What is a Data Broker and How Do They Get Your Information?

You never signed up. You never gave your consent. But your name, home address, phone number, and income estimate are listed on dozens of websites right now, available to anyone willing to pay.

This is the data broker industry. And most people have no idea it exists until they Google their own name.

What is a data broker?

A data broker is a company that collects personal information about individuals, packages it into profiles, and sells access to that information to third parties, including businesses, advertisers, landlords, employers, law enforcement agencies, and private individuals.

Data brokers operate legally in most jurisdictions. They do not hack your accounts or steal your passwords. They collect information that is technically public, from government records, court databases, social media, loyalty programs, and dozens of other sources, and combine it into detailed profiles about you.

The global data broker market was valued at approximately $270 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $473 billion by 2032. It is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, and most of its growth happens invisibly, without the knowledge of the people whose data is being collected and sold.

What information do data brokers collect?

The scope of what data brokers collect is broader than most people expect. A typical data broker profile can include:

Basic identifiers

• Full name and known aliases
• Current and previous home addresses
• Phone numbers (mobile, landline, work)
• Email addresses
• Date of birth and age

Financial and professional data

• Estimated household income
• Employment history and current employer
• Property ownership and mortgage records
• Credit-related information

Personal and family data

• Names of relatives and associates
• Marital status and relationship history
• Names of children and their ages

Legal and public records

• Arrest records and criminal history
• Court judgments and civil filings
• Bankruptcy records
• Voter registration information

Behavioral and digital data

• Browsing history (via third-party tracking)
• Purchase history from loyalty programs
• Social media activity and profiles
• App usage and location history

Major data brokers collect extensive personal details including name, address, telephone number, email address, gender, age, marital status, education, profession, income, political preferences, and property ownership.

How do data brokers get your information?

This is the question most people want answered. The short version: your data comes from more sources than you can realistically track or control.

1. Public records

Government agencies at every level, federal, state, and local, maintain public records that data brokers access systematically. These include:

• Voter registration rolls (name, address, party affiliation)
• Property tax records (ownership, assessed value, mortgage)
• Court records (arrests, civil cases, bankruptcies, judgments)
• Marriage and divorce filings
• Birth and death records
• Business registration filings
• Driver's license data (in some jurisdictions)

Most of this information is legally public. Data brokers automate the collection of it at scale.

2. Social media profiles

Any information you share publicly on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, or other platforms is fair game. Data brokers scrape your name and profile photo, your employer, job title, and work history, your location and hometown, your connections and followers, and any publicly visible posts or activity.

Even information you consider semi-private can be collected if your privacy settings are not fully locked down.

3. Online activity and tracking

Data brokers amass data from browsing history, social media, purchase histories, and public records.

When you browse the web, third-party tracking scripts on websites record what you look at, how long you stay, and what you click. This data is sold to data brokers and aggregated into behavioral profiles. Your browsing history across thousands of sites can be linked to your identity through your IP address, device fingerprint, or login cookies.

4. Loyalty programs and retail data

Every time you use a supermarket loyalty card, a retail rewards program, or a discount app, your purchase history is recorded. Many retailers sell this data directly to data brokers or to data aggregators who supply brokers.

Your grocery list, pharmacy purchases, and retail spending patterns are all potential data points in a broker's profile of you.

5. Data purchased from other companies

Data brokers buy data from each other and from other businesses. They operate in a legal grey area, collecting and repackaging publicly available information from public records, social media profiles, and government databases.

When you sign up for a free app, accept a terms and conditions agreement, or enter a competition, the data you provide may be sold to brokers as part of that company's standard business model. The privacy policy you agreed to, and likely did not read, almost certainly permitted this.

6. Data breaches and leaked datasets

Historically breached datasets circulate within the data industry. In October 2025, a major data incident exposed approximately 2 billion email addresses sourced from various data brokers and malware-infected devices. Once data leaks from one source, it proliferates across the broader ecosystem.

Who buys your data and why?

Marketers and advertisers use your profile to target you with ads based on your demographics, interests, and purchase history.

Employers and background check services use public record data to screen job applicants. If old records are distorting your screening results, our employment background search cleanup service addresses exactly that.

Landlords use people-search sites for informal tenant screening, outside the regulated background check process.

Insurance companies use financial and behavioral data to assess risk and set premiums.

Law enforcement agencies in some jurisdictions purchase location and identity data from brokers to avoid warrant requirements.

Private individuals use people-search sites like BeenVerified, Spokeo, and Intelius to look up anyone, including ex-partners, estranged family members, or people they want to locate.

How many data brokers are there?

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse identified at least 750 unique data brokerages operating in the United States in 2025. Some estimates place the global total at up to 5,000 data brokers, along with approximately 10 million open datasets published by government agencies and NGOs.

