Security Checkup

Price captures verified 2026-08-09; overall scores unpublished

What Is a Data Broker?

Data brokers assemble personal details (names, contact fields, relatives, interests, and sometimes inferred attributes) from public records, commercial partners, and other feeds, then sell or license that data. You usually did not sign up for a people-search profile even when one appears. Understanding the category helps you pick free opt-outs before subscriptions. We invent no industry revenue figures or broker headcounts. After you grasp the model, search yourself, file free opt-outs where they exist, and harden email. Optional paid cards use claim-ledger prices from 2026-08-09 (Incogni Standard $7.99/mo billed annually; Aura Individual $12/mo billed annually) only when a leftover removal or monitoring job remains. Overall scores stay unpublished. Who should not buy: anyone who only needed a definition, or who has not tried a free self-search and opt-out yet.

Open Data Removal Service Finder →
  • Guide · Educational · ~10 min read

Direct definition

A data broker is a business that collects personal information from many sources, packages it, and sells or licenses access to others. Consumer people-search sites are one visible form; many brokers sell quietly to marketers, risk scorers, or other intermediaries without a public “search yourself” homepage.

Key takeaways

  1. 1Learn the broker vs people-search distinction below
  2. 2Search your name and city on a few consumer people-search sites
  3. 3File free official opt-outs for the worst listings
  4. 4Enable MFA on email before shopping
  5. 5Use the Data Removal Service Finder only if DIY volume stays high
  6. 6Skip paid tools if a definition alone answered your question
Open Data Removal Service Finder →

How it works

  1. 1

    Start with a clear definition

    Free

    Brokers monetize personal data as a product. Some run consumer people-search front ends. Others sell B2B lists with little public visibility. Both can affect what strangers find about you.

    • People-search site = often a consumer-facing broker product
    • Not every broker offers a friendly opt-out homepage
    • Public records and voluntary posts are common inputs
  2. 2

    See what is already public about you

    Free

    A free private-window search for your name and city is enough to start. Capture people-search URLs. Do not pay a site to “reveal” your own dossier.

    • Name + city variants
    • Save listing URLs
    • Never provide passwords or banking data to “check”
  3. 3

    Use free opt-outs and account hygiene

    Free

    Where a broker or people-search brand publishes an opt-out, use it. In parallel, unique passwords and MFA reduce the damage if contact data is already circulating.

    • Official opt-out forms first
    • Unique email password + MFA
    • Credit freezes where available if financial identifiers may be exposed
  4. 4

    Know the honest limits

    Free

    Opt-outs are incomplete. Brokers re-ingest data. News, court, and property records may remain. Paid tools can reduce workload; they cannot promise a permanent global wipe.

    • Expect reappearances
    • Separate people-search clutter from official records
    • Do not treat VPN bundles as broker removal
  5. 5

    When a paid product is justified

    Optional paid

    Pay only if listing volume outruns your time or you need broader identity monitoring. Incogni may fit automation after DIY ($7.99/mo billed annually, 2026-08-09). Aura may fit alert-oriented coverage ($12/mo billed annually). If you only needed this definition, stop here.

    • Definition-only readers: no purchase required
    • High DIY hours: compare removal automation
    • Alert needs: compare monitoring suites after freezes

Limits of this explainer

  • A guarantee that every broker will honor every opt-out
  • Deletion of official public records by consumer tools alone
  • Invented broker industry statistics on this page
  • Anything that requires Security Checklist to collect passwords or IDs
  • A claim that reading this page removes your data

Sources

  • Security Checklist methodology, Educational guides stay free-first; scores unpublished until test records exist
  • Incogni claim ledger, data/claim-ledgers/incogni.json#incogni-starting-price; Standard $7.99/mo billed annually captured 2026-08-09
  • Aura claim ledger, data/claim-ledgers/aura.json#aura-starting-price; Individual $12/mo billed annually captured 2026-08-09
  • Vendor marketing pages, aura.com / incogni.com / joindeleteme.com / lifelock.norton.com feature and pricing claims, not independent evidence; re-verify same-day
  • Security Checklist methodology, How commercial pages are structured before scores publish, /methodology/
  • Claim ledger (T014), data/claim-ledgers/aura.json, incogni.json, deleteme.json, lifelock.json, surfshark.json: starting prices verified 2026-08-09; overall scores unpublished

Next steps

Frequently asked questions

Internal links

Continue in this cluster

Hub, tools, and related pages from the inventory. No invented URLs.

Expert guides & insights

Related guides

Stay in the same problem space without jumping brands.

Want launch updates?

The email newsletter is not running yet. Use Contact if you want a human reply when it opens. No fake signup form.

Contact SecurityChecklist