Public Service Alliance（PSA）安全项目研究员Justin Sherman的新报告提出“数据到暴力管道”：针对美国公职人员的暴力威胁正在上升，但州级“全面”消费者隐私法对公职人员的私人数据保护不足。报告采用传统“doxing”定义，即为伤害目的公开私人信息（如家庭住址），并指出数据经纪人将公共记录与可检索的个人信息产品化，使跟踪与骚扰更容易、成本更低。
Sherman分析了19部消费者隐私法：这些法律通常允许消费者阻止数据经纪人出售来自私人来源的个人信息，但没有任何一部赋予公职人员以法律手段强制州机构从公共记录中删改其个人数据的权利；也没有任何一部阻止数据经纪人出售来自公共来源（如房产记录、法院文件）的数据，包括家庭住址；同样没有任何一部包含“私人诉权”，使个人可就州隐私法违规提起诉讼。这些缺口使公职人员的信息更易获得、而阻止传播的手段更少。
PSA与Impact Project对2015—2025年间超过1,600起针对公职人员的威胁进行分析：地方公职人员（含学区董事会成员与选举工作人员）约占审查报告的近三分之一；威胁性言论发生率几乎是肢体攻击的9倍，且一种威胁形式可升级为另一种。案例中，一名57岁男子被指控在明尼苏达州家中刺杀民主党州众议员Melissa Hortman及其丈夫；法院记录称其手写清单列出数十名州与联邦官员及其住址，并列出11个“people search engines”。加州是唯一提供免费批量限制数据经纪人收集与出售的Delete Request and Opt-out Platform的州；其他州多需手动提交或付费服务。Consumer Reports在2024年评估7种数据移除服务（年费$19.99至$249），最佳成功率也仅约三分之二。
A new report by Justin Sherman for the Public Service Alliance (PSA) Security Project describes a “data-to-violence pipeline”: violent threats against US public servants are increasing, while state “comprehensive” consumer privacy laws leave public servants’ private data insufficiently protected. Using the conventional definition of doxing—publishing private information such as a home address with intent to cause harm—the report argues that data brokers weaponize public records by repackaging them into easily searchable products that lower the cost and friction of stalking and harassment.
Sherman analyzed 19 consumer privacy laws and found consistent gaps: although the laws generally let consumers limit sales of personal data sourced privately, none grant public servants the legal power to compel state agencies to redact their personal data from public records; none stop data brokers from selling data obtained from public sources such as property records or court filings, including home addresses; and none include a private right of action that would let individuals sue for violations. Taken together, these features make public employees’ information unusually accessible while giving them unusually few ways to prevent dissemination.
A PSA–Impact Project analysis of more than 1,600 threats from 2015 to 2025 found that threats against local public servants (including school board members and election workers) made up nearly one third of reviewed reports; threatening statements occurred at nearly nine times the rate of physical attacks; and one form of threat can escalate into another. A cited case involves a 57-year-old man charged with assassinating Minnesota Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband at home; court records say he kept handwritten lists of dozens of officials with home addresses and listed 11 “people search engines.” California is the only state offering a free, mass opt-out tool (the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform); elsewhere people must file requests manually or pay services. In 2024, Consumer Reports tested seven removal services priced from $19.99 to $249 per year and found the best were only about two-thirds successful.