Data Broker Defined

A Data Broker, also known as an information broker, syndicated data broker, or information re-seller, is a business that collects information about consumers from a variety of sources. Data brokers, collects, processes, analyzes, and then re-licences the data collected to other organizations. 

The data collected is typically accessed via an API and can be collected from a variety of online, offline, public, and non-public sources. These sources include:

• Social media
• Web history 
• Cookies
• Online and offline purchase history and warranty information
• Credit card information
• Government records (driver’s license and motor-vehicle records, census data, birth certificates, marriage licenses, voter-registration information, etc).

Information collected from these sources, which can be re-licensed to other organizations include:

• Full name
• Address of residence
• Telephone numbers
• Email addresses
• Age and gender
• Data about real estate owned
• Income
• Education
• Occupation

There are four type of data brokers:

• Type 1: Data brokers for marketing and advertising
• Type 2: Fraud detection data brokers
• Type 3. Risk-Mitigation Data Brokers
• Type 4: People-Search Sites

In Data Defined, we help make the complex world of data more accessible by explaining some of the most complex aspects of the field.

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