Data brokers are making a killing with our private information, buying data from the apps and websites we use, scraping social media, exploiting our rental and mortgage and banking applications, and more. They sell this data to anyone who wants to pay, even offering some of it for free to lure in customers without anyone’s consent. This is dangerous. Even free data like a loved one’s home address and phone number can put them at risk.
Doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the Internet and without their consent. Doxxing is done to enable direct harassment. It is a form of abuse, and it is the entire business model of these corporations.
On the surface, abuse survivors, activists, journalists, as well as civil servants like poll workers and librarians are all harmed by this “doxxing” business model. Worse, behind closed doors and on premium tiers, data brokers share even more intimate details, like who visits Planned Parenthood or details on military personnel & veterans net worth, home address, geolocation, and children.
These massive troves of non-consensual personal information make everyone vulnerable to hacking, stalking, discrimination, and scams—including AI scams. They are a direct path to harm hundreds of millions of people, and it can be nearly impossible to stop data brokers from selling information on us or our loved ones.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the authority to stop all of this. All they need to do is create an opt-out system like their National Do Not Call Registry and tell data brokers to stop selling information on anyone who registers—a system just like everyone in California will get in 2026.
That’s it. That’s the whole plan. It’s deceptively simple, and behind the scenes there is real enthusiasm for this idea. What we need now is to pressure the FTC to make it happen!
