Vermont Data Privacy & Data Broker Removal

Vermont has both a comprehensive privacy law and a data-broker registry — putting it in the top tier of US states for privacy protections. Here is what that means for you and how to use it.

Your rights in Vermont

Vermont residents are protected by the No comprehensive consumer privacy law (Data broker law: 9 V).

• Right to Access — Request a copy of the personal information a company holds about you.

Does this cover the company that has my data?

Most companies that collect or sell personal data in Vermont are likely covered.

Data-broker law applies to a 'data broker' = a business that knowingly collects and sells or licenses to third parties the brokered personal information of a consumer with whom it has no direct relationship (9 V.S.A. § 2430).

How to remove yourself from data brokers in Vermont

Vermont gives you more tools than most states. Here is how to use them, ordered from strongest to most practical.

1. Use the data-broker registry

Vermont requires data brokers to register with the state. The public registry lets you see exactly which companies are collecting and selling your information — and gives you a starting point for individual opt-out requests. Unlike California, Vermont does not yet offer a single-request deletion mechanism, so you will need to contact each broker separately.

2. Enable Global Privacy Control

Global Privacy Control is a free browser setting that automatically tells every website you visit not to sell or share your data. It takes two minutes to enable and works silently in the background on every site. Vermont does not mandate it yet, but most major companies honor it voluntarily because they must comply with California's law anyway.

3. Submit direct opt-out requests

For brokers not covered by the registry or GPC, you can submit requests directly. Look for the "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" link in each company's website footer — most major brokers have one. You can also submit formal access, deletion, or correction requests through each company's privacy policy page.

4. Automate ongoing removal

Here is the part nobody tells you: even after you complete every step above, brokers re-ingest your information from public records, data-sharing networks, and commercial databases. Within a few months, your profiles reappear. Staying removed from hundreds of brokers is not a one-time task — it is an ongoing commitment that most people cannot maintain manually.

Vermont's data broker law: what it means for you

Vermont passed the nation's first data-broker registration law in 2018 — a transparency measure that forced brokers to publicly identify themselves for the first time. It does not give you a right to delete, but it tells you who has your data.

• Data brokers must register annually with the Vermont Secretary of State by January 31, pay a $100 fee (CURRENT), and disclose data-collection practices, opt-out methods (including whether a consumer may authorize a third party/agent to opt out), credentialing, breaches involving brokered data, and minors'-data practices.
• Failure to register: $50/day penalty, capped at $10,000/year, plus fees due (enforced by the AG).
• Public registry: Vermont Secretary of State Data Broker Search at https://bizfilings.vermont.gov/databrokersearch/Search (about 283 brokers registered in the 2025–2026 cycle).
• If enacted, effective January 1, 2027, it would raise the fee from $100 to $900, raise the non-registration penalty to $200/day with no cap, add a $20,000 bond, require a website deletion-request page and a 30-day deletion workflow, require 14-business-day breach notice to the AG, and fund a STUDY (not a build) of an accessible centralized deletion mechanism — the Senate REMOVED the House-passed universal deletion portal and consumer right to delete.
• There is currently NO centralized single-deletion mechanism; residents contact each registered broker individually.

Other privacy protections in Vermont

Beyond the comprehensive privacy law, Vermont has additional protections that may apply to you:

• Pioneering data-broker registry (transparency).
• Minors' Age-Appropriate Design Code provisions.
• Breach notification (9 V.S.A. § 2435).
• Address Confidentiality Program (Safe at Home) administered by the VT Secretary of State for DV/stalking survivors.
• No Daniel's-Law analogue identified.

How to file a privacy complaint in Vermont

Vermont Attorney General, Consumer Assistance Program — https://ago.vermont.gov/cap ; Data-broker registry: Vermont Secretary of State — https://bizfilings.vermont.gov/databrokersearch/Search

Most state agencies enforce privacy laws in the aggregate — they investigate patterns of violations rather than resolving individual disputes. Filing a complaint still matters: it creates a record that helps trigger enforcement actions.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• legislature.vermont.gov
• bizfilings.vermont.gov
• recordinglaw.com
• recordinglaw.com — news/vermont-data-broker-law-h211
• privacylawmap.com