How to Get Your Data Back From Data Brokers (Including the Ones You've Never Heard Of)

Search your own name with your city. Go ahead, I'll wait.

If you're like most people, somewhere in the first page of results is a site offering your current address, your phone number, your age, your relatives' names and maybe a few old addresses, for $0.95 for a "full report."

You never gave them that information. So how did they get it?

How the data broker industry actually works

A data broker is a business that collects and sells information about people it doesn't have a direct relationship with. California's privacy agency puts it simply: brokers "gather and sell consumer personal information that the consumer didn't give them directly" (CalPrivacy).

The data comes from three main pipes:

Public records. Property records, voter files where states allow it, court records, professional licenses. Each is public on its own. Stitched together, they become a profile.

Commercial data. Loyalty programs, warranty cards, magazine subscriptions, sweepstakes entries, and apps that share data with partners. Read "we may share your information with partners" in a privacy policy? This is one place it goes.

The advertising pipes. This is the technical part most people never see. When an app or website loads an ad, it often runs a split-second auction called real-time bidding. Your device sends out a "bid request" that can include your device's advertising ID, approximate or precise location, the app you're using and more. Many companies can see those bid requests, even the ones that don't win the auction. Some of them keep the data.

Then brokers do identity resolution: matching your email, phone, ad ID, address and name across all those sources into a single profile. That's the real product. Not one fact about you, but the linking.

Why this is more than an annoyance

Washington's Attorney General explained the stakes in the state's first Data Privacy Report: consumers often don't know who holds their data or where to send an opt-out request, and the report pointed to harms like stalking, threats and impersonation that disproportionately affect older adults, youth and people whose safety depends on keeping their location private. It cited FTC actions against the data brokers Kochava and Mobilewalla (Ashurst Perkins Coie summary).

For a domestic violence survivor, a people-search listing isn't a privacy nuisance. It's a map.

What "good" looks like: California's DROP

California built something genuinely new. Under its Delete Act, the state launched the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP) on January 1, 2026. California residents can send one request to more than 600 registered data brokers telling them to delete their information and stop selling it (CalPrivacy).

The technical design is smart. When you enter your information, DROP hashes it, turning it into a scrambled string, so raw data isn't stored or shared. Starting August 1, 2026, brokers must download the hashed requests, hash their own records the same way, find matches and delete them, checking at least every 45 days (CalPrivacy). It's a neat use of a basic cryptography technique to protect people while still letting the matching work.

And it's working. By late August, more than 500,000 Californians had signed up, 654 brokers were in the system, and the typical user had already had their information removed by more than 40 brokers, according to CalPrivacy. Brokers that don't comply can face fines of $200 per day for each affected person, per NBC 7 San Diego.

Washington doesn't have this. Connecticut is starting a broker registry, with registration due January 1, 2027 (Connecticut Attorney General). Our own AG has recommended broker registration for Washington. I'd love to see us go further and build our own DROP.

Your step-by-step plan (if you don't live in California)

This takes a few hours spread over a few weeks. Put on a playlist. It's worth it.

Step 1: Make a removal email. Create a new email address just for opt-outs. You'll get confirmation emails, and you don't want them mixed with your real inbox, or to hand brokers your main address.

Step 2: Find yourself. Search your name plus city, your phone number and your address. Write down every people-search site that shows your info.

Step 3: Opt out, site by site. Most people-search sites have an opt-out page, often linked in tiny text at the bottom labeled "Do Not Sell," "Privacy" or "Opt Out." The process usually goes: find your listing, copy its URL, submit it with your removal email, click the confirmation link.

A few hard-won tips:

• Don't give more than they already have. Some sites ask for extra info, like an ID upload, to "verify" you. Give the minimum. If a site demands sensitive data like a partial Social Security number just to opt out, be suspicious. California penalized one broker for doing exactly that (Office of the Governor of California).
• Many sites share data. Removing yourself from one big broker can clear several smaller sites that buy from it.
• Take screenshots of each confirmation with the date.

Step 4: Cut off the supply. Opting out is bailing water. Now plug the leak:

• Reset or delete your phone's advertising ID, and turn off ad personalization in your Google and Apple settings.
• Set apps to "while using" or "never" for location.
• Skip the warranty card. Think twice about the sweepstakes.

Step 5: Check again in three months. Profiles regenerate as new records flow in. Put a reminder on your calendar.

What about paid removal services? They can save time by filing opt-outs for you on a schedule. Some are good. Before you pay, check what sites they cover, whether they re-check over time, and what they do with your data. You're handing a company your full profile to protect your full profile, so read their privacy policy carefully.

For business owners

If you buy marketing lists, ask your vendor where the data came from and whether those people consented to being sold. If the answer is fuzzy, that list is a liability. In a growing number of states, it's also a legal one.

Pour me another: How many sites did you find yourself on? Tell me through the contact form. I'm curious what the Seattle average looks like.

Sip slow, stay curious.D