Adata broker is an individual orcompany that specializes in collectingpersonal data (such as income, ethnicity, political beliefs, orgeolocation data) or data about people, mostly frompublic records but sometimes sourced privately, and selling or licensing such information to third parties for a variety of uses. Sources, usuallyInternet-based since the 1990s, may includecensus andelectoral roll records,social networking sites, court reports and purchase histories. The information from data brokers may be used inbackground checks used by employers and housing.
There are varying regulations around the world limiting the collection of information on individuals;privacy laws vary. In the United States there is no federal regulation protection for the consumer from data brokers, although some states have begun enacting laws individually. In the European Union,GDPR serves to regulate data brokers' operations. Some data brokers report to have large numbers of population data or "data attributes".Acxiom purports to have data from 2.5 billion different people.
Information broker is sometimes abbreviated to IB, and other terms used for information brokers include data brokers, independent information specialists,[1] information or data agents,[2] data providers, data suppliers,[3] information resellers, data vendors,[4] syndicated data brokers, or information product companies.[5] Informationconsultants, freelancelibrarians, andinformation specialists are also sometimes termed information brokers.[6][7]
Credit scores were first used in the 1950s,[8] and information brokering emerged as a career for individuals during that decade.[1] However the business of information brokering did not become widely known or specifically regulated until the 1990s.[8] During the 1970s, "information brokers" often had alibrary science degree; however, towards the end of the 20th century, people with degrees in science, law, business, medicine, or other disciplines entered the profession, and the line between the terms information professional and information broker became more blurred.[9] In 1977, Kelly Warnken published the first fee-based information directory, followed by theJournal of Fee-Based Information Services in 1979[9] and the bookThe Information Brokers: How to Start and Operate Your Own Fee-based Service in 1981.[10]
Beginning in the late twentieth century, technological developments such as the development of theInternet, increasing computerprocessing power, and declining costs ofdata storage made it much easier for companies to collect, analyze, store and transfer large amounts of data about individuals. This gave rise to the information broker or data broker industry.[11] As of 2021[update], there is no required academic qualification for the job of information broker; some people may have abachelor's degree in business or marketing,[12] while others may have a background inlibrary science, or may have worked for a database provider.[1]
Information brokering has been described as the "business of buying and selling information as a commodity".[13] Information brokers have been defined by the (US)Federal Trade Commission as "companies that collect information, including personal information about consumers, from a wide variety of sources for the purpose of reselling such information to their customers for various purposes, including verifying an individual's identity, differentiating records,marketing products, and preventingfinancial fraud".[4]Gartner defines an information broker as "a business that aggregates information from a variety of sources; processes it to enrich, cleanse or analyze it; and licenses it to other organizations". It states that data is "licensed for particular or limited uses" rather than sold to a client.[5]
Information brokers (IBs) collect and collate data concerning myriad topics, ranging from the daily communications of an individual to more specialized data such asproduct registrations,[14]patents andcopyright data,[15] mostly from publicly available sources, usually obtained fromonline databases. They may also provide various other services, such as analysing the data and writing reports on them; creatingdatabases for clients; or updating clients whenever new information on a specific topic or person. Clients use data brokers to save themselves time and money, as the brokers are trained in the skills needed to retrieve such information effectively and efficiently.[1] Information brokers aresecondary researchers, who find information on a variety of subjects, including companies (often competitors[2]), markets, people, and products. Their role includes analysis and synthesis of the data they find,[16] Brokers may find everything else they can about an individual on the Internet, andaggregate that data with information from a variety of other sources.[3]
Information brokers sometimes specialise in a specific area, such asmarket research,statistics, orscientific data.[2]
