entity that receives a written request under par. (d) or a consent under subd. 3. to release personal information otherwise protected by a judicial officer’s written request may maintain a list of judicial officers who submitted a written request or a consent to release and may share the list with any subunits within their organization. (4m) (a) In this subsection, “land records website” means a public website or a public land records database linked from such a website that allows users to search and retrieve a real estate property database or geographic records, but does not include the register of deeds index. (b) Any provider of a public-facing land records website shall establish a process for judicial officers and immediate family members of judicial officers to opt out from the display and search functions of their names on the provider’s public-facing land records website. In order to opt out from the display and search functions of the judicial officer’s name or the names of the judicial officer’s immediate family members under this subsection, a judicial officer or a representative from the judicial officer’s employer on the judicial officer’s behalf shall submit a written request to the provider of the public-facing land records website. Only a judicial officer or a representative from the judicial officer’s employer on the judicial officer’s behalf may use the opt out process established under this paragraph to submit a written request to opt out of the display and search functions of the judicial officer’s name and the names of the judicial officer’s immediate family members. An immediate family member of a judicial officer may not submit a written request to opt out of the display and search functions of the family member’s name under this paragraph. (c) A provider of a public-facing land records website that establishes an opt out process under par. (b) does not violate this section by continuing to display an address if a name is removed, provided that the link between the name and address is severed and precludes a search and retrieval that displays name. (5) (a) A judicial officer may bring an action seeking injunctive or declaratory relief in any court of competent jurisdiction against any business, association, data broker, or other person responsible for the violation of this section, except that if the violation alleged has been committed by a government agency, the judicial officer may bring an action only as set forth under par. (b). (b) Whenever a judicial officer believes that a government agency has violated the requirements under this section, the judicial officer may bring an action for a writ of mandamus. (c) It is unlawful for any person to knowingly publicly post or display on the Internet the personal information of a judicial officer or of the judicial officer’s immediate family if the person intends the public posting or display of the personal information to create or increase a threat to the health and safety of the judicial officer or the judicial officer’s immediate family and, under the circumstances, bodily injury or death of the judicial officer or a member of the judicial officer’s immediate family is a natural and probable consequence of the posting or display. A person who violates this paragraph is guilty of a Class G felony. (cm) If a judicial officer prevails in an action under par. (a) or (b), the court shall, notwithstanding the limitations under s. 814.04, award costs and reasonable attorney fees to the judicial officer. For an action under par. (a), costs and reasonable attorney fees shall be paid by the business, association, data broker, or other person responsible for the violation. For an action under par. (b), costs and reasonable attorney fees shall be paid by the government agency responsible for the violation. (d) Any person who intentionally submits false information on a written request for protection form under sub. (4) (d) or on a form under sub. (4) (e) 3. for consent to release personal information otherwise protected by a judicial officer’s written request may be prosecuted for a violation of s. 946.32. (5m) The provisions of this section supersede any statutory requirement that a government agency publicly post or display publicly available content. (6) This section shall be construed broadly to favor the protection of the personal information of judicial officers and the immediate family of judicial officers.
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