Why Data Broker Removal Is KEY In 2023 🔑
The short version: Privacy Bee's pitch on data broker removal is a reminder that your location history, often fed by ALPR networks, ends up for sale just like everything else.
Our Take
Privacy Bee's video on data broker removal taps into a truth we see constantly in the ALPR world: scrubbing your name from a people-search site means little if a Flock Safety camera is logging your plate, timestamp, and GPS location every time you drive past it. Data brokers and surveillance camera networks are two heads of the same beast — both treat your daily movements as inventory to be collected, stored, and monetized or shared, often without your knowledge or consent.
The opt-out industry that's sprung up around data brokers exists because lawmakers let it happen by default: collect first, let people fight to get out later. That's the exact same posture police departments and private companies take when they install automated license plate readers on public roads. Nobody asked residents if they wanted their comings and goings logged. The cameras just went up, often funded quietly through city budgets or HOA dues, and now the data sits in a database that can be queried, subpoenaed, or breached.
Credit to Privacy Bee for pushing people to take data-broker exposure seriously, but don't stop at erasing your digital footprint — check what's physically watching your street. Pull up our camera map to see what's nearby, and head to our take-action page if you want to push back on the hardware doing the watching, not just the databases selling what it collects.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Privacy Bee, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.