Table of Contents
Data brokers are companies that collect, aggregate, and sell your personal information – and most people have no idea how much of their data is available for purchase. Your home address, phone number, email, relatives’ names, income estimates, property records, political affiliations, and purchasing habits are all being bought and sold in a multi-billion-dollar industry. As part of your digital privacy and online safety strategy, removing your information from these services is one of the most impactful privacy actions you can take.
The bad news: there are hundreds of data brokers, each with its own opt-out process, and they continuously re-acquire data. The good news: the process, while tedious, is straightforward, and if you live in California, the Delete Act’s DROP platform now sends one deletion request to every registered data broker. This guide walks you through it step by step.
What Data Brokers Know About You
Before diving into removal, it helps to understand the scope of the problem. Data brokers typically have:
Identifying information – Full name, aliases, date of birth, age, gender
Contact information – Current and past home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses
Financial indicators – Estimated income range, property ownership, estimated net worth, credit score range
Relationships – Names of relatives, roommates, and associates
Professional information – Employer, job title, professional history
Public records – Property records, court records, marriage and divorce records, voter registration
Online activity – Social media profiles, online usernames, purchasing behavior
Demographic data – Education level, ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, hobbies and interests
This information is compiled from public records, commercial databases, social media, loyalty programs, data partnerships, and other sources. A single data broker profile can paint a disturbingly detailed picture of your life.
Why Removal Matters
Identity Theft
Data brokers make identity theft easier by providing criminals with the personal details needed to impersonate you – your mother’s maiden name, your previous addresses, your date of birth. These details are commonly used in security questions and identity verification.
Phishing and Social Engineering
The more an attacker knows about you, the more convincing their phishing attempts. A spear-phishing email that references your employer, your neighborhood, or a recent purchase is far more likely to succeed than a generic one.
Your Phone Number
Your phone number is one of the most sensitive details a data broker sells. It is the account-recovery and SMS two-factor channel for many services, it is used to verify your identity with banks, and a call from a “known” number feels trustworthy. A people-search listing that ties your number to your name, address and relatives gives an attacker most of what they need to talk a mobile carrier into a SIM swap or to make a convincing scam call. Removing it from broker databases reduces that exposure, though it does not eliminate it – which is why moving important accounts off SMS codes matters too.
Physical Safety
For survivors of domestic violence, stalking victims, or anyone with safety concerns, having their home address publicly available through data brokers is a direct physical threat.
Spam and Unwanted Contact
Data brokers are a primary source for telemarketing lists, spam email campaigns, and junk mail. Removing your data reduces the volume of unwanted contact.
General Privacy
Most people are uncomfortable with the idea that anyone with a few dollars can look up their home address, family members, and estimated income. Removing your data is an assertion of your fundamental privacy rights.
The Major Data Brokers to Target
Start with the biggest and most visible people-search sites. These are the ones most likely to appear in Google results when someone searches your name.
Tier 1: Highest Priority
These sites are the most commonly used and should be addressed first:
- Spokeo (spokeo.com) – One of the largest people-search sites
- BeenVerified (beenverified.com) – Popular background check service
- Whitepages (whitepages.com) – The digital version of the phone book, but much more comprehensive
- Intelius (intelius.com) – Major data broker with multiple subsidiary sites
- PeopleFinder (peoplefinder.com) – Extensive public records aggregator
- TruePeopleSearch (truepeoplesearch.com) – Free people search with detailed results
- FastPeopleSearch (fastpeoplesearch.com) – Free, widely used
Tier 2: Important
- MyLife (mylife.com) – Includes “reputation scores”
- Radaris (radaris.com) – Detailed reports
- USSearch (ussearch.com) – Background check service
- PeopleLooker (peoplelooker.com) – Part of the BeenVerified family
- Instant Checkmate (instantcheckmate.com) – Background check service
- ThatsThem (thatsthem.com) – Free people search
- ZabaSearch (zabasearch.com) – Free name and address lookup
Tier 3: Additional
Dozens more exist, including Acxiom, Oracle Data Cloud (formerly Datalogix), Epsilon, CoreLogic, LexisNexis, and many smaller sites. A comprehensive removal effort would address these as well, but the tier 1 and tier 2 sites handle the most visible exposure.
The Removal Process
Step 1: Search for Yourself
Start by searching for yourself on each of the major data broker sites. Also search Google for your full name in quotes, optionally combined with your city or state. This helps you identify which brokers have your data and what information is publicly visible.
Take screenshots or notes of what each site shows. This documents your starting point and helps you verify removal later.
Step 2: Submit Opt-Out Requests
Each data broker has its own opt-out process. Some are simple (fill out a form, click a link). Others are deliberately tedious (requiring you to create an account, submit identification, or mail a physical letter).
Common opt-out methods:
- Online form – The most common. Fill out a form on the broker’s website with the information you want removed.
- Email request – Send an email to the broker’s privacy or opt-out address with your removal request.
- Phone call – Some brokers require a phone call.
- Mail – A few require a written letter, sometimes notarized.
- Identity verification – Some brokers require you to verify your identity before processing a removal, which may involve providing additional personal information. This creates an uncomfortable paradox but is sometimes necessary.