The most well-known consumer-facing brokers, the ones that publish searchable profiles of individuals, include:

• Spokeo
• BeenVerified
• WhitePages
• Intelius
• TruePeopleSearch
• FastPeopleSearch
• Radaris and MyLife
• ZoomInfo
• RocketReach
• Apollo

Each of these sites has its own data collection practices, its own profile format, and its own opt-out process. Removing yourself from one does not remove you from the others.

Is this legal?

In most cases, yes. Data brokers obtain personal data from a wide variety of sources, aggregate and analyze it, and sell it to many companies, agencies, and industries, often without the knowledge or consent of the individuals the data belongs to, but done legally.

The United States has no comprehensive federal privacy law regulating data brokers. Regulation is fragmented across individual states. California has the strongest protections through the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which gives residents the right to request deletion of their data. Colorado, Virginia, Connecticut, and Texas have passed similar laws.

Europe does not have a specific law regulating the data broker industry, but the GDPR still applies because data brokerage involves processing individuals' personal data. EU residents have stronger removal rights under GDPR Article 17, the right to erasure. Our guide to the right to be forgotten in the EU explains how that works in practice.

What are the real-world risks?

Stalking and harassment. A person's home address, daily routine, and workplace being publicly searchable creates obvious safety risks, particularly for domestic abuse survivors, public figures, and individuals with restraining orders in place.

Identity theft. A comprehensive profile combining your name, date of birth, address, and relatives provides the foundation for identity fraud.

Doxxing. Bad actors use people-search sites to gather and publish personal information about targets, exposing them to harassment campaigns. If that has already happened, see our doxxing removal service.

Discrimination. Profiles containing income estimates, political affiliation, and neighborhood data can be used to make discriminatory decisions in lending, insurance, and employment outside regulated channels.

Reputational damage. Criminal records, including charges that were dismissed or never prosecuted, appear prominently in data broker profiles and are seen by anyone who searches your name.

How to find out what data brokers have on you

The quickest way to assess your exposure is to search your own name on Google and note which people-search sites appear in the results. Common ones to check directly:

• spokeo.com
• beenverified.com
• whitepages.com
• intelius.com
• mylife.com
• radaris.com
• peoplefinder.com

Search your full name plus your city or state to find your specific profile on each site.

How to remove your information from data brokers

Each data broker has its own opt-out process. Most require you to:

1. Find your profile on their site
2. Submit an opt-out request with your name and email
3. Verify the request via a link sent to your email
4. Wait 24 to 72 hours for the profile to be removed

The process is straightforward for a single broker. The problem is scale. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has identified 750 or more data brokers, far more than any individual can realistically opt out of one by one. And data reappears. Brokers re-scrape public sources continuously, meaning profiles you removed can be rebuilt within 3 to 6 months without ongoing maintenance. Our walkthrough on removing yourself from people-search sites covers the manual route in detail.

Frequently asked questions

Do data brokers break any laws by collecting my information?

In most jurisdictions, no. Data brokers collect information from legally public sources and operate within the law. The legal landscape is changing, with more states passing privacy legislation, but comprehensive federal regulation does not yet exist in the United States.

Can I sue a data broker for listing my information?

In limited circumstances, yes, particularly if the information is demonstrably false, if you are a California resident with CCPA rights, or if the data was obtained through a breach. However, the legal route is slow and expensive. Opt-out requests are the practical first step.

Why does my data reappear after I remove it?

Because brokers continuously re-scrape the same public sources. If your address is in voter registration records, court filings, or property records, a broker can rebuild your profile from those sources even after you opt out. Ongoing monitoring and re-submission is the only reliable defence.

Is there a single opt-out that covers all data brokers?

No. Each broker requires a separate opt-out submission. Some services, including Info Remover's Data Broker Removal package, handle submissions across multiple brokers as part of a single managed process.

Are data brokers the same as credit bureaus?

No. Credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) are regulated under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and operate under strict rules about how credit data can be used. Data brokers that sell people-search profiles are largely unregulated by comparison.

The bottom line

Data brokers profit from your personal information without your knowledge or consent. The industry is large, growing, and largely unregulated. The information they collect and sell creates real risks, from targeted harassment to identity theft to reputational damage.

The good news is that you have options. Most data brokers are legally required to process opt-out requests. The process is repetitive and ongoing, but it is achievable, either manually, one broker at a time, or through a managed removal service.

Want help removing your data?

Info Remover handles opt-out submissions across up to 50 data broker sites as part of a single fixed-price package. No call required.

Data Broker Removal. From $250. Written confirmation of each submission included.

Remove my data from data broker sites

*Info Remover is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. This article is provided for informational purposes only. Last updated 2026.*