Data Brokers: What They Are and What You Can Do About Them
What are we talking about?
If you’ve ever Googled your own name, you might have seen sites in search results that said that they “found” you, or offered information from a background check. Those sites are data brokers – companies that buy and sell data about people. One important type of data broker is for people search on the web. These are sites that let the user search for information on specific people, phone numbers, or addresses.
Data brokers get information from a wide variety of public records and consumer data. This includes voting records, property records, the information that you provided when you signed up for a loyalty card at the grocery store, etc.
People search data brokers typically provide information such as:
Your name (and possibly aliases or former names).
Current and past home addresses.
Current and past phone numbers.
The names, and links to data broker profile pages, of your close relatives or “associates” (the latter often, in practice, meaning roommates).
Current and past email addresses.
Links to your social media accounts like Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.
Typically, these sites provide a partial version of your profile for free, and a full version for paid users. The partial version may still include information like full name, a phone number, close relatives, or even a home address. Most people’s information gradually appears on these sites while the person is in the 18 to mid-20s age range. People of any age may find that their record is blended with other people’s information, especially that of relatives that they have lived with. Other data brokers sell similar information. They may also have further data. This can include, for example, your location habits, gathered by your phone’s GPS.
You might assume, if someone discovers you at a new address, that you are being tracked using stalkerware, or that your devices are compromised. Those are possibilities that you can read more about in our Survivor Toolkit. However, your new address may have been found through data brokers. Many are easy for even people who have never heard of them to find and use.
The good news is that you can significantly reduce your privacy risk from data brokers. You can:
Take steps to keep some of your information out of data brokers, and
Make requests to opt out.
This resource explains both options.
An important note: Removing information from data brokers doesn’t delete the original records the data brokers used to get your information. For example, someone could request court or voter records. However, to obtain them and the information in them, the person would need to:
Make more effort,
Know more about the sources of information available and how to get them, or
Spend more money.
Risks, Possibilities, and Preventative Action
Risks depend on many factors that can change over time. For example:
Is there one stalker looking for your information, or have they also enlisted friends, relatives, or online supporters?
How knowledgeable are they about finding information online?
Is the threat specifically to you? Or also to your family? Friends?
What information are you trying to protect? For instance:
Have you relocated away from the abusive person, and are trying to protect your new address?
Are you living with the person and trying to prevent them from learning your safe second phone or alternate email address?
Removing information from data brokers is mostly a preventative step to increase privacy and stop an abuser, stalker, or harasser from accessing your personal information. For instance, removing information from data brokers may prevent a stalker who is a stranger or acquaintance, or a new date about whom you’re still unsure, from ever learning this information about you. This can also stop an abuser from finding out about a new email address, phone number, or address. However, even if someone has already found some of this information about you, there are almost always ways to reduce the impact.
Especially in situations like relocating to a new safe address, these preventive steps can help you keep control over your information. There are some sources of data, like property records, where your options are limited. But there are some where you have more options. For consumer data sources, like grocery loyalty cards or magazine/mailing list subscriptions, you could
Use a partial version of your name (like your first and middle name, or middle and last name).
If the store allows, you could use a made-up name.
Use an email address created solely for shopping.
Use a tool like Mozilla Relay or SimpleLogin to provide “masks” for your email address.
If a phone number is required, you can use a VoIP number (Internet-based, like Google Voice, MySudo, or TextNow).
Another way in which data brokers get information is through advertising IDs on smartphones and tablets. These identify your phone or tablet to app creators for advertising purposes. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has information on how to turn off this tracking.
Most US states have an address confidentiality program (ACP) that allows victims of certain crimes (usually domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking) to receive mail at a special address that is not where they live, and to use that address for various government purposes that ordinarily require a real address, such as being listed on a driver’s license or registering to vote. That way, your real address is kept out of those public records, which also helps keep it away from data brokers. ACPs differ in scope and eligibility requirements. It can help to work with an advocate or other case manager while applying for or interacting with these programs. Some states require the application to be filled out by an advocate.
Some states also allow categories of people other than ACP participants to keep voter registration private. The US Election Assistance Commission has a chart and map detailing what the options are in each state.
Finally, even if you don’t qualify for your state’s ACP, companies called Commercial Mail Receiving Agencies (CMRAs) allow you to rent a virtual address. A virtual address is a rented mailbox at a real street address (not a PO Box). It will either forward your mail to your real address, or digitize your mail and send it to you online. CMRAs include UPS, US Global Mail, iPostal, Physical Address, and many others. Some states may allow you to use a virtual address for your driver’s license or other government needs, but you will need to check with government agencies in your state. Even if you can’t use it for government purposes, using it to sign up for consumer services can reduce the information flow to data brokers about you.
Manual (Do-It-Yourself) Opt-Outs
There are dozens of data brokers. Although burdensome, you can opt out of them one at a time yourself. Some pose more risks than others. This could be due to popularity, amount of information provided, or rank in search results. Some have a “trickle down” effect, where opting out of one will automatically opt you out of others. Depending on your concerns, you may want to opt out of:
Only the most popular data brokers,
Those most easily discoverable in current search results for your name, or
As many as possible.
In the next few paragraphs, we will talk about the following strategies:
Assessing search engine results to identify what someone using Google or other search engine searches will be able to find and prioritizing opt-outs from those data brokers.
Prioritizing well-known or high-quality data brokers. This can quickly lower risk from someone who may be aware of data brokers. Such a person is likely to use popular options.
Maximum removal of your info from data brokers (it is difficult, if not impossible, to fully remove your data from all data brokers).
These can be used separately or together.
Important: Even if you opt out of a particular data broker, your information may eventually re-appear in it. This is because of new data coming in. If you are doing manual opt-outs, you can keep a list and check those sites every 3-6 months. Paid subscription-based privacy services will do this for you.
