What Data Brokers Know About You (and Where They Get It)

Here's a file on a person who doesn't exist. We built it to look like the kinds of records the Federal Trade Commission has described data brokers keeping:

Name: Priya Raman, 41 Address: 18 Linden Ct, Columbus, OH (owned since 2017); previous: 2 addresses Phone: (614) 555-0142 (mobile), (614) 555-0177 (old landline) Email: praman@example.com Relatives / associates: 4 listed, including a sister and an ex-roommate Household: married, 2 children under 12, 1 dog Estimated income: $100–125K. Home value: estimated Interests: running, home improvement, "budget travel" Segment: "Suburban mom, active lifestyle" Purchase signals: bought allergy medication 3 times this year

None of that is secret in the dramatic sense. It's what happens when public records, shopping data and online activity are matched to one name. This post breaks down what's in files like this, where each piece comes from, and what you can do about it. For the full removal process, see our pillar guide on how to remove your personal information from the internet.

#Three kinds of data brokers, three kinds of files

The FTC's landmark study of the industry looked at nine brokers and grouped their products into three types (FTC, 2014):

1. Marketing products. Lists and "segments" used to target ads and mail. This is where income estimates, interests and life events live.
2. Risk-mitigation products. Identity verification and fraud detection, used by banks and retailers to check you are who you say you are.
3. People-search products. The sites anyone can use to look up a name and get an address, phone number and relatives.

People-search sites are the ones most people see, because they publish profiles openly. Marketing brokers are the ones with the deepest files, because they hold inferences about your habits. They're often connected: the FTC found brokers buying and selling data with each other, so one fact can travel through several companies (FTC, 2014).

#What's in the file

#Identity and contact details

Name, age or birth date, current and past addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. People-search sites build profiles from public records, social media and data bought from other companies, according to the FTC's consumer guidance (FTC, people-search sites). This is the layer that lets a stranger find your door.

#Relatives and "associates"

People-search reports list relatives, and often people you've shared an address with. That's why removing your own listing doesn't fully hide you: your name and current city can still appear on your parents' or siblings' pages. Our pillar guide explains why listings come back for this reason.

#Property and money

Home ownership, purchase price and estimated value are taken from public property records. Marketing files add estimated income and net worth, often as a range.

#What you buy

The FTC found brokers collecting purchase data from retailers and catalog companies, such as product categories and how often you buy (FTC, 2014). That's how "bought allergy medication 3 times" can end up in a profile without anyone reading your receipt.

#Inferences: who they think you are

This is the part most people don't expect. Brokers sort people into segments, labels that bundle traits together. The FTC reported that one broker, Acxiom, had about 3,000 data segments for nearly every U.S. consumer (FTC, 2014). Segment names in the report included "Expectant Parent," "Diabetes Interest" and "Cholesterol Focus," alongside lifestyle and ethnicity-based categories.

Those labels are guesses. They can be wrong, and the FTC raised concerns that some, especially health-related ones, could be sensitive even when they're accurate (FTC, 2014).

#Where you go

Some companies sell location data collected from phone apps. The FTC has taken action over this: it sued Kochava in 2022 for selling location data that could track people to places like reproductive health clinics and places of worship, and in 2024 it finalized orders banning X-Mode Social and InMarket from selling sensitive location data (FTC press releases). Location data isn't on a typical people-search page, but it's part of the broader market.

#Where it all comes from

The FTC's 2014 report noted consumers generally don't know these companies exist, because they don't deal with you directly.

#How to see your own file

There's no single place to see everything, but you can get a rough picture in an afternoon:

1. Search your name plus city, and your phone number, on Google. People-search results tend to show up on the first page. Google's Results about you tool can flag pages showing your contact details automatically; our Google removal guide walks through it.
2. Check the big people-search sites directly. Look yourself up on Whitepages, Spokeo and similar sites. Don't pay for a "full report" just to see it; the free preview usually shows enough to opt out.
3. Ask marketing brokers for access. If you live in a state with a comprehensive privacy law, such as California, you can request a copy of the data a broker holds. Look for "Your Privacy Choices" or "Privacy Request" links in a broker's footer.
4. Check your phone's ad and location settings. On both iPhone and Android you can limit ad tracking and review which apps have location access.

When Priya (our fictional example) did this, her biggest surprise wasn't her address. It was that her sister's people-search page listed Priya's current street, and her own listing showed a phone number she'd given up years earlier.

#How to shrink it

You can't delete every record, but you can cut the parts that do the most harm:

• Opt out of people-search sites first. They're the ones that publish your address to anyone. Start with the largest; our Whitepages removal guide shows the pattern most sites follow.
• Remove results from Google so the remaining listings are harder to find.
• Use state rights. Californians can file a single request to 600+ registered brokers through DROP (our DROP walkthrough). Residents of other states with privacy laws can file "Do Not Sell or Share" requests with individual brokers.
• Cut the inflow. Use a separate email for loyalty programs, skip optional fields on warranty cards, and turn off precise location for apps that don't need it.
• Re-check. New records keep arriving. The FTC notes that opting out doesn't stop a site from collecting new information later (FTC, people-search sites).

The re-checking is the slow part. UndoLeak can take that over by scanning listings on a schedule and filing again when profiles come back, which saves time but isn't something you can't do yourself with a calendar reminder.

#Sources

1. FTC, "Data Brokers: A Call for Transparency and Accountability" (May 2014). https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/data-brokers-call-transparency-accountability-report-federal-trade-commission-may-2014/140527databrokerreport.pdf
2. FTC Consumer Advice, "What To Know About People Search Sites That Sell Your Information." https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-people-search-sites-sell-your-information
3. FTC press release, "FTC Sues Kochava for Selling Data that Tracks People at Reproductive Health Clinics, Places of Worship, and Other Sensitive Locations" (Aug. 2022). https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/08/ftc-sues-kochava-selling-data-tracks-people-reproductive-health-clinics-places-worship-other
4. FTC press releases on X-Mode Social (Jan. 2024) and InMarket Media (Jan. 2024) orders. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases
5. CalPrivacy, DROP. https://privacy.ca.gov/drop/

Priya Raman, her address and phone numbers are fictional (555 numbers, example.com).