Virginia Data Privacy & Data Broker Removal

Virginia has a comprehensive privacy law that gives you the right to access, delete, and control your personal data. Here is how those rights work in practice and how to remove yourself from data brokers.

Your rights in Virginia

Virginia residents are protected by the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA).

• Right to Access & Know — Request a copy of the personal information a company holds about you.
• Right to Correct — Request corrections to inaccurate personal information.
• Right to Delete — Ask a company to delete your personal information.
• Right to Data Portability — Get your data in a portable format you can take to another service.
• Right to Opt Out of Sale — Tell a company to stop selling your personal information.
• Right to Opt Out of Targeted Advertising — Stop companies from targeting you with ads based on your personal data.
• Right to Opt Out of Profiling — Stop companies from building a behavioral profile about you.
• Right to Appeal — Challenge a company's decision to deny your privacy request.

Does this cover the company that has my data?

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

Controls/processes personal data of 100,000+ Va consumers, Or 25,000+ consumers And derives more than 50% of gross revenue from the sale of personal data (the original 'Virginia model' template adopted by many later states).

How to remove yourself from data brokers in Virginia

Your state law gives you the right to request deletion — but exercising it across hundreds of brokers takes real effort. Here are the most effective steps, in order.

1. 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. Virginia does not mandate it yet, but most major companies honor it voluntarily because they must comply with California's law anyway.

2. 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.

Under Virginia's law, covered companies must respond within the statutory deadline. If they don't, you have grounds to file a complaint with the Virginia Attorney General.

3. 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.

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

Virginia does not have a dedicated data-broker registry. Most national data brokers are registered in California and honor opt-out requests from residents of any state — but without a Virginia-specific law requiring it, you have no legal recourse if a broker ignores your request. Services like Delist handle this across states and brokers in one place.

Other privacy protections in Virginia

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

• 2025 amendment added reproductive/sexual-health data to sensitive data (post-Dobbs protection); 2026 minors' amendments.
• Address Confidentiality Program administered by the Virginia Office of the Attorney General for DV/stalking/sexual-assault survivors.
• No Daniel's-Law analogue identified.
• Biometric data — No standalone biometric statute with a private right of action (biometric data is 'sensitive data' under the VCDPA).

How to file a privacy complaint in Virginia

Virginia Attorney General, Consumer Protection Section — https://www.oag.state.va.us/consumer-protection

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

• law.lis.virginia.gov
• oag.state.va.us
• huschblackwell.com