What Are Data Brokers and Why Should You Care?
There are hundreds of companies collecting your personal information right now — your name, home address, phone number, income, daily habits, and family connections. Most people have never heard of them.
They are called data brokers. And understanding what they do is the first step to protecting yourself.
What is a data broker?
A data broker is a company that collects personal information about individuals from a wide range of sources, packages that information into profiles, and sells or licenses access to those profiles.
Data brokers are not a new phenomenon. Companies have been building consumer databases for decades. But the growth of the internet, public records digitization, and social media has made the scale of data collection vastly larger than most people realize.
Where do data brokers get your information?
Data brokers pull information from sources you have probably never thought about.
Public records
Property deeds, voter registrations, court records, marriage and divorce filings
Social media
Public profiles, check-ins, listed phone numbers and employers
Purchase history
Loyalty programs, warranty registrations, online shopping accounts
Other data brokers
Brokers buy and sell data from each other, spreading your information further
Every time you fill out a form, make a purchase, or interact with a website, there is a reasonable chance that information eventually makes its way into a data broker database.
What do they know about you?
A typical data broker profile might include all of the following.
The level of detail can be alarming. Many people only discover how much is out there when they search for themselves and find a profile that reads like a detailed background check.
Who buys this data?
Data brokers sell access to this information to a wide range of buyers. Legitimate buyers include employers conducting background checks, landlords screening tenants, and marketers targeting specific demographics.
But the same data is also accessible to scammers, stalkers, identity thieves, and robocall operations. Once your information is published, there is no control over who accesses it or how they use it.
Why is this a problem?
The core issue is consent. Most people never agreed to have their personal information collected, packaged, and sold. Data brokers operate largely in the background, and most people are unaware their information is being traded until something goes wrong.
Spam calls and phishing emails that reference your real name and address
Identity theft facilitated by the detailed personal profiles data brokers maintain
Targeted scams that use your personal information to appear legitimate
Stalking or harassment enabled by publicly accessible home addresses
What can you do about it?
Most data brokers are required to provide an opt-out process that allows you to request removal of your information. The process varies by broker — some are straightforward, others are deliberately difficult.
The challenge is scale. There are over a thousand data broker and people-search sites operating in the United States. Removing yourself from each one manually is possible but requires significant time and ongoing effort, since removed listings frequently reappear as brokers update their databases.
A good starting point is to search for your name on the most widely used people-search sites — WhitePages, Spokeo, BeenVerified, and Intelius — and submit opt-out requests for any listings you find.
If you want to see the full picture of where your information is listed right now, run a free scan below. It checks across data broker and people-search sites and shows you your current exposure in seconds.
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