Top 10 Data Brokers List: How to Opt Out

Data brokers are part of the ugly side of the internet. They are companies that collect personally identifiable information from many different sources to create profiles on individuals. They get this information in a variety of ways, from scouring the internet themselves to paying other companies for your information, such as credit card companies. They then take these profiles and sell them to anyone willing to pay. For more information about what data brokers are and how they get your information see our What Are Data Brokers post. For marketers and advertisers, data brokers are great. But for individuals like you and me, data brokers can make you feel like your personal space is being invaded.

Fortunately, there is something you can do about it. Most data brokers have the ability for you to request that they remove your information from their data base, or to “opt out.” The following list of the top 10 data brokers explains who they are, what data the sell, and how or if you can opt out.

Something to note: If you are from California (or sometimes Nevada too), you have more control over your data. The rest of us are jealous.

Some of these companies don’t let you fully delete your data and/or are consumer reporting agencies. This means that deleting your information from some of them could make it harder to verify your identity for some services. We will point out which ones those are below.

These companies make billions of dollars off of your data. Take back control by learning about them and getting your information out of their databases.

Description: Acxiom is a database marketing company. They collect, analyze, and sell customer and business information for targeted advertising campaigns. Back in 2012, it was reported that Acxiom had the world’s largest commercial database on consumers.

Data they collect and sell: Acxiom has data on over 500 million consumers with around 1,500 data points each. Acxiom has a profile on basically all of the adults in the US. They know things like your age, sex, race, height and weight, marital status, education level, politics, consumer habits, health concerns, vacation aspirations, and more. Acxiom has worked with nearly half of the Fortune 100 companies.

Opting out: Submit your information here: https://isapps.acxiom.com/optout/optout.aspx.

Impact on identity services: None.

Description: LexisNexis collects and sells consumer, business, and legal information. In 2006, it was reported to have the world’s largest electronic database for legal and public records related information.

Data they collect and sell: They provide the data used by many services that verify your identity. These are the questions like, “From which bank did you take out a car loan in 2015?” or “In which of the following counties did you previously live?” They have information on basically every adult in the US and likely in many other countries.

Opting out: You can opt out of and view the data they have on you here: https://risk.lexisnexis.com/consumer-and-data-access-policies.

Impact on identity services: High. Some services might not be able to verify your identity if you delete your data from LexisNexis. Depending on your individual situation, you might not want to opt out of all of their data collection.

Description: The Work Number gets your information from your employer and past empoyers. They aggregate and sell this data. This is a service of Equifax. They allow services to verify that you are employed and how much money you make. They can also verify your work history.

Data they collect and sell: Oracle works with more than 75 partners and 18 data providers to source their data. They sell to many companies, but show HP, Mazda, WWE, and Pandora on their website.

Opting out: You can opt out by creating an account. You can check if your employer is in their system. https://secure.theworknumber.talx.com/twneeer/Preauthenticated/FindEmployer.aspx

Impact on identity services: They claim this service can speed up the process when you submit an application to verify your employment or income (they list job applications, home and auto loans, and social services). Opting out might slow that down or require you to fill out more detailed applications. See details here: https://employees.theworknumber.com/about

Description: Equifax is one of the big three consumer credit reporting agencies. They are one of the companies that gives your credit score to companies that pull your credit. Equifax had two data breaches in 2017.

Data they collect and sell: In addition to credit information, they collect consumer information that allows them to target individuals interested in services or products from lending, automotive, fintech, utilities, retail, e-commerce, and mortgage industries.

Opting out: You can opt out here: https://myprivacy.equifax.com/personal-info, here https://www.equifax.com/personal/help/opt-out-prescreened-offers/, and here: https://www.equifax.com/personal/help/opt-out-equifax-marketing-mails/ but you can’t opt out of their credit profiling.

Impact on identity services: None.

Description: Aristotle has a database of consumer and voter data. Their big focus is political campaigns, but they also offer B2B and B2C solutions.

Data they collect and sell: They collect voter and consumer data. They also focus on political donations and new movers. They have over 500 million phone numbers and 800 million email addresses. If you have ever voted, they likely have a profile on you.

Opting out: You can only opt out if you live in California or Nevada: https://www.aristotle.com/privacy/do-not-sell-my-personal-info/.

Impact on identity services: None.

Description: Experian is another of the big three consumer credit reporting agencies. Experian had data breaches in 2015, 2020, and 2021.

Data they collect and sell: Experian collects and analyzes your credit data and builds a credit profile on you. They also collect social media data and consumer data: purchasing habits, lifestyles, interests, and attitudes.

Opting out: You can’t opt out of their credit profiling, but there are some things you can opt out of: https://www.experian.com/privacy/opting_out and https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/credit-education/faqs/preapproved-credit-offers/opt-out/.

Impact on identity services: None.

Description: TransUnion is the last of the big three consumer credit reporting agencies.

Data they collect and sell: In addition to credit data, TransUnion also collects data on consumers (96% of US adults). Their consumer data includes consumer behavior, preferences, interests, renting experience, and more. In addition to serving marketers in general, they also serve landlords, healthcare providers, and collections departments.

Opting out: You can opt out here: https://www.transunion.com/content/transunion/us/en/optout.

Impact on identity services: None.

Description: Epsilon is a marketing agency, one of the best rated in the US. They offer database, direct mail, email, and other marketing solutions. They also have loyalty program solutions.

Data they collect and sell: Epsilon collects demographic, consumer, browsing and other forms of data. Epsilon claims to have so much data that it knows consumers true interests. They offer to track consumers across multiple devices to target them with specific campaigns.

Opting out: You can opt out here: https://us.epsilon.com/privacy-policy/optout and here: https://legal.epsilon.com/dsr/.

Impact on identity services: None

Description: AtData is an email marketing company. They validate emails and track consumer interests to improve conversion for email marketing campaigns. They probably have all of your personal email address.

Data they collect and sell: Consumer data and preferences based on email addresses. They also have customer and purchase records.

Opting out: You can opt out here: https://instantdata.atdata.com/optout

Impact on identity services: None

Description: FullContact is a technology company that focuses on customer identity. They claim to be able to aggregate and identify customer data across media, engagement, and transaction platforms.

Data they collect and sell: FullContact collects and analyzes consumer, browsing, purchase, and other data. They have data on 248 million US adults, with over 50 billion individual identifiers. They are probably tracking you.

Opting out: You can opt out here: https://platform.fullcontact.com/your-privacy-choices.

Impact on identity services: None

Data brokers are just part of the story. There are also people search sites. For additional information on removing your information from the internet yourself, see our [diy-guide]DIY Data Removal Guide[/diy-guide]

If you would like help removing your data, we would love to do it for you. [plans]Get started now[/plans]! We cannot remove your data from all of the data brokers on this page since a number of them require access to your personal email address or phone number, or require knowledge of your credit history. The data brokers that are currently covered are Axciom, Oracle, and TowerData.

A previous version of this article included Oracle, but they have since ceased operations. See info here: Oracle Advertising services and solutions.