Data Brokers Exposed: What They Are and How to Safeguard Your Privacy

Data brokers are like sharks – you don’t necessarily see them or know where they are, but you definitely will if you’re part of an attack. And if you didn’t know, companies are trying to catch our personal information with every click of a mouse, purchase, or social media post we make. The digital footprint you’re often unknowingly leaving behind will do you dirty.

Read on to learn about data brokers and how to safeguard your online privacy.

What Are Data Brokers?

Data brokers are companies gathering extensive data on individuals from various sources. They get information from public records, online activities, and even offline shopping to generate detailed profiles of millions of people, often also without them knowing. And they make tons of money from it. Statistics show data broker revenue should reach $262.28 billion by 2025.

These profiles can contain things like your buying behavior, health details, and your posts on social media or your financial status. Brokers then sell this information to businesspeople, marketers, or other data merchants. They use this data to target their marketing efforts, but the lack of transparency and potential misuse of our personal information is worrying. We don’t always agree with the data they’re selling, but most of the time, we do by agreeing to everything to get into a website without reading what we agree to.

There are ways to opt-out of those agreements and reclaim the data we have (often unknowingly) given away to third parties, but a lot of people still don’t realise the importance of doing so regularly – let alone understand that they can do so.

How Data Brokers Collect Your Information

The methods used by these companies are numerous and often surprising :

• Public Records: Government databases store details like property records, marriage licenses, and voter registrations.
• Online Tracking: Most websites use cookies and tracking scripts that monitor your online behavior, which could be sold to commercial data aggregators. When you press accept on a cookie consent form, you’re possibly giving out more than you think.
• Purchases and Subscriptions: Loyalty programs, subscriptions, and online shopping activities are also monitored and shared with third parties.
• Social Media: Being scraped or traded for money means everything you like, post, or comment upon on social media platforms is a minefield full of personal details about yourself.

The Risks of Data Brokerage

There are so many risks if data brokers have your data. First, do you even know who is in control of your data and what they’re doing with it? That in itself is risky. Once they have your data, they can do pretty much anything they want. Consider the amount of data collected. And think, if hackers get into the database of a data broker, they can expose so much personal information , leading to identity theft, financial fraud, and so much more.

This lack of transparency in how we collect data and how it’s stored and used means that people often do not know what they put out online or who has access to it. That can lead to unwanted targeted adverts, discrimination, etc.

How to Safeguard Your Privacy

Protecting your privacy in an age where data brokerage is rampant can feel daunting, but there are several steps you can take to minimize your data footprint:

• Use Privacy Tools and Extensions: Some tools – like ad blocks and private browsing extensions – will help prevent trackers from gathering your information. Look out for extensions that block cookies and stop scripts from running without asking permission.
• Limit Social Media Sharing: Be mindful about what you share on social media platforms. Change your privacy settings so only a few can see your posts and personal details, and avoid spreading confidential information publicly.
• Opt-Out Options: Most data brokers offer opt-out options, and if you don’t know about that, you can also use a data removal tool to opt out for you and clean up your digital footprint.

Stay awake, stay informed, and take command of your digital footprint. You really don’t know how many prying eyes are watching over your data. But the more you understand how they might be watching you, the more you can do about it.