Radaris.com and more than a dozen related domains have been ordered transferred to plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging the consumer data broker violated New Jersey privacy law. The New Jersey statute imposes substantial fines on data brokers that publish personal information about state law enforcement officials.
The company maintained a long track record of ignoring requests to remove personal data from its network of people-search services. Court filings show Radaris attorneys engaged in repeated stonewalling and misrepresentation during litigation. A judge responded to this conduct by ordering the domain transfer as a remedy.
Radaris operates a large portfolio of people-search websites that aggregate and publish personal information. The case centers on the company's alleged failure to comply with New Jersey law regarding law enforcement officer information specifically. The state statute creates liability for data brokers that knowingly or recklessly publish such protected personal information.
The domain transfer order represents an escalation in enforcement against data brokers that resist privacy requests. Rather than imposing fines alone, the court used domain forfeiture as a consequence of the company's litigation conduct and alleged statutory violations. This approach removes Radaris's primary internet properties used to distribute the collected personal data.
The case reflects growing tension between the data broker industry's collection practices and state privacy regulations designed to protect specific populations. New Jersey's law targeting law enforcement officer information represents one approach states have taken to address sensitive data exposure. Other states have enacted broader consumer privacy statutes with similar enforcement mechanisms.
Radaris's resistance to removal requests and subsequent litigation behavior appears to have persuaded the court that traditional remedies were insufficient. The domain transfer strips away the company's ability to continue operating these particular services, at least under those specific domain names. Whether Radaris operates under alternative domains or how the company responds to the order remains unclear from available information.