How to stop data brokers from selling your personal data

Data brokers aggregate and sell or publish your personal information for profit – often without your knowledge and at your expense.

There are an estimated 4,000 data brokers in the world today. These companies aggregate and sell or publish your personal information for profit – often without your knowledge and at your expense. 

• Marketing data brokers collect information about your browsing habits, past purchases, and interests and sell it to third parties for targeted marketing campaigns.
• Recruitment data brokers use personal information to offer background screening services to HR departments. 
• Risk mitigation brokers collect a range of background information to provide assessment reports to various investment and business companies.
• People search brokers offer users personal information searches to look up contact details and background information. 
• Financial information brokers collect personal finance and background information to help credit companies and banks calculate your credit score.

Aside from endless spam and robocalls, websites that give your personal information to strangers expose you to higher risks of scams, identity theft, digital redlining, online harassment, and even stalking. Protect your online privacy and safety by removing your personal information from the internet.

Thankfully, you can do something about it.

How to remove personal information from data broker sites

The best way to protect your online privacy and security is to remove as much of your personal information from the internet as possible.

But given that data brokers sell your personal data, you can also prevent your information from circulating the web in the first place by removing it from their databases. While this may seem like a daunting task with so many data brokers operating around the world, each with their own opt-out processes in place, there are just three basic steps you need to take to keep your data off the market:

1) Narrow down your list of data brokers

Before you can start the removal process, you’ll need a list of data brokers that have your personal information. A quick online search for your own name, phone number, and address will likely bring up several people search site results. Note these down. 

However, there will be many more data brokers and people search sites that may not index their data, meaning they won’t show up in such a search. If you want to be thorough, you should also research which data brokers operate in your area. You can find this information on data broker registry lists like this one for California. 

2) Follow the individual data broker opt-out process for each one

Once you have a list of data brokers and people search sites that have (or are likely to have) your data, you can start opting out. Each data broker will have its own opt-out process, though most of them are similar. 

Visit the data broker website and find the opt-out page. This will often be found at the bottom of the page as a “remove my information” or “opt-out” link. Fill out the opt-out forms or follow the instructions you find there. 

3) Repeat the process regularly

Your work doesn’t end there. Unfortunately, removing your information once isn’t always a permanent solution. Data brokers refresh their databases regularly. Unless they use a suppression list that prevents them from collecting your data again, your personal information will end up on the website again in time. 

To combat this, keep the list of data brokers that you compiled in the first step and check back at least once every three months. You may have to resubmit opt-out requests from time to time. 

Remove your personal information with Incogni

Removing your personal information from data broker sites takes time and consistent effort. According to Incogni’s research team, it would take the average internet user 304+ hours to remove their data just once. Factoring in repeated removals, keeping your data off the market is a serious time commitment. 

A personal information removal service like Incogni does all of the legwork for you. We handle the entire data removal process including predicting which data brokers likely have your data, sending opt-out requests, handling disputes, and conducting regular repeated removals. 

Sit back and relax while we work behind the scenes to keep your personal information private.  Get started.

Laws protecting consumer data

While data brokers can make it difficult and confusing to opt out of data collection, they are required to provide the option and honor your request when you make one, depending on where you live. There are several laws and regulations around the world that protect your right to do so. 

Depending on where you live, you may be covered by one of the following data privacy laws:

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): EU countries and the UK 
• Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA): Canada
• California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA): California, USA
• California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA): California, USA
• Colorado Privacy Act (CPA): Colorado, USA (in effect July 1, 2023)
• Connecticut Personal Data Privacy and Online Monitoring Act: Connecticut, USA
• Maryland Online Consumer Protection Act: Maryland, USA
• Massachusetts Data Privacy Law: Massachusetts, USA
• New York Privacy Act: New York, USA
• Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA): Virginia, USA

Aside from these, there are several other laws, regulations, and entities that may help protect your privacy rights such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the US. 

The largest data brokers

There are an estimated 4,000 data brokers in the world today, but most of these are small companies with a limited area of coverage. Some of the major players in the data broker industry include:

• Epsilon Data Management, LLC – A data-driven marketing company that offers personalized marketing solutions based on consumer data and behavior.
• Experian Information Solutions, Inc – One of the three major credit reporting agencies, Experian also provides consumer data analytics and marketing services to businesses.
• Equifax, Inc – Another major credit reporting agency that collects and analyzes credit and financial data to provide credit reports and other financial services.
• TransUnion – The third major credit reporting agency, TransUnion collects and analyzes consumer credit and financial data to provide credit reports and other financial services.
• Acxiom, LLC – A data broker that specializes in collecting and analyzing consumer data to provide targeted advertising and marketing solutions.
• CoreLogic, Inc – A data analytics and consulting firm that provides property information and analytics for the real estate, mortgage, and insurance industries.
• Oracle data cloud – A division of Oracle Corporation that specializes in data-driven advertising and marketing solutions using their vast database of consumer information.
• Datalogix – A data broker that collects consumer information from online and offline sources to create marketing solutions for advertisers.
• Infogroup – A provider of business and consumer data, marketing analytics, and lead generation services for businesses.
• IQVIA – A healthcare data analytics and consulting company that provides insights and solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.