You may wish to repeat your chosen strategies for any relatives who live with you or have lived with you in the past. Someone may search for them in the hope of finding clues about you. Sometimes a search for your name will take a searcher to their records or vice versa. You may want to discuss this with those relatives, since most data brokers require you to say that you are opting out for yourself or for someone who has given you permission.
Doing opt-outs can be stressful. This is even truer while dealing with an active or expected threat of danger. You may be able to get help with the work from an advocate or a friend. You can also process emotionally through a hotline like the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
Assessing Search Engine Results
A helpful method for those who expect an abuser to use search engines to find them, is to search different combinations of your name and current or former towns you’ve lived in. For example, if Sydney Doe, who goes by Syd, lives in Houston, Texas, after having previously lived in Dallas, Texas, they might search all of:
“sydney doe houston texas,”
“sydney doe dallas texas,”
“sydney doe texas,”
“syd doe houston texas.”
Look at the sites and profile links that you find in the first two pages of searches. Then, look at which ones have current information on you or close relatives. Make a list. Do the opt-out procedure for each site on the list. In most cases, this will require providing an email address and/or phone number. If this worries you, you can create a new email address to use with the opt-out form.
You can find detailed and usually-current instructions for opting out of most data brokers through the DeleteMe DIY guides, Incogni opt-out guides, or Optery DIY guides. All of these offer paid removal services for added convenience, but you can do the opt-outs for free. The following screenshots illustrate how to use the opt-out guides. They show how to find and use DeleteMe’s instructions for opting out of the popular data broker BeenVerified.
Focusing on Well-Known Data Brokers for Opt-Outs
Another option is to focus on opt-outs for popular data brokers. This can be especially helpful if a possible stalker/harasser is already aware of data brokers or may be working with a friend or investigator who is. The process of doing opt-outs is the same; the difference is in which ones you prioritize. There are a few lists of the most popular people search data brokers, including at SiteWorthTraffic and Privacy Bee. Note that this document does not link to any lists provided by people search data brokers themselves.
Maximum Removal
Either strategy discussed above lowers your risk. You can take the further step of opting out of other data brokers to nearly or completely remove your information. Some resources you can use are:
The Personal Data Removal section of Michael Bazzell’s free book. It includes a comprehensive list of data brokers and opt-out instructions. This lists over a hundred data brokers, so if you opt out of a few per day, it will take a month or two to complete.
Cybersecurity company Kaspersky’s explanation of how to send opt-out requests if you live in a place with a strong privacy laws.
Subscription Services
There are companies that you can pay to opt you out. They will remove you from a large number of data brokers (both the people search type and other types. They keep you out for as long as your subscription lasts. We do not endorse any specific subscription service. Nor are we endorsing against any specific service. We list a few as examples to help you start your research, as well as a free service for Californians that does the same thing. We have attempted to provide brief descriptions using information on company websites. This is to give readers a sense of what is available.
Important: Companies change elements of their products and services. They may even discontinue them. Quality or prices may go up or down. New products and services may arrive on the market. The descriptions that we have provided may no longer be accurate. This list of examples was written in April 2026. Always do your own research before choosing a service.
DeleteMe
DeleteMe is a service of the company Abine. They offer subscription-based opt-out services for one, two, or four people, allowing you to cover family members or others as well. All DeleteMe subscriptions provide the same service (there is no version where you pay more for more features). They remove your information from many data brokers, and allow you to request a custom removal if you discover your information on a site they don’t cover. DeleteMe uses human agents to do removal and monitoring.
Incogni
Incogni is a service of cybersecurity company Surfshark. They use automation (AI) to send opt-outs to data brokers. You will receive notifications when your data is removed from different brokers. Some plans may come with products from sister company Nord Security as well. Which products depends on which subscription you choose. More expensive subscriptions coming with more products and features. Incogni has family plans for up to 5 people.
Privacy Monitor Assistant
Privacy Monitor Assistant is a service of cybersecurity company Norton. They offer individual subscriptions. All Privacy Monitor Assistant subscriptions provide the same service (there is no version where you pay more for more features). However, a subscription may be included as part of a plan bundling it with other Norton products. More expensive plans will generally include more products and features. Norton uses human agents to do removal and monitoring. They scan for new data every 90 days.
EasyOptOuts
EasyOptOuts stresses affordability. They prioritize data brokers that rank highly in Google searches. EasyOptOuts has individual and business plans. They use automation (AI) to send opt-outs to data brokers.
Optery
Optery has several different price tiers. Lower-cost subscriptions use more automation (AI) with less human involvement, and cover fewer data brokers than higher-cost subscriptions. Higher-cost subscriptions come with other features, such as removing outdated information about you from search engines and allowing custom removal requests. All price tiers are for individuals (not families or businesses). Optery also has a free tier where they find your information in data brokers and provide instructions for you to do the removal yourself.
Privacy Bee
Privacy Bee uses a mix of human agents and AI to do removal and monitoring. They emphasize covering a large number of data brokers and providing a lot of information to customers. The features, level of human assistance, and number of data brokers covered depend on which subscription you choose. Privacy Bee does not have family plans.
DROP (California residents only)
If you live in California, you have a free option. The Delete Request and Opt-Out Platform (DROP) was created by the State of California. The DROP website has instructions on how to use it and what happens once you submit a request. Data brokers process DROP opt-out requests every 45 days, so your data may not be removed right away. Removals will start on August 1, 2026, so if you make a request before then, it will not be processed until then. However, you can make a request before August 1, 2026.
After Opting Out
Once data brokers have removed your information, there may be a period of time during which search engine results still show previews of the pre-removal information. You can learn why this happens and what to do about it with our Removing Sensitive Content from the Internet resource.
