Data Broker Opt-Out Guide

Read this before you start

Every site below has its own form, its own way to prove who you are (an email link, a phone call, a CAPTCHA, sometimes a letter in the mail), and its own waiting period. None of it is secret. It is just slow. Working through the full list takes most people 20 to 40 hours spread across several weeks.

Here is the part nobody puts on the form. Brokers rebuild their lists from public records and from each other, so most listings come back within 60 to 90 days. Opting out once is not a fix. It is a chore you repeat, forever.

If you live in California, the state launched a free tool called DROP in January 2026 that files one deletion request to every broker registered in California. It helps, but it only reaches brokers on the state registry, and it does nothing about the hundreds of sites outside it or about the data coming back.

Most people start strong and quit around the tenth site. That is not a personal failing, the system is built to outlast you. That is the whole reason removal services exist. Not because the steps are hidden, but because almost nobody has time to redo them every few months for the rest of their life.