The Epstein Files: New Security Risks

Europe is not California, and three differences matter. First, the data: the American industry of data brokers that resell addresses and profiles is far less developed in the European Union, where the GDPR gives individuals a right to erasure (Article 17) and a right to object (Article 21). Exposure there comes more from public registers. Second, the registers: in 2022 the EU Court of Justice struck down public access to company beneficial-ownership registers, and in Germany a person at risk can ask for a block on information from the residents’ register (Auskunftssperre, § 51 of the Federal Registration Act). Third, the law against exposure: France punishes the publication of personal data that exposes a person to a direct risk (Article 223-1-1 of the Penal Code, 2021), and Germany punishes the « dangerous publication of personal data » (§ 126a of the Criminal Code, 2021). Whoever publishes a named person’s address in order to expose them is, in both countries, committing an offence in itself.