Guides · 14 October 2026 · 7 min read

How Do Data Brokers Get Your Information

Data brokers collect your details from public records, loyalty cards, app trackers and bought lists. Here is where it comes from and how to cut it off.

Data brokers get your information from four main places: public records, companies that sell customer data, online trackers that follow you around the web, and other brokers who resell each other's files. Most of it is gathered without you ever dealing with the broker directly. You hand details to a shop, a council, an app or a website, and that data moves on from there.

Understanding each source tells you what you can cut off and what you cannot. Some of it is public by law and will stay public. The rest can be challenged and removed, though brokers tend to rebuild their files from the same feeds within a few months.

The four main sources

1. Public records

Government bodies publish large amounts of data by law. This includes:

• Property ownership and sale prices
• Court filings and judgments
• Corporate and business registrations
• Voter registration rolls, where applicable
• Professional licences and permits

Brokers scrape these records in bulk, link them to a name, and build a profile. This is the backbone of most people-search listings. You cannot delete the underlying record. A property deed or a court filing is public by statute, and no broker or removal request changes that. What you can sometimes remove is the broker's copy of it, which is a separate thing from the official record.

2. Commercial data you handed over

Every time you fill in a form, you may be feeding a broker. Common sources:

• Loyalty and rewards cards at shops
• Warranty registrations
• Magazine and catalogue subscriptions
• Online purchases and account sign-ups
• Competitions, giveaways and surveys
• Charity donations

The privacy policy on these forms often permits sharing with third parties. That phrase is how your name, address, email and buying habits end up for sale. Credit header data, which is the identifying part of a credit application rather than the score itself, is another heavily traded source.

3. Online tracking

Websites and apps carry trackers that record what you do. This builds a behavioural profile tied to your device, and often to your real identity once you log in somewhere. Sources include:

• Cookies and advertising pixels on websites
• Software development kits inside mobile apps
• Location data from apps that request it
• Social media activity and public posts
• Email open and click tracking

This data is bundled, scored and sold to advertisers and other brokers. It is harder to see than a people-search listing, but it is just as real.

4. Other brokers

Brokers buy and sell to each other constantly. One firm scrapes public records, another buys commercial lists, a third merges both and resells the combined file. This is why your details appear on dozens of sites that look unrelated. They are often drawing from the same upstream pool. It is also why removal is never permanent. Delete yourself from one site, and the next refresh pulls your data back in from a supplier you never contacted.

What you can actually cut off

You cannot stop public records from existing. You can reduce how much new commercial and tracking data flows in, and you can remove existing broker listings one at a time. Here is how to do both.

1. Audit where you appear. Search your own name, plus your name with your town or old addresses, in a private browser window. Note every people-search and broker site that lists you. Keep a running list with the URL of each profile page.
2. Find each site's opt-out. Most brokers have an opt-out or privacy request page, usually linked in the footer under terms like "Privacy", "Do Not Sell My Info" or "Opt Out". Open each site's page rather than guessing the address.
3. Submit a deletion or opt-out request. Follow the process on each site. Some ask you to paste the exact URL of your profile. Some require email confirmation. Some ask you to verify by phone. Do each one and keep a note of the date.
4. Confirm the removal. Check back after a week or two. If the listing is still live, resend the request and keep your dated records in case you need to escalate.
5. Cut the commercial inflow. Decline loyalty cards, or use a minimal name and a throwaway email when signing up. Read the sharing clause before submitting any form. Where a service offers a marketing opt-out, use it.
6. Reduce online tracking. Use a browser that blocks third-party cookies. Turn off ad personalisation in your Google, Apple and social media account settings. Review app permissions on your phone and revoke location access for anything that does not need it.
7. Limit credit header sharing. Where your country or state allows it, opt out of pre-screened credit offers and marketing uses of credit data. Check your credit bureau's privacy options for the exact setting.

Why your details come back

Removal is a maintenance task, not a one-time fix. Brokers refresh their databases from the upstream feeds described above. Even a clean removal typically reappears within a few months, because the source that fed the listing has not gone away. The public record still exists. The commercial list still sells. The next data refresh pulls you back in.

This is not a failure on your part. It is how the industry is built. The practical approach is to remove the worst listings, cut off as much inflow as you can, and repeat the audit every few months.

A faster way to keep on top of it

Doing this by hand across dozens of sites, then repeating it every quarter, takes real time. Vanish is a Mac app that scans data broker sites for your details and sends CCPA deletion demands on your behalf, then rechecks over time as listings reappear. It automates the manual steps above. It does not make removal permanent, because nothing can, but it handles the repeat work so you do not have to.

The short version

Your data reaches brokers through public records, commercial lists you fed without realising, trackers that follow your activity, and brokers reselling to one another. You cannot delete public records. You can remove broker copies, slow the commercial and tracking inflow, and plan to repeat the process on a schedule.