Data Brokers, and the Market in Your Details

Data brokers are companies whose business is collecting, combining and selling personal information. They draw from public records, online activity, loyalty schemes, app permissions and other brokers, then package what they hold into profiles that can be bought.

You are almost certainly in their files without ever having dealt with them. Addresses, relatives, estimated means, property, vehicles and contact details are stitched together from sources that each seemed harmless on their own.

For a private person the risk is assembly. A single broker profile can hand a stranger the starting point that used to take real effort: where you live, who you are connected to, and how to reach you.

Removal is possible but uneven. Many brokers offer an opt-out, some are obliged to honour a deletion request, and the picture has to be re-checked, because entries return as new data flows in.