🎯 In 30 seconds: Data brokers collect your name, addresses, phone numbers, relatives and more, then sell or publish it. If you live in California, one free request through the state’s DROP tool reaches every registered broker. Everywhere else, you opt out site by site, starting with people-search sites. Add the free prescreened-offer and Do Not Call opt-outs while you are at it.
What a data broker is
A data broker collects details about people who never signed up with it, then sells or rents those details to other businesses. Sources include public records (property, court, voter files where allowed), marketing lists, app data and other brokers. Three kinds matter most to a household:
| People-search sites | Anyone can type your name and see your address, age, phone, past addresses and relatives. These feed stalking, impersonation and targeted scams. |
| Marketing brokers | Build profiles (income band, interests, life events) for advertisers and mailers. |
| Risk and identity brokers | Supply identity checks and fraud scores. Some are covered by credit reporting law and are handled differently. |
Removing yourself won’t make you invisible, but it raises the effort for a scammer and cuts down the calls and mail that follow you from address to address.
If you live in California: DROP
California’s Delete Act created DROP, the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, run by the California Privacy Protection Agency. Here is how it works, per the state’s consumer page:
- Free, and open to California residents since January 1, 2026. You confirm residency through the state’s identity service; you can also sign in with Login.gov.
- One request reaches every registered broker, which the state puts at more than 600.
- Since August 1, 2026, brokers must check DROP at least once every 45 days and process the deletion requests waiting there. The state says status updates can take up to 90 days to show.
- It keeps working: brokers must also delete new information they later collect about you.
- You can submit for someone else, such as a child or an older relative who lives in California.
Some data is exempt under other laws (for example, information covered by credit reporting rules), so a few listings may remain.
Everywhere else: opt out site by site
- Search your name plus your city and state, and your phone number, on a search engine. Note every people-search site that shows a listing.
- Find each site’s opt-out page. It is often linked at the bottom as “Do not sell,” “Privacy” or “Remove my information.”
- Give the minimum. Most ask for the listing’s web address and an email to confirm. Use a separate address you don’t use for banking. Don’t upload an ID unless the site truly requires it.
- Record what you did in a simple list: site, date, confirmation.
- Check again in six months. Listings often come back when the broker buys a fresh data set.
Vermont, California, Texas and Oregon keep public registries of data brokers, which are useful lists of companies to look up even if you live elsewhere. Paid removal services do the same steps for a fee; doing it yourself costs only time.
A worked example: Rosa’s weekend
Rosa, 45, lives in Ohio. Her search finds listings on 18 people-search sites. Each opt-out takes about 12 minutes, including the confirmation email: 18 × 12 = 216 minutes, about 3.6 hours over one weekend.
Six months later she searches again. 5 of the 18 sites show her again, so she repeats those: 5 × 12 = 60 minutes. Over a year that is about 4.6 hours. She also adds the two free opt-outs below, which take about 10 minutes together.
Other free opt-outs worth doing
| Opt-out | What it stops | How |
|---|---|---|
| Prescreened credit and insurance offers | Mailed offers built from credit bureau lists, which thieves can steal from your mailbox | optoutprescreen.com or 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688): five years online, or permanent by mailing a signed form |
| National Do Not Call Registry | Sales calls from legitimate companies (scammers ignore it, so a call after registering is a red flag) | donotcall.gov |
| Credit freeze | New credit in your name | Free at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion; see the Money Theft & Forensics page |
Less data floating around also means less material for phishing; the Security section’s phishing page shows how scammers use it.
- Who can use DROP, and what does it cost? Answer: California residents (also on behalf of a family member there); it is free.
- How often must brokers check DROP since August 1, 2026? Answer: At least once every 45 days.
- Why repeat site-by-site opt-outs? Answer: Listings often return when a broker buys new data.
- How long does an online prescreen opt-out last? Answer: Five years; a signed mailed form makes it permanent.