Data broker

Data broker (people-search aggregator)

A company that aggregates and resells personal information about individuals — home addresses, phone numbers, family members, financial estimates — sourced from public records and consumer databases.

Data brokers are commercial companies that aggregate personal information about individuals from public records (property, court, voter, business filings), consumer databases (loyalty programs, retail purchases, opt-ins), and social media, and resell that information to third parties or publish it on people-search websites. Notable US data brokers include Whitepages, Spokeo, BeenVerified, Radaris, Intelius, MyLife, PeopleFinders, and USSearch; Canadian equivalents include 411.ca and Canadapages. Data broker profiles typically list current and former home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, family members, employment history, and estimated net worth or property ownership. This aggregated profile is the raw material for doxxing, targeted phishing, physical intrusion planning, and stalking. US privacy laws (CCPA/CPRA in California, VCDPA in Virginia, others) grant limited opt-out rights; Canadian PIPEDA offers stronger baseline privacy protection. Data-broker opt-out is a slow, per-broker manual process that requires monthly re-monitoring for reappearance.

Family-office principals, sports agency athletes, and high-net-worth individuals often have extensive data-broker footprints that make physical and digital targeting trivial. LeakTrace runs data-broker removal across 200+ US and Canadian brokers as part of the household coverage tier, with continuous monthly re-monitoring for respawn.