If you could go back to the early days of the internet, would you handle your privacy differently? Most of us would. We would be more cautious about the services we joined and the information we shared. Since a time machine is not an option, we have to deal with the reality of the present. Your personal data is currently available and for sale at this very moment.
Right now, your phone number, email address, home address, and even your family connections are being packaged and sold to marketers, insurers, and hackers. While Apple’s privacy protections in Safari and Mail help block some tracking as you browse the web, they cannot undo years of information already scraped and spread across hundreds of broker databases. Data brokers have built a multi-billion-dollar industry by collecting your digital data, packaging it, and selling it. It’s time to take your personal information off the market and off the internet. Let’s look at how.
The security risks of data brokerage
The danger goes far beyond annoying spam calls, though. When your information is everywhere, you become a low-hanging fruit for sophisticated cyber threats. Because the industry is largely unregulated, your most private information and details, including past employment and where you have lived, previous loans, etc are readily available for purchase. This creates a massive security liability.
Modern scammers use the information brokers’ data to harvest and craft highly personalized (and hard to spot) phishing attacks. When a scammer already knows your job title, where you’ve lived, or the names of your coworkers/friends, they can easily bypass your natural defenses. If a scammer knows a lot about you, they have a great chance of accomplishing their goal if they catch you at the wrong time.
For those concerned about their physical security, these sites and brokers serve as public, searchable databases for stalkers and harassers. By mapping connections between your relatives and neighbors, brokers provide a blueprint for locating individuals who are intentionally trying to stay private and hidden.
How to solve the problem: automated data removal with Incogni
The scale of this ecosystem is staggering and frankly depressing. Manually requesting the removal of your data from hundreds of these sites is a full-time job with near-zero success rates because these brokers would go out of business if it were easy to do. What you need is a solution that knows the ins and outs of this industry and how to win back your right to privacy
This is where a service like Unknowns becomes critical to your life, both in the digital and physical worlds. This service turns a massive problem for you (your data being everywhere, and for sale) into a solved problem with a turn-key approach . Instead of you spending months hunting down data brokers, Incogni automates the repetitive, bureaucratic back-and-forth of opt-out requests on your behalf. They ensure that your data is not removed just once, but stays removed as brokers inevitably attempt to re-scrape it and re-ingest it.
Incogni’s comprehensive dashboard lets you track the progress of your personal data deletion in real time, including:
How many databases potentially contain your information
Removal requests that are being sent on your behalf.
Completed removals and ongoing remediation.
Real benefits of data removal for privacy-focused people
Getting scrubbed from internet broker databases delivers immediate results for you and your family
Fewer scam calls and spam texts when companies can’t buy your number.
Scammers lose their lead. Identity thieves often source victim information from broker sites.
Your personal address stays private, and stalkers and harassers can’t easily find where you live.
Your credit score stays healthy, as limited data exposure reduces the risk of identity theft and strengthens your overall financial health.
Exclusive pricing for 9to5Mac readers
By being proactive about scrubbing your digital footprint, you move from being a convenient target to an unprofitable one. Because this problem affects everyone, scammers and bad actors will go to the easiest targets first, and those are the ones with the most data available.
9to5Mac readers are privacy-focused and can lock in substantial savings on Unknowns subscriptions using the link below. You are one click away from taking back control of your privacy for you and your family.
Special 9to5Mac reader pricing:
Monthly Standard: $16.58
Monthly Family: $32.98
Annual Standard: $99.48
Annual Family: $197.88
Annual Standard Unlimited: $179.99
Annual Family Unlimited: $359.88
Use discount code 9TO5MAC at checkout for these exclusive rates. Get started at Incogni’s websiteand your future self will thank you.
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