Step 3: Follow Up
Many brokers claim removal takes 24-72 hours but may take weeks. Set calendar reminders to check each site 2-4 weeks after submitting your request. If your data is still visible, resubmit the request and escalate if the broker provides an escalation path.
Step 4: Use DROP (California Residents)
California’s Delete Act (SB 362, passed in 2023) created DROP, the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, run by the California Privacy Protection Agency. It lets California residents send a single deletion request to every data broker registered with the state – over 600 of them. The Data Broker Registry is only the list of brokers; the request itself goes through DROP.
- Go to consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov. It is free, and only California residents can submit requests.
- Confirm you live in California through the California Identity Gateway, or with Login.gov if you already have an account. DROP says it does not keep the information used for this check.
- Create your profile. Add the personal details you want brokers to match against; you choose how much to share, and more details let brokers find more of your records.
- Submit. One request goes to all registered brokers.
- Check your status later at consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov/dropstatus. The agency says it can take up to 90 days for a status to update.
The timeline: consumers could start submitting requests when DROP launched in January 2026, but brokers only had to start processing them on August 1, 2026. From that date, each broker must check DROP at least once every 45 days and process new requests within 45 days of receiving them (CPPA).
What it does that a one-off opt-out does not: once a broker has deleted your data, the law requires it to keep deleting your personal information at least every 45 days and not to sell or share new personal information about you (Civil Code 1798.99.86). If a broker cannot verify your request, it must treat it as an opt-out of the sale or sharing of your information instead.
What it does not cover: only registered data brokers – companies that sell information about people they have no direct relationship with – are covered, and limited legal exceptions apply. Companies you deal with directly, unregistered people-search sites, and public records are outside DROP, so keep doing Steps 1 to 3 for any site that still lists you.
Step 5: Repeat Periodically
Data brokers re-acquire your information over time from public records, commercial partners, and other sources. Plan to repeat the manual opt-out process every 6-12 months for sites DROP does not cover. Mark your calendar.
Automated Removal Services
Given the tedious nature of manual removal, several services have emerged that automate the process:
- DeleteMe – Submits opt-out requests on your behalf and monitors for re-listing. Subscription-based.
- Kanary – Similar automated removal with monitoring. Includes family plans.
- Privacy Duck – Handles removals manually with human operators.
- Optery – Scans data brokers, submits removal requests, and provides a dashboard for tracking.
These services charge annual fees (typically $100-200 per year) but save significant time. If your time is worth more than the subscription cost, and you find the manual process overwhelming, an automated service is a reasonable investment.
Preventing Future Data Collection
Removal is important, but reducing the flow of new data to brokers is equally valuable.
Minimize Your Public Records Footprint
- Register to vote with the minimum required public information
- Consider using a PO box or mail forwarding service instead of your home address for public filings
- Be aware that property records, court filings, and business registrations become public records that brokers scrape
Limit What You Share Online
- Use privacy settings on social media to limit what is publicly visible
- Do not fill out online quizzes, surveys, or loyalty programs that collect personal data
- Use email aliases (Apple’s Hide My Email or SimpleLogin) so your real email is not scattered across hundreds of databases
- Provide minimal information when creating online accounts
Use a Password Manager With Unique Credentials
Every account you create is a potential data source. When those services are breached – and the Identity Theft Resource Center counted more than 3,300 publicly reported data compromises in the US in 2025 alone – your credentials and personal data enter the ecosystem. Using unique passwords from a password manager like PanicVault limits the damage of any single breach.
Opt Out Proactively
When you create new accounts or interact with new services:
- Read the privacy policy (at least the data sharing and opt-out sections)
- Look for opt-out checkboxes during registration
- Opt out of data sharing, marketing, and third-party partnerships
- Exercise your rights under privacy laws to request data minimization
Google Search Results
Even after removing your data from brokers, cached results may appear in Google searches. You can request removal of specific Google search results that contain personal information:
- Visit Google’s “Results About You” tool (available in the Google app or at google.com/supportcontent)
- Request removal of results that contain your personal contact information
- Google will review the request and remove qualifying results
This does not remove the data from the source site – only from Google’s search results. But since Google is how most people find this information, it significantly reduces your exposure.
A Removal Schedule
Week 1 – Search for yourself and document what is out there Week 2 – Submit opt-out requests for Tier 1 brokers Week 3 – Submit opt-out requests for Tier 2 brokers Week 4 – Follow up on Tier 1 requests, submit Google search result removal requests Month 2 – Verify removals, resubmit any that were not processed Every 6 months – Re-check all brokers and resubmit as needed
If this schedule feels overwhelming, start with just the Tier 1 brokers. Removing your data from the six or seven most prominent people-search sites handles the majority of your visible exposure.
The Bigger Picture
Data brokers are a symptom of a broader system that treats personal data as a commodity. Removing your data is an important act of self-protection, but it is not a permanent solution. The data flows back. New brokers appear. The system itself needs reform.
In the meantime, the best approach is a combination of:
- Removal – Regularly opt out from the most visible brokers
- Prevention – Minimize the data you share and the accounts you create
- Legal rights – Exercise your rights under privacy laws
- Security – Use strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and a password manager to limit the damage when breaches occur
- Awareness – Understand the landscape and make informed decisions
Your personal information has value – to you, to advertisers, and to criminals. Taking control of who has access to it is a fundamental exercise in digital self-determination.
