How to get your details off data broker sites, by hand or with McAfee

What a data broker knows about you

A data broker is a company that gathers personal information from many places and sells it on. As pcmag.com reported, the Federal Trade Commission counts people-search sites as one kind of broker. Those sites often draw on public records such as property deeds, driving records and voter registrations, plus anything you have made public on social accounts.

Other sources go deeper. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse points to purchase histories, store loyalty programs, app activity and location-tracking records. The broker stitches these pieces into one profile and sells it to customers ranging from background-check companies to advertisers.

A profile can include your address and phone number, your date of birth, current and past homes, an estimated income range, and spending patterns. It can also list people linked to you, such as household members and relatives, along with inferred hobbies and browsing habits. Put together, that is a detailed picture of your routines, money and relationships.

In many cases this is legal. That is why the burden of cleaning it up falls on you.

The free route: opt out yourself

Going directly to each broker costs nothing. The catch is time, because your information may sit on dozens of separate sites, each with its own process.

The steps are the same each time:

• Pick a people-search or broker site where you suspect you are listed.
• Search for yourself by name, address or other identifying details.
• Find the site's opt-out or data-deletion form. It is usually linked from the privacy section, or you can search the site's name with words like "opt out."
• Submit the request and complete any identity checks.
• Save the confirmation, then return later to confirm the listing is gone.
• Repeat on the next site, and keep rechecking.

That last step matters more than it sounds. Brokers keep collecting new records, so a profile you removed can come back.

What McAfee's tool does

The alternative is paying for a service that handles the scanning. McAfee's version is called Personal Data Cleanup, and what you get depends on the plan.

With McAfee+ Premium, the feature scans broker sites that may be selling your information. It then walks you through requesting removal, so you do not have to hunt down every listing on your own.

McAfee+ Advanced and Ultimate go further. On those plans, McAfee sends the removal requests for you. You can check the status of each request in the app, and continuing scans flag your information if it shows up again.

On speed, the source says privacy laws often give companies roughly 30 to 45 days to answer a deletion request. McAfee says removals through its service usually finish within two weeks, though some can take up to 45 days. The source does not give a price.

What removal will not fix

Deleting a broker listing does not touch the original record. Property deeds, voter registrations and court records are often viewable by law, and they stay put. Brokers can pull from them again later, which is a main reason experts suggest rechecking periodically.

Your legal rights also vary. The source says the rules depend on your state, the kind of information and how it was collected. Laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act give residents rights to delete data or opt out of certain sales of it.

The realistic goal is not to vanish. It is to make your details harder to buy in bulk, so old addresses and former roommates are not one search away for anyone who wants them.

Choosing between the two

If you have a free afternoon and few worries, the manual route works, provided you set a reminder to check back. If you would rather not repeat forms across many sites, a paid tool trades money for time and adds ongoing monitoring.

One note on the source: it is a how-to piece that promotes McAfee's product, so treat the speed claims as the company's own. The manual steps and the limits on what removal can do apply no matter which route you pick.