Clients of information brokers come from a wide range of industries and professions, including manufacturing, financial institutions,political parties, government agencies andhistorians.[17]Non-profit organizations might benefit from information which helps them to apply forgrant funding, andreal estate agents often use IBs to undertake landtitle searches.[2][18]Advertising,fraud detection andrisk mitigation are three common reasons for using data brokers,[3] and these are the three broad categories defined by the Federal Trade Commission.[4] Information brokers need to screen their clients carefully to avoid criminals obtaining data on individuals for nefarious purposes: US broking companiesLexis-Nexis andChoicePoint have both been duped by phoney clients, leading in one case toidentity theft on a large scale.[4]
Data may be harvested from various sources, includingcensus,change of address,motor vehicle-related records,user-contributed material andsocial networking sites,[19] media and court reports,voter registration lists, consumer purchase histories,most-wanted lists andterrorist watch lists,bank card transaction records, health care authorities, andWeb browsing histories.[8] IBs may also purchase information from other companies (such as acredit card company).[3] The information collected may include name, address,social security number,driver's licence number and other such identifying information, as well as occupation, property ownership, income, etc. Advertising companies are most often only interested in profiles and categories rather than personal information about an individual.[3]
Information from property records, tax filings, etc. may also be available via "people-search"whitepage sites, either for a small fee or no cost. These websites can thereby have implications forstalking,harassment, anddomestic violence.[20]
The data are aggregated to create individual profiles, often made up of thousands of pieces of information, such as a person's age, race,gender, height, weight,marital status, religious affiliation, political affiliation, occupation, household income,net worth, home ownership status, investment habits, product preferences and health-related interests.[21] Brokers then sell the profiles to other organizations that use them mainly to targetadvertising andmarketing towards specific groups,[17] or to verify a person's identity including for purposes offraud detection, and to sell to individuals and organizations so they can research people for various reasons.[21] Some datasets may also include geolocation data and is included in marketing resources fromAcxiom.Experian andOracle also advertise location-based marketing services.[20]
Many brokers work independently, while others are employees of large companies such asLexisNexis orProQuest.[17]
Data brokers in the United States includeAcxiom,Experian,Epsilon,CoreLogic,Datalogix,Intelius,PeekYou,Exactis, andRecorded Future.[21][22] In 2012, Acxiom claimed to have files on about 500 million active consumers worldwide, with about 1,500 data points per person[23] and, in 2023, Acxiom (renamed LiveRamp) claims to have files on 2.5 billion people and over 3,000 data points per person.[24][25] The companyOracle has publicly noted it has connections with 80 data broker companies. TheUS Department of Homeland Security has purchased cell phone location data and home utility data from data brokers to facilitatedeportations. TheFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has purchased personal data from the company Venntel. Under both of these circumstances, awarrant is not required to acquire this data, due to the fact that it is "open source" or "commercially obtained".[20] Use of the data also has implications inbackground checks (used in rent/housing and job applications).[26]
In 2012,Spokeo, a people search website, settled with theUS Federal Trade Commission for $800,000 over violations of theFair Credit Reporting Act.[27]
In 2017,Cambridge Analytica claimed that it has psychological profiles of 220 million United States citizens, based on 5,000 separate data sets,[28] with another source reporting 230 million.[29] A scandal emerged after it was found that after 270,000Facebook users consented to sharing their data, data was scraped from about 50 million profiles on the social media platform. This was seen as breach of trust by Facebook.[30]
In 2018, American companies spent $19 billion acquiring and analyzing consumer data, according to theInteractive Advertising Bureau.[27]
In 2021,The Pillar outed aCatholicpriest by purchasing data from a data broker including data usage fromGrindr.[20]
Information privacy laws are not as strictin the United States as in theEuropean Union, where data brokers work hard to get around theGeneral Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulations, brought into operation in 2018. Under GDPR, data can only be collected for re-use on one of six legal bases. The rather vague term "legitimate interest" is often abused or misinterpreted.[3] Explicit consent from users is required for information storage. In addition, data processing related with political opinion and religious belief is prohibited unless the consent of data subject is granted.[31]
In the US, individuals generally cannot find out what data a broker holds on them, how a broker got it, or how it is used.[32] There is nofederal law that permits or enables consumers to see, make corrections to, oropt out of data compiled by brokers.[4]
