Data Brokers Explained: How They Get Your Information

In the digital age, our personal information is constantly being collected and analyzed. While some data collection is necessary for the services we use, a hidden industry thrives on gathering and selling your information without your explicit knowledge or consent: data brokers.

These companies amass vast amounts of data about individuals and sell it to third parties for various purposes. Understanding who data brokers are, how they operate, and the risks they pose is crucial for protecting your privacy.

What are Data Brokers?

A data broker is a company that specializes in collecting personal data or data about people, mostly from public records but sometimes sourced privately, and selling or licensing such information to third parties for a variety of uses. They are also known as information brokers or syndicated data brokers.

Unlike companies like Google or Facebook, whose primary business involves direct interaction with consumers, data brokers operate behind the scenes, often without the knowledge or consent of the individuals whose data they collect.

It’s been estimated that the industry is worth $200 billion per year, with up to 4,000 data brokering companies worldwide. Some of the most significant data brokers are Experian, Equifax, Acxiom, and Epsilon.

How Data Brokers Collect Your Information

Data brokers employ various methods to gather personal information, both online and offline:

• Public Records: This includes information available in public databases, such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, divorce records, voter registration information, court records, bankruptcy records, motor vehicle records, and census data.
• Web Scraping: Data brokers use web scraping – a small piece of software or script that extracts data from any website – to gather that information.
• Online Activity Tracking: Every time you use a search engine, a social media app, or other types of app, fill out an online quiz or enter a competition, or visit different websites, you're leaving an electronic trail. Data brokers can track and analyze your browsing history to see things like what content you're interested in and what demographics you fall into.
• Commercial Sources: Your purchase history – what you've bought, when you bought it, how much for, and whether you used a coupon or loyalty card. Data brokers can also acquire personal information from various commercial sources, such as retailers, catalog companies, financial services, and other data brokers.
• Mobile Apps: Data brokers may pay app developers to install their software development kits (SDKs) into the app, so when users install the app into their phone and customize the app's access permissions, the data broker's SDK will also gain access to the user's data.
• Social Media: Data brokers scrape information from social media.
• Online Agreements: Many online agreements have disclosures in the fine print that give the company the right to collect and distribute your personal information.
• Postal Services: Postal services may be leveraged to collect information about a person's address and/or determine if someone changed their address.

Using these different sources, data brokers piece together a wealth of information about you. The types of information collected include:

• Your name
• Address (both current and previous addresses)
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Marital status
• Family status, including if you have children, how many and how old they are
• Social Security number
• Education levels
• Assets
• Occupation
• Phone number
• Email addresses
• Buying habits – what you buy, when you buy it, and how much for
• Personal interests and hobbies
• Health information
• Political preferences
• Cars and real estate ownership
• Real-time location data

Privacy Risks Associated with Data Brokers

The activities of data brokers pose several risks to individual privacy:

• Identity Theft: Cybercriminals can use your personal information to open fraudulent accounts or obtain credit in your name.
• Targeted Advertising and Manipulation: Data brokers collect information about your browsing and purchasing habits and then sell this information to advertisers. This can result in a bombardment of targeted ads that can be both annoying and intrusive.
• Discrimination: The data broker industry's secret algorithms can be used to determine interest rates on mortgages and credit cards, determine eligibility for public benefits, or deny people jobs.
• Loss of Data Security: Data brokers do not always use proper measures to keep the personal data of individuals they collect secure. This could usher loss of sensitive data that could jeopardize individuals' data, leading to fraud or theft.
• Stalking and Physical Harm: People who wish to harm public officials can often purchase personal information like home address, names of close relatives, and location data from data brokers and use this information to find and harm public officials and their families.

• National Security Risks: Data brokers also threaten national security by compiling and selling extensive profiles of information on members of the military and government officials.

How to Opt-Out and Control Your Data

While it's impossible to completely erase your online data, here are steps you can take to minimize your exposure and control your personal information:

• Opt-Out from Major Data Brokers: Many data brokers allow you to request data removal. Search for “[Broker Name] opt-out” or visit their privacy section. Some common ones include sites like Spokeo, Whitepages, and Radaris.
• Use Privacy-Focused Tools & Browsers: Many websites and apps track your online activity for advertising and data collection. Using privacy-enhancing tools can limit exposure. Bitdefender Premium VPN can encrypt your internet connection, making it harder for others to track your online activities.
• Check Social Media Privacy Settings: Tighten your privacy settings on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Set your profile to private.
• Limit What You Share Online: Social media makes it simple to share information online – it's their business model. If you are not careful, you may overshare personal information that you may not want exposed to everyone in the world.
• Delete Unused Apps & Accounts: Many apps collect and store your data, even if you no longer use them. Uninstall outdated or unnecessary apps and request data deletion where possible.
• Be Aware of Cookies: Individuals should also be mindful of the cookies they accept as these also help data brokers profile a lot of information that could be used to expose the individual to targeted marketing and other unknown risks.
• Monitor Your Data Broker Exposure: Using a privacy monitoring tool helps make the process easier, scanning popular data broker sites and sending alerts whenever your personal info is found so you can opt out and reduce your exposure.
• Support Data Privacy Legislation: Advocate for stronger laws and regulations to protect consumer data privacy and hold data brokers accountable.

Data Broker Removal Services

Several services can automate the process of opting out of data brokers. These services, such as Incogni, DeleteMe, and Privacy Bee, will automatically submit opt-out requests to numerous data brokers on your behalf. While these services often require a subscription fee, they can save you significant time and effort.

Conclusion

Data brokers play a significant role in the collection and dissemination of personal information. While their activities can provide benefits to businesses, they also pose considerable risks to individual privacy. By understanding how data brokers operate and taking proactive steps to protect your data, you can mitigate these risks and regain control over your personal information.

Taking control of your data privacy is an ongoing process. By staying informed and actively managing your online presence, you can safeguard your personal information in an increasingly data-driven world.