Major Data Brokers Tried to Hide Their Opt-Out Pages From Search Engines

Four data brokers have made their opt-out pages easier for internet users to find after a US senator’s investigation found the pages had been hidden from search engines. 

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) made the announcement on Friday after she pressured data brokers to make changes. “Hiding or burying opt-out options for data collection” can prevent Americans from protecting their privacy, she said.

The four data brokers—Comscore, IQVIA Digital, Telesign, and 6sense Insights—collect and sell personal information for marketing or identity verification purposes. Although the data broker industry is legal, it has long faced controversy over how that data, including Social Security numbers and location data, can be sold for shady purposes or leaked through breaches.

Data brokers typically offer an opt-out form that allows a user to request that their collected data be deleted. But last year, an investigation by The Markup and CalMatters found that 35 data brokers operating in California tried to hide their opt-out and data-deletion instructions from Google’s search results by placing computer code on the opt-out pages that blocked search engines from indexing them.

Some of the data brokers later deleted the computer code after The Markup/CalMatters reached out. However, Sen. Hassan’s office found that Comscore, IQVIA Digital, Telesign, and 6sense Insights continued to place the “no index” code on their opt-out-related pages. All four have since removed the code, according to Sen. Hassan. Two providers, 6sense and IQVIA, said they added the code to help reduce spam; Comscore and Telesign couldn’t determine why the no-index code was placed. 

(Credit: Sen. Hassan)

Sen. Hassan's report noted that a fifth data broker, Findem, did not respond to her inquiry and has not removed the no-index code from its “Do not sell or share my personal information” page. 

Findem’s privacy policy page, which links to the opt-out form, remains available on Google, but the form didn’t appear to work for us on Friday. We clicked the submit button several times, but the page remained static. Hassan’s report added: “Mandatory disclosures from the company in 2024 show that it did not process 80% of privacy requests from individuals.”

Findem didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In the meantime, Sen. Hassan said her findings “underscore the need for clear, easy access to opt-out options and more rigorous oversight within the data broker industry.” Her report also estimates that “identity theft stemming from just four large data broker breaches in recent years cost US consumers more than $20 billion.”

Although Congress has made attempts, the US still lacks a comprehensive national data privacy law similar to Europe’s GDPR. However, some states have enacted their own privacy laws that regulate data brokers. Still, hundreds of them operate in the US, so navigating each one to opt out of the data collection remains a huge hassle, even if the pages can be found on Google.

California recently launched a free tool to make it easy for residents to request that the state's 500+ registered data brokers wipe their personal records from their databases. Users can also consider paid data removal services.

UPDATE: Findem told PCMag: "The email from Senator Hassan's office in August did not reach our CEO due to email spam filtering and data retention settings." 

"Our dedicated privacy inbox ([email protected]) and privacy message line (650-399-3628) are actively monitored, and it is our standard operating procedure to respond promptly to all requests to delete, access or opt out of the sale or sharing of personal data in accordance with our Platform Data Privacy Policy. We also published a blog post clarifying our privacy practices, which may be helpful to review," the company added.

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