Your digital footprint — and how to clean it up
25 Jun 2026 · 3 min read · Comments
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Somewhere on the internet, there are companies that know your name, your address, your phone number, your relatives, your estimated income, your previous addresses, and your browsing habits — and they're selling this information to anyone willing to pay. You didn't sign up for this. You don't know who they are.
These are data brokers — companies whose entire business is aggregating personal information from public records, social media, retail loyalty programs, apps, and leaked databases, then selling detailed profiles to marketers, insurers, landlords, employers, and anyone else who wants to know things about you.
Most people discover they exist when they Google themselves and find their home address on a site they've never heard of. Or when a scam call uses their real name and street. Or when a targeted phishing email references details that feel uncomfortably specific.
What data brokers actually hold on most people
Current + past addresses
Phone numbers
Employer · Education
Social profiles
Property ownership
Vehicle records
Browsing categories
Political affiliation
The opt-out problem
Most data brokers are legally required to remove your data if you request it. The problem: there are hundreds of them. Each has its own opt-out process, its own form, its own timeline. Working through them manually takes dozens of hours and needs to be repeated — because new information appears, and your data gets re-added over time.
Incogni automates this. You sign up, give it permission to act on your behalf, and it identifies which brokers hold your data, sends removal requests, monitors compliance, and handles re-submissions when data reappears. Most removals complete within a few weeks.
- Sends removal requests to hundreds of data brokers on your behalf
- Monitors for re-addition and re-requests as needed
- Dashboard shows which brokers responded and what was removed
- Reduces targeted spam, scam calls, and the raw material available for social engineering
You can't fully erase a digital footprint — public records are public. But you can significantly reduce what's aggregated and sold about you, and make the profiles data brokers hold on you substantially less complete.
Frequently asked questions
What is a data broker and why does it matter for identity theft?+
Data brokers legally aggregate and sell personal information — your name, address, phone, relatives, and more. This data is the raw material for social engineering attacks and targeted phishing, which are primary pathways to identity theft.
How do I remove myself from data broker databases?+
You can manually opt out of each broker individually, which takes many hours and requires re-submission as brokers re-add your data. Services like Incogni automate this process — sending removal requests to hundreds of brokers and monitoring for re-addition.
How common is identity theft in the US?+
Approximately 33% of US adults have experienced identity theft, per research from IPX1031 and Demandsage. The FTC received over 1.13 million identity theft reports in 2024. Losses totalled $12.7 billion that year, according to Experian.
