A data broker is a company that collects personal information about individuals from public and commercial sources and sells it to third parties. The U.S. data broker industry generated $315 billion in revenue in 2026, employing thousands of companies across categories that include people-search engines, marketing aggregators, and risk-mitigation services.
The information they collect typically includes:
• Your full legal name and any aliases or maiden names
• Current and previous home addresses (sometimes going back 20+ years)
• Phone numbers, including unlisted cell phones
• Email addresses
• Date of birth or estimated age
• Names of family members and known associates
• Property ownership records and estimated property value
• Estimated income, net worth, or credit profile
• Employer name and job title (sometimes)
• Vehicle registration data (in some states)
• Political affiliation, voting record, and donation history
This information is then packaged into profiles and sold for as little as $1.99 per query.
Data brokers don't hack their way to this data — they buy it legally or scrape it from public sources. The most common sources include:
Public records: Property deeds, court filings, voter registration rolls, marriage and divorce records, business filings. These are technically public, but data brokers aggregate them in ways that defeat the practical anonymity of being one record among millions.
Commercial sources: Loyalty programs at retailers, magazine subscriptions, warranty registration cards, charity donations — anywhere you've ever filled out a form.
Web tracking: Cookies, mobile app permissions, social media profiles, and third-party data brokers that share lists with each other.
Lead generation: Free quote sites, online surveys, sweepstakes entries, and 'free' scan tools that exist primarily to harvest your information.
There are two paths: manual opt-outs (free but time-consuming and temporary) and automated removal services (paid but continuous).
Every major data broker is legally required (under CCPA in California, GDPR in Europe, and many state-specific laws) to honor a removal request. Most have an opt-out form on their website, though they're rarely linked from the homepage.
Here are the most important sites to start with, in order of priority:
1. Spokeo (spokeo.com/optout) — One of the largest people-search aggregators. Filling out their form takes about 10 minutes.
2. Whitepages (whitepages.com/suppression-requests) — Requires email verification. Process takes 24 hours.
3. BeenVerified (beenverified.com/app/optout/search) — Removal typically completes in 1–2 weeks.
4. MyLife (mylife.com/ccpa/index.pubview) — Notorious for not honoring requests promptly; you may need to submit twice.
5. Intelius (intelius.com/opt-out/submit) — Removes you from a network of 40+ related sites.
6. Radaris (radaris.com/control/privacy) — Requires phone verification.
7. TruthFinder (truthfinder.com/opt-out) — Email confirmation required.
8. PeopleFinder (peoplefinder.com/optout.php) — Free but bureaucratic.
9. InstantCheckmate (instantcheckmate.com/opt-out) — Owned by the same parent as TruthFinder.
10. PeekYou (peekyou.com/about/contact/optout) — Common in social media searches.
After these top 10, dozens more exist. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse maintains a regularly-updated directory at privacyrights.org/data-brokers.
Manual opt-outs work — temporarily. Data brokers re-harvest public records every 30 to 90 days. A profile you remove from Spokeo today will likely reappear within 3 to 6 months, often with slightly different information (a new address, an updated phone number, a newly-discovered relative).
In practice, manual opt-outs require ongoing maintenance — at least 2–3 hours per month if you want to stay reasonably scrubbed across the major 30+ sites that matter.
Automated data broker removal services emerged in the early 2020s in response to this maintenance burden. The major players today are Incogni, DeleteMe, Privacy Bee, and EraseIQ.
These services work by filing removal requests on your behalf and continuously re-scanning to catch re-listings. The trade-off is straightforward: you pay $59–$149 per year, and the service handles the maintenance forever.
The right choice depends on your situation:
• If your time costs you under $10/hour and you enjoy this kind of task, the manual approach is fine.
• If your time costs you more than $20/hour, an automated service pays for itself in time saved within the first month.
• If you have any genuine safety concern (stalking, domestic violence, harassment), an automated service is the only reasonable option — the gap between manual removals leaves dangerous windows of exposure.
Whether you go the manual or automated route, three actions you can take today reduce your exposure immediately:
1. Run a free scan to see what's currently public about you. EraseIQ offers a free 60-second scan at erase-iq.com that shows you what data brokers currently have.
2. Tighten your social media privacy settings. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram all contain information that ends up indexed by data brokers.
3. Stop entering surveys, sweepstakes, and 'free quote' forms. These are the most active sources of new data broker profiles.
Will removing my data affect my credit score? No. Credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) are regulated separately and aren't affected by data broker removals.
Is it legal for them to sell my information? Yes, in most U.S. states. California (CCPA), Virginia (CDPA), Colorado (CPA), and a growing number of states have passed laws giving residents the right to opt out. The federal government has not yet passed comprehensive data privacy legislation.
How long does manual removal take? Per site, 5–15 minutes. To do the top 30 sites that matter, expect 4–6 hours upfront and 1–2 hours per month ongoing.
What about my family members? Their data is on separate profiles. You can typically request removal on behalf of minor children, but adult family members must request removal themselves.
Can I remove information from a background check? Data brokers and background check services are different categories. Background checks are regulated by the FCRA and are typically conducted by accredited providers — those records stay regardless of data broker removals.
READY TO SEE WHAT'S OUT THERE?
Run a free 60-second scan at erase-iq.com — we'll show you exactly which data brokers have your information, what they have, and what it would take to remove it. No credit card, no commitment.