by
Block Party
January 17, 2025
Our personal information is scattered across countless online platforms, leaving us exposed to a wide range of privacy risks, from harassment and stalking to identity theft. Among the different types of data being collected, 3rd party data is one of the most pervasive and challenging to manage. This includes not only sensitive details like phone numbers, home addresses, birthdays, and even court records, but also less obvious data points that can be triangulated with other sources and used against us. But what exactly is 3rd party data, and how can you take steps to minimize its impact and clean up your online presence?
3rd party data is information collected about you by organizations or entities that you don’t have a direct relationship with. Unlike 1st party data, which is information you willingly share with a company (e.g., your email address when signing up for a newsletter), 3rd party data is typically aggregated from multiple sources and sold to advertisers, marketers, and other businesses.
Data brokers are companies that specialize in collecting, aggregating, and selling personal information. They gather data from various sources, such as public records, social media profiles, and online purchases, to build detailed profiles about individuals. People search engines, another type of data broker, specifically focus on gathering personal information from online databases and public records to make it easily accessible to anyone conducting a search. Other platforms are also guilty of aggregating publicly available information and becoming a source of 3rd party data exposure (like Muck Rack for journalists or Justia for legal professionals).
3rd party data is often used to target you with ads or is resold to other entities without your explicit consent, and can be exploited for malicious purposes such as doxxing or facilitating targeted harassment campaigns. 3rd party data can also pose challenges for your physical safety as it reveals not only where you live, but also where your family and other close connections reside.
Unfortunately, managing these sources of data exposure can be challenging due to the sheer volume of information that is collected and distributed. Even individuals who are cautious about their online activity can find their personal information widely accessible, usually without their knowledge or consent. Currently, there are some regulatory efforts aimed at protecting personal data, but laws like GDPR and CCPA still have legal gray areas that data brokers operate in, making it difficult to fully protect yourself from unwanted exposure.
Minimizing exposure of your personal information from 3rd party sources is critical in protecting yourself online. With the vast number of data sources out there, removing 3rd party data can feel overwhelming. However, you can combine several approaches to maximize your privacy and regain control over your personal information:
Many data brokers allow you to opt out of their databases. However, this process is often manual and time-consuming, requiring you to:
You can find an extensive list of sites here.
Services like DeleteMe or Incogni handle opt-outs on your behalf, but there’s an ironic twist—the first step is handing over the same personal information you’re desperate to remove from the internet. It might feel counterintuitive, but it’s the only way for them to effectively submit opt-out requests to data brokers.
These services are typically subscription based as they will continually monitor and resubmit these requests to try and keep your data removed over time. While these services can save time, they’re not perfect.
They often take time to remove your data—sometimes a month or more—depending on the policies and response times of individual data brokers. This lag can be frustrating, especially if you’re eager to see immediate results. Even then, no single tool is 100% effective, and it’s common for some pieces of data to survive removal efforts. In the case of elevated risk, individuals may use multiple services to get the best coverage.
You can find a comparison of popular tools here.
Search engines are often the first place people look for information about you as listings for various 3rd party data sources are compiled in the results. Tools like Google’s "Results About You" feature allow you to identify search results containing your personal information and submit requests to have those results removed from Google’s index. While this won’t erase the information from the source website, it can significantly reduce visibility.
Check out Google’s tool here.
If you’re looking to clean up more of your online presence, consider addressing your 1st party data as well—it’s upstream of third-party data, making it the source you can control to cut off potential exposure.
1st party data is information you directly share with a company, such as your name, email, address and even content like photos and posts, which can be even more valuable and accessible than data collected by 3rd party brokers as it’s verified and provided by you, making it more accurate than other potential data sources.
There are two popular tools that can help you manage 1st party data:
Block Party helps you deep clean your social media accounts, notifications, and privacy settings with ease. Whether you're unfriending outdated connections, securing your settings, or reducing unwanted exposure, Block Party automates the process to keep you protected. It services 11+ platforms and will keep you up to date when new risky settings and platform changes arise.
Permission Slip is a mobile app built by Consumer Reports that helps you take control of your personal data. With just a few taps, you can submit requests to companies to stop selling your data or delete it entirely. Permission Slip compiles a list of companies that have collected your data—directly from you—and acts on your behalf to address exposures of data like your phone number, address and other sensitive information. Think organizations like Netflix, Ticketmaster, OpenTable, your go-to airlines, your grocery delivery services, and more. Permission Slip makes managing your data simple and hassle-free.
By combining these approaches, you can manage both 1st and 3rd party data more effectively, reducing your digital footprint and limiting who has access to your personal information.
