Privacy
The Scary Truth About Data Brokers — and How to Remove Yourself in 2026
Data brokers like Spokeo, BeenVerified, and Whitepages package and sell your home address, phone number, relatives, income, and political affiliation — often for under $1. Here's how the industry works in 2026 and the exact steps to scrub yourself off the major sites.
Type your name into Google with your city. If you see Spokeo, BeenVerified, MyLife, Whitepages, or Radaris showing your home address, phone number, relatives, and 'estimated income,' you've met the data-broker industry. It's a roughly $250 billion global business that sells you back to advertisers, recruiters, debt collectors, stalkers, and anyone with a credit card.
How Data Brokers Get Your Information
- Public records — voter rolls, property deeds, court filings, business registrations.
- Social media scraping — public LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram profiles.
- Purchased datasets — loyalty card data, app analytics (everything 'free' apps sell), warranty registrations.
- Credit-bureau-adjacent sources — change-of-address requests, magazine subscriptions, sweepstakes entries.
- Other brokers — most brokers buy from each other, which is why opting out of one doesn't stop the others.
What They Sell About You
- Full name, age, date of birth.
- Current and past home addresses (often 10+ years of history).
- Phone numbers (cell, landline, work).
- Email addresses.
- Names and ages of relatives and roommates.
- Estimated income, home value, occupation.
- Political party affiliation, religious affiliation, ethnicity inferences.
- Court records, bankruptcies, marriage/divorce records.
The Top 15 Brokers to Opt Out Of (90% of Exposure)
- 1Spokeo — spokeo.com/optout
- 2BeenVerified — beenverified.com/app/optout/search
- 3Whitepages — whitepages.com/suppression_requests
- 4MyLife — mylife.com/ccpa/index.pubview
- 5Radaris — radaris.com/control/privacy
- 6Intelius — intelius.com/opt-out
- 7PeopleFinder — peoplefinder.com/optout.php
- 8FastPeopleSearch — fastpeoplesearch.com/removal
- 9TruePeopleSearch — truepeoplesearch.com/removal
- 10InstantCheckmate — instantcheckmate.com/opt-out
- 11PeekYou — peekyou.com/about/contact/optout
- 12Pipl — pipl.com/personal-information-removal-request
- 13ZabaSearch — zabasearch.com/block_records
- 14Acxiom — isapps.acxiom.com/optout/optout.aspx (the data wholesaler — feeds many smaller brokers).
- 15Epsilon — epsilon.com/consumer-information-privacy
Manual Opt-Out Steps (Generic Pattern)
- 1Find your listing on the broker's site by searching your name + city.
- 2Locate the opt-out URL (often buried in the footer under 'Privacy' or 'Do Not Sell My Info').
- 3Submit the form — name, address, email, sometimes a phone number for verification.
- 4Confirm via the verification email (use a dedicated 'privacy' email account, not your main address).
- 5Save a screenshot or PDF of the confirmation page for your records.
- 6Re-check in 30 days — if still listed, file again.
Paid Services (If You Don't Have 10 Hours)
- DeleteMe (Abine) — $129/yr, covers 750+ brokers, includes family plans. Best overall.
- Optery — free tier covers 100+ brokers; paid tiers ($99–$249/yr) go deeper with proof reports.
- Kanary — $109/yr, strong on niche brokers and reputation cleanup.
- Privacy Bee — $197/yr, most aggressive (covers 750+ sites and re-checks weekly).
Beyond the Big Brokers
- Opt out of credit-bureau prescreened offers at optoutprescreen.com (5-year or permanent).
- Register on the National Do Not Call Registry (donotcall.gov).
- File a USPS change-of-address with no forwarding to flush old broker entries (extreme but effective).
- Lock your credit at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — free, blocks new-account fraud.
- Scrub EXIF/GPS data from any photos you upload publicly.
California, Colorado, and Texas Residents — Use Your Rights
CCPA/CPRA (CA), CPA (CO), and TDPSA (TX) give residents the right to demand deletion. Brokers must comply within 45 days. Submit requests via the 'CCPA / Do Not Sell My Info' link every major broker now provides — even if you're not Californian, many will process the request anyway.
Bottom Line
Data-broker removal isn't a one-time task — it's annual hygiene. Either spend a Saturday on the top 15 or pay $100/year for an automated service. Pair this with locking your credit, killing prescreen offers, and using a dedicated email for sign-ups, and you'll be invisible to 95% of the people-search ecosystem. Cybrvault includes data-broker scrubbing in our personal security and OSINT defense packages for Miami-area executives and high-net-worth families.
// frequently asked
Questions teams ask us
How do I remove myself from data broker sites?+
Submit an opt-out request to each broker individually — start with the top 15 (Spokeo, BeenVerified, Whitepages, MyLife, Radaris, Intelius, etc.) for ~90% of exposure. Each takes 5–15 minutes. Re-check every 30–90 days because brokers re-aggregate. Paid services like DeleteMe ($129/yr) or Optery ($99/yr) automate this.
Are data brokers legal?+
Yes, in the United States. There's no federal law restricting data brokers (the proposed DELETE Act would change this). California, Colorado, Texas, and a growing list of states have privacy laws giving residents the right to demand deletion, and brokers must comply within 45 days.
Is DeleteMe worth the money?+
If your time is worth more than $15/hour, yes. Manual opt-out across 100+ brokers is 10+ hours and quarterly re-checks. DeleteMe ($129/yr) covers 750+ brokers, sends quarterly reports, and includes family plans. Optery free tier is a solid starting point if budget is tight.
How often do I need to re-do data broker opt-outs?+
Every 30–90 days. Brokers re-aggregate from public records, purchased datasets, and each other — so even after a successful removal, your profile typically reappears within 1–3 months. Automated services handle this re-scrubbing for you.
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