Data Brokers Know You Better Than Your Spouse — Here's How to Opt Out
There are companies you've never heard of selling profiles about you that include your income, health conditions, political views, browsing history, and even your daily location. Here's who they are — and how to make them stop.
Fn 2023, I decided to find out what data brokers knew about me. I requested my files from a dozen major brokers. What came back filled a 400-page binder.
They knew my exact income (within $1,000). They knew I had visited an urgent care for bronchitis in 2022. They knew my estimated credit score, my home value, my political affiliation, and that I had searched for "engagement rings" six months before I proposed. They knew my mother's maiden name — which I had never shared online.
Data brokers are the invisible economy. They buy, sell, and trade your personal information thousands of times per day. And almost no one knows they exist.
Data brokers know when you're pregnant before your family does. They know when you're getting divorced before you've told your friends. They know your secrets — and they're selling them to the highest bidder.
— Senate Commerce Committee testimony, 2024Who Are Data Brokers — And Why Haven't You Heard of Them?
Data brokers are companies that collect, analyze, and sell your personal information. They don't interact with you directly. You've never given them permission. They acquire your data from loyalty cards, public records, social media, retailers, apps, surveys, and thousands of other sources — then bundle it into detailed profiles sold to advertisers, insurers, employers, landlords, and anyone else willing to pay.
What Data Brokers Know About You (The Complete List)
Personal Identifiers
Name, aliases, SSN, driver's license, passport, IP addresses, device IDs
Residential History
Every address you've lived at, property ownership, mortgage value, rent amount
Financial Data
Income estimates, credit score, net worth, bankruptcies, investments
Purchase History
What you buy, where you buy, how much you spend, shopping frequency
Health Information
Prescriptions, conditions, insurance claims, medical devices
Location History
Where you go, when you go, who you visit, daily routines
Media Consumption
Websites visited, streaming habits, news preferences, social media activity
Relationships
Spouse, children, relatives, neighbors, associates
The Data Broker Food Chain
Who's Buying Your Personal Information?
Advertisers
Target you with personalized ads based on your browsing, purchases, and interests
Insurance Companies
Adjust premiums based on your health data, driving habits, and lifestyle
Employers
Background checks and candidate screening
Landlords
Tenant screening, eviction history, financial stability
Banks & Lenders
Pre-approval lists, credit decisions, fraud detection
Government Agencies
Investigations, fraud detection, location tracking
What One Woman Found in Her Data Broker File
When journalist Kashmir Hill requested her file from a major data broker, she received over 1,100 pages. Among the data points: every car she had ever owned, her estimated IQ, her "household happiness index," her likelihood of moving in the next year, her political donations, her magazine subscriptions, and a list of "life events" including her engagement, marriage, and the birth of her children — recorded within weeks of each event.
The scariest part? She never consented to any of this collection. And the data was 85% accurate.
Where Data Brokers Get Your Information
Property records, court filings, voter registration, professional licenses
Every grocery store loyalty card, every online purchase, every store receipt
App permissions, browsing history, search queries, social media
Product registrations, online quizzes, sweepstakes entries
How to Opt Out of Data Brokers (Step by Step)
Start with the biggest brokers
Acxiom, Experian, Oracle, LexisNexis, and Epsilon. Each has an opt-out page. You'll need to verify your identity.
Target people-search sites
Spokeo, BeenVerified, Whitepages, Intelius, MyLife. These sites publicly post your address, phone, and relatives.
Use opt-out services
Manually opting out of 400+ brokers takes 40+ hours. Automated services like AssistYu Cyber Privacy Suite handle the process for you.
Repeat annually
Data brokers re-add your information as they find new sources. Opt-out is not permanent — you must repeat every 12-18 months.
Opting out of data brokers is intentionally difficult. Many require you to mail physical letters with notarized ID. Some make you repeat the process every 30 days. Others simply ignore opt-out requests. The system is designed to make you give up.
What Changes After You Opt Out
Before Opt-Out
- Your full profile visible to anyone who pays
- Targeted ads follow you everywhere
- Insurers can access your health data
- Employers see your online history
- Your address and phone publicly listed
After Opt-Out
- Your profile removed from broker databases
- Significantly fewer targeted ads
- Insurance companies can't access your data
- Employer background checks show less
- Your contact info removed from public people searches
Stop data brokers from selling your information
Opting out of 400+ data brokers manually takes 40+ hours. AssistYu Cyber Privacy Suite does it automatically — scanning for your profiles, submitting opt-out requests, and verifying removal across thousands of data broker sites. One click. Years of privacy restored.
5 Actions to Take This Week
Your data is being sold without your permission
Data brokers have built a $200 billion industry on your personal information. They know your secrets, your habits, your health, and your location — and they're selling it to anyone with a credit card.
But you can fight back. Opting out is your legal right. It takes time, but it's worth it. Don't let strangers profit from your private life.
30-day money-back guarantee • Automatic broker removal • Privacy restored
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