Your personal information is bought and sold by a vast ecosystem of organizations. Here's who's purchasing your data and what they're doing with it.
Federal, state, and local agencies routinely purchase commercially available data (CAI)—including precise location, travel/airline, and utility/home records—often to sidestep warrant requirements.
Venntel/Gravy Analytics: Sold sensitive location data; the FTC took action in Dec 2024 over tracking people to health clinics and places of worship. Buyers included federal agencies.
LexisNexis Accurint: Contracts used by ICE and other agencies for people-search, license, and utility data; investigations and litigation detail extensive law-enforcement use.
Flight Data Sales: 2025 reporting shows flight reservation data sold to CBP/ICE via brokers.
Brands, ad networks, and DSPs buy or license audience segments (interests, behaviors, geolocation, purchase history) to micro-target ads across web, apps, CTV/streaming.
Granular Targeting: 650,000+ granular audience labels (e.g., "heavy purchasers of pregnancy tests," "depression-prone") illustrate the precision of segments resold through ad platforms.
Oracle's Data Empire: Oracle's acquisitions (BlueKai/Datalogix) show how retail purchase data links to ad targeting used by major platforms.
Retailers enrich CRM/loyalty files with third-party attributes to model churn, CLV, and look-alike audiences; vendors like Acxiom market these "people-based" enrichment services.
Acxiom: Leading provider of people-based enrichment services for retailers
Banks and lenders use brokered data for identity verification, fraud, and customer acquisition (sometimes under FCRA constraints). Background-check/people-search brokers have faced FTC actions when acting as CRAs.
Auto Insurance Data Sharing: Auto insurers received driving/telematics data (speeding, late-night driving) via automaker data streams and brokers; a 2025 FTC settlement banned GM/OnStar from sharing such data for five years and noted relationships with LexisNexis and Verisk.
Health marketers, pharma, and insurers acquire wearable/app and retail pharmacy–adjacent data from commercial sources to target audiences and model risks—not protected by HIPAA when collected outside covered entities.
Consumer Warning: Consumer groups warn brokers may share medical-adjacent signals with insurers/retailers, impacting prices and access.
Data-driven campaigns buy brokered segments and specialized voter files (e.g., TargetSmart, i360) to micro-target fundraising, persuasion, and turnout across platforms; occasional data routing mishaps (Snap/i360) reveal how widely these feeds are integrated.
Brokers frequently license to each other to "enrich" files, making provenance opaque—a long-standing problem identified by the FTC.
Understanding the journey from data collection to purchase helps reveal the scope of the data broker ecosystem and who ultimately benefits from your personal information.
This visualization shows the complex ecosystem where your personal data is collected, processed, and sold to various buyers across industries.
Your data is gathered from dozens of sources simultaneously
Data brokers buy and sell to each other, creating complex webs
From government agencies to advertisers, many industries purchase your data
GPS pings, geofences, venue visits (clinics, houses of worship, military bases).
Names, aliases, addresses, utilities, licenses, property, relatives, court records.
In-store and e-commerce transactions linked to emails/IDs via Datalogix/retail partners.
Vehicle driving behavior, app telemetry, CTV viewing.
Fitness, fertility, mental-health app events, sleep/heart metrics outside HIPAA.
Psychographics, propensity scores, "life events," political leanings.
Web, mobile, CTV, retail media targeting and campaign measurement.
For finance, fintech, and government verification and fraud prevention.
Pattern-of-life analysis, skip tracing, immigration enforcement.
Fundraising at household or individual level, voter targeting.
Auto, health-adjacent insurance pricing and eligibility determinations.
| Buyer Category | Typical Data Acquired | Illustrative Vendors | Public Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Government & LE | GPS pings, airline/PNR, utilities, people-search | Venntel/Gravy, LexisNexis |
Federal Trade Commission
Electronic Frontier Foundation
|
| Advertisers/Ad-tech/CTV | Audience segments, purchase, location | Oracle (BlueKai/Datalogix), Xandr |
WIRED
|
| Retailers & e-commerce | Loyalty, enrichment attributes | Acxiom & peers |
Acxiom
|
| Finance & insurers | Identity, fraud, driving/telematics | LexisNexis, Verisk |
AP News
|
| Health, wellness & pharma | Wearables/app signals, shopping | — |
MDPI
|
| Political campaigns | Voter files + commercial segments | TargetSmart, i360 |
Electronic Frontier Foundation
i360
|
| Other brokers/resellers | "Enrichment," modeled traits | Many |
Federal Trade Commission
|
This structured reference table provides a comprehensive overview of the data buyer ecosystem with verified sources and evidence.
December 2024: FTC took action over sale of sensitive location data tracking people to health clinics and places of worship.
Impact: First major enforcement against location data brokers selling to government agencies
January 2025: Banned sharing of telematics data used by insurers; terminated broker relationships.
Impact: Set precedent for automotive data sharing restrictions
Watchdog groups and Congress are pressing government agencies to curb purchases of commercially available information (CAI), with new oversight measures being implemented.
This vast ecosystem of data buyers operates largely in the shadows, purchasing and using your personal information for purposes you may never know about.