Remove your data where you live
How to remove your personal information in Texas
Quick answer
Texas has no one-stop deletion tool like California's DROP, so you send a request to each company under the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA). It's free up to twice a year, companies have 45 days to answer, and you can appeal a refusal and then complain to the Attorney General. Find data brokers in the Secretary of State's registry, and if you're a survivor of violence or work in a protected job, you can also hide your address in some public records.
All privacy laws“The Address Confidentiality Program helps survivors of family violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and stalking keep their addresses private from public records.”
- Applies in
- Texas, United States
- Companies must answer within
- TDPSA requests: without undue delay and within 45 days, extendable once by 45 days with notice (Bus. & Com. Code § 541.052(b)). Appeals: a written answer within 60 days (§ 541.053). Address Confidentiality Program: 3 years at a time. Form 50-284 stays in effect until you rescind it.
- Last updated
Head of Product & Co-Founder
Reviewed by Ludwig Sandgren
Head of Legal
Serus is a privacy company with paid tools to find and remove your personal data. This page is free and based on official sources.
Sources checked: texasattorneygeneral.gov, capitol.texas.gov, sos.state.tx.us
Last verified against the official page:
Texas residents. The TDPSA covers companies that do business in Texas or make products or services Texans use and that process or sell personal data; small businesses as the SBA defines them are generally exempt. The Address Confidentiality Program and Form 50-284 are only for people in the listed categories.
How to use it
- 1
Send TDPSA deletion and opt-out requests to companies
The TDPSA, in force since July 1, 2024, lets you ask a company to delete personal data you gave it or that it obtained about you, and to opt out of the sale of your data and targeted advertising. Use the methods in the company's privacy notice. Companies must offer two or more secure and reliable methods and can't make you create a new account. Responses are free up to twice a year, according to the Texas Attorney General.
- 2
Find the data brokers and send them TDPSA requests
Data brokers must register with the Texas Secretary of State, and you can search them in its Data Broker Registry, linked from the Secretary of State's data broker FAQ. Then send each one a TDPSA deletion request.
What it doesn't do: the data broker law itself only requires registration, a notice on the broker's website and a security program. It gives you no deletion right of its own, and the Secretary of State doesn't investigate violations.
Our guides cover the opt-out forms for the big people-search sites: Spokeo, TruePeopleSearch, FastPeopleSearch, BeenVerified, Intelius and TruthFinder.
- 3
Turn on a browser opt-out signal
Since January 1, 2025, a browser setting, a browser extension or a global device setting that signals you want to opt out counts as your authorized agent for opting out of targeted advertising and sales (HB 4). It stops sales and targeted ads; it doesn't delete anything.
- 4
Cut marketing calls and prescreened offers
Register your number free at DoNotCall.gov. It can take up to 31 days for sales calls to stop. To stop prescreened credit and insurance offers for five years or for good, use optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT. The FTC lists both, and the major credit bureaus run them.
- 5
Survivors: apply to the Address Confidentiality Program
Victims of family violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, stalking or child abduction, with a protective order or documentation of the crime, can join the Attorney General's Address Confidentiality Program. You get a substitute PO box, and mail is forwarded to you with a delay of three to four days. You can use the address for school enrollment, your driver license and voter registration. Participation lasts 3 years, then you reapply.
What it doesn't do: keep your address secret in every case. It can still be released if a court orders it or for certain investigations, and the Attorney General calls the program one part of staying safe, not a replacement for other safety measures.
- 6
If you qualify, hide your home address in appraisal district records
File Comptroller Form 50-284 with the appraisal district in each county where you own property (not with the Comptroller). Qualifying groups include Address Confidentiality Program participants, victims of family violence, sexual assault, abuse, stalking, child abduction or trafficking with a protective order or other evidence, peace officers, many court and public employees, and certain veterans who served in combat zones. It stays in effect until you rescind it in writing.
What it doesn't do: hide the property. Records can still identify the property by its address, as long as they don't identify you as the owner.
- 7
Appeal a refusal
If a company turns down your request, use its appeal process. It must answer in writing within 60 days and, if it denies the appeal, give you a way to submit a complaint to the Attorney General. Our guide on what to do when a company won't delete your account covers the wording.
- 8
Complain to the Texas Attorney General
If a company ignores your request or denies your appeal, file a complaint with the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division. Companies get a 30-day cure period, and violations carry penalties of up to $7,500 each. You can't sue a company yourself under the TDPSA: the Attorney General has exclusive enforcement authority.
No answer in time? Complain to Texas Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division .
Why there's no shortcut in Texas
California residents can send one request to every registered data broker through DROP. Texans can't use it, and Texas has nothing like it, so every request goes to one company at a time. Start with the companies you care most about: the people-search sites that show your address, then the brokers in the state registry.
What stays public
- Property records. Appraisal district records can show your home address unless you qualify for Form 50-284 and file it.
- Small businesses. Businesses that count as small under the SBA definition are generally outside the TDPSA, though they still need your consent before selling sensitive data.
- Anything a company is allowed to keep. A deletion request can be refused where an exemption applies, which is why the appeal step matters.
Voter records and driver records have their own rules and aren't covered here.
Where Serus fits
The TDPSA gives you a right to ask, one company at a time, and the registry tells you who to ask. Doing that by hand, broker by broker, adds up, and listings come back. Serus finds the data brokers and people-search sites that list you where you live, sends the requests, follows up and checks for relistings. Run a free scan to see where you're listed.
Data brokers that list people in United States
Each guide shows how to opt out of that site, step by step.
- Remove yourself from CourtRecords.us
- Remove yourself from TruePeopleSearch
- Remove yourself from Spokeo
- Remove yourself from LexisNexis
- Remove yourself from TruthFinder
- Remove yourself from FastPeopleSearch
- Remove yourself from BeenVerified
- Remove yourself from Intelius
Let Serus send the requests for you
Serus finds the data brokers that list you where you live and removes you from them.
Related
Frequently asked
Can Texans use California's DROP tool?
No. DROP is for California residents. Texans send TDPSA requests to each company.
Can I sue a company under the Texas privacy law?
No. There's no private right of action, and the Attorney General has exclusive enforcement authority.
Do small businesses have to delete my data?
Small businesses as defined by the SBA are generally exempt, except that they need consent before selling sensitive data.
Who can hide their address from the appraisal district website?
Only people in the categories listed on Form 50-284, such as Address Confidentiality Program participants, victims of family violence or stalking, peace officers, judges and many court and public employees.
Where's the list of Texas data brokers?
In the Secretary of State's Data Broker Registry. Brokers pay $300 to register, and registration lasts one year.
Will the Do Not Call Registry stop all calls?
It stops most sales calls. If you're registered and still get unwanted calls, the FTC says they're likely from scammers.
Sources
- texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protection/file-consumer-complaint/consumer-privacy-rights/texas-data-privacy-and-security-act
- capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/HB00004F.htm
- texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protection/file-consumer-complaint/consumer-privacy-rights/texas-data-broker-act
- sos.state.tx.us/statdoc/faqs4000.shtml
- texasattorneygeneral.gov/crime-victims/victims-violent-crime/address-confidentiality-program
- comptroller.texas.gov/forms/50-284.pdf
- consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-prescreened-offers-credit-and-insurance
- donotcall.gov
- consumerprotection.texasattorneygeneral.gov
- privacy.ca.gov/drop/
Something wrong or out of date? Tell us and we'll re-check it.