Data Brokers

Someone is selling your life story. You've just never met them.

Your name. Your address. Your relatives. Where your phone slept last night. Whether you might be pregnant, in debt, or shopping for a new car. All of it is collected, combined, and sold every day by companies most people have never heard of. Their customers are banks, landlords, employers, advertisers, government agencies, and sometimes anyone with a credit card.

Data Brokers: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Hidden Market for Your Personal Information takes you inside that market and shows you, in plain language, how your information gets there and what happens to it next.

This isn't a takedown, and it isn't a defense. It's the full picture, in three parts:

THE GOOD: the fraud it stops, the identities it verifies, the missing heirs and lost money it finds, and the everyday services quietly built on it.

THE BAD: background reports that mix you up with a stranger, profiles full of guesses you never agreed to, and breaches that spilled billions of records.

THE UGLY: location data that can follow people to clinics, churches, and shelters, people-search sites that turned up in the case files of violent attacks, and data on U.S. service members sold for pennies a record.

Inside, you'll find real answers to questions you've probably never thought to ask:

• How does one grocery purchase end up in a stranger's database?

• What does your hidden profile say about you, and how much of it is wrong?

• Can the government buy your data without a warrant?

• Is your phone really listening to you? Is your TV watching what you watch?

• What does the law protect in your state, and what doesn't it?

• Do paid removal services actually work?

• What can you do to take back control, starting today?

Written for everyday readers, with relatable stories, documented cases, and real numbers instead of jargon, this book lays out the facts honestly and lets you decide what to think about them. A full glossary and a chapter-by-chapter list of sources are included.

Book 3 in the Untangled series, plain-language guides to the technologies shaping everyday life. Also in the series: Data Centers and Flock Safety Cameras.

Your information already has a market. This book shows you who's buying, who's selling, and what you can do about it.

Scroll up and grab your copy today.