Explainer · By Ghost Delete · November 14, 2026

What Is a Data Broker?

A data broker is a company that collects personal information: addresses, phone numbers, emails, purchase habits, location history, and sells or lists it. There are hundreds of them. Most people cannot name one. Here is how they work, how they get your data, and what you can do about it.

The short answer

A data broker collects personal information about you and sells it to anyone willing to pay. The buyers are marketers, insurers, landlords, lenders, employers running background checks, and anyone curious enough to buy a report. You never agreed to it, and you were never asked. In most of the United States and Canada, the law does not require brokers to ask first. It only gives you the right to ask them to stop, one company at a time.

Two kinds of broker

People-search sites are the part you can see. Whitepages, Spokeo, BeenVerified, TruthFinder, MyLife, TruePeopleSearch, FastPeopleSearch. They publish your name, address, phone number, age, and relatives, then charge anyone who wants the full report. Google your own phone number and you will find them.

Marketing brokers are the part you cannot see. Acxiom, Epsilon, LiveRamp, LexisNexis, the credit bureaus' marketing arms. They never show you a profile page. They sell your data to advertisers, insurers, and lenders in bulk, and you have no way to check what they hold by reloading a page.

Where they get your data

Public records, loyalty programs, social profiles, app data, warranty cards, and each other. Brokers buy, scrape, and trade personal information in bulk. A store loyalty card, a warranty registration, a public record, and a social profile can all feed the same file on you. Brokers also buy from each other, so one record can spread across dozens of companies without you ever interacting with any of them.

Why opting out yourself is hard

Every broker has a different form. Some want email confirmation, some want a phone code. Some listings come back after removal. There are hundreds of brokers, not five. Doing it once is annoying. Keeping it done is the real job, because brokers buy fresh data constantly and a listing you remove today can reappear in 60 to 90 days.

Not every broker honors every request, either. Some people-search sites only process opt-outs from people in states with privacy laws. California residents have the strongest rights in the US, through CCPA and the DROP platform. Canada has PIPEDA, which works, but only per organization and in writing. There is no single form that covers them all.

What you can do

Start with the networks that cover many sites at once: one suppression request to PeopleConnect covers TruthFinder, InstantCheckmate, Intelius, USSearch, and more. Then work through the biggest people-search sites one by one, then the marketing brokers. Set a calendar reminder to re-check every two to three months, because listings come back. The full step-by-step is in our DIY guide to removing yourself from data brokers, with the exact opt-out link for each broker.

If you would rather not spend a day on forms, that is what a removal service is for. Ghost Delete files the same opt-outs, shows screenshot proof for every removal, and re-checks so relistings get filed again. It is coming soon for the US and Canada. Start with a free scan to see what is exposed before you pay anything.