Files on individuals are generally sold in lists; examples cited in testimony to theU.S. Congress include lists ofrape survivors, seniors withdementia, financially vulnerable people, people withHIV, police officers (by home address),[8][22] alcoholics, and people witherectile dysfunction.[3][33]
A 2007University of California study, after requesting and analyzing information-sharing practices at 86 companies, found many operating under anopt-out model that it described as inconsistent with consumer expectations, and recommended that theCalifornia state legislature require companies to disclose their information-sharing policies using clear, unambiguous language, and consider creating a centralized, user-friendly method for consumers to opt out of information-sharing.[34]
The proposed US Data Accountability and Trust Act (introduced in 2009)[35] contained a number of requirements for auditing and verification of accuracy of data held by information brokers, and additional measures in the case of a security breach. The bill also gave identified individuals the means and opportunity to review and correct the data held that related to them. It passed through theUnited States House of Representatives in the111th United States Congress, but failed to pass theUnited States Senate. It was revived by the112th United States Congress in 2011 as H.R. 1707.,[36] but died after being referred to committee. The bill was first introduced by Rep.Bobby Rush [D-IL1] on 30 April 2009, H.R. 2221.[37]
In 2009, theU.S. Federal Trade Commission had recommended the United States Congress develop legislation enabling consumers to see the information that data brokers hold about them, a recommendation it renewed in subsequent reports in 2012 and 2014. In 2013, theU.S. Government Accountability Office also called for Congress to consider legislation.[21][38]
In October 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into action statute AB 1202. This bill "would require data brokers to register with, and provide certain information to, the Attorney General. The bill would define a data broker as a business that knowingly collects and sells to third parties the personal information of a consumer with whom the business does not have a direct relationship, subject to specified exceptions".[39] This law was created to safeguard against the "cloak of invisibility" (unregistered, unregulated, untracked information broker) that previous data brokers roamed in. It was also meant to regulate the purchasing of data in commercial third party buyers, and tracks the data brokers information trades.[clarification needed][40]
Due to the interest in federal regulation, data broker firms havelobbied and spent $29 million in the year 2020.[26]
In 2025, Zhou Shuai and Yin Kecheng, two China based data brokers wanted by the FBI[41][42] were accused by theUnited States Department of State of selling sensitive American data toChina’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).[43]
A United States Senate Committee in 2013 publishedA Review of the Data Broker Industry: Collection, Use, and Sale of Consumer Data for Marketing Purposes.[22] It states that "Today, a wide range of companies known as 'data brokers' collect and maintain data on hundreds of millions of consumers, which they analyze, package, and sell generally without consumer permission or input." Their main findings were that:
The information produced by data brokers has been criticized for enabling discrimination in pricing, services and opportunities. For example, a May 2014 White House report found that web searches that included black-seeming first names such as Jermaine were more likely to result in ads being displayed that include the word "arrest," compared with web searches including white-seeming first names such as Geoffrey.[11]
An Online Information Broker FAQ[44] is published byPrivacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC), a nonprofitconsumer organization in the United States. PRC also maintains a list of information brokers, with links to their privacy policies, terms of service, and opt-out provisions.[45]
Data brokers have also faced legal charges for security breaches due to poor data security practices.[46]
TheAssociation of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) is aprofessional association based inBaton Rouge,Louisiana, with members from 20 countries worldwide,[47] representing both primary and secondary researchers.[16]
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Examples of information brokers in contemporary fiction would be the Shadow Broker in the video game seriesMass Effect; Nicholas Wayne, Rachel, Elean Duga, Gustav St. Germain, Carol, and the President of the Daily Days newspaper company inBaccano!; or Izaya Orihara in the light novel seriesDurarara!!. A few of the characters inNeal Stephenson's novelSnow Crash find work selling data as "stringers" for the Central Intelligence Corporation. Information broker characters play a prominent role in stories published byDC Comics. The character trope is best exemplified by the superheroOracle, but the trope is later used with the charactersCalculator,Proxy,Chloe Sullivan, andFelicity Smoak as well.
Accepted at the WebNet 97 World Conference.
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