Scott Raymond writes:
Recently on Reddit, regular contributorLawyerCT presented a list of top sites that collect, store and sell access to your personal data, and provided the methods for removing yourself from these databases.
[…]
It gets worse. While LawyerCT did yeoman’s work collecting the methods of removing yourself from these “services”, there are a number of drawbacks. For one thing, information is currency to them. They don’t want to let go of your data without a fight.
The methods they use are not only draconian in the way they make it difficult to get unlisted, they also require information about you that gives them exact confirmation and correction of the information they already have on you. It smacks of the methods spammers use to confirm your email address: they pretend to let you unsubscribe, when in fact you are confirming a legitimate email address where they can send even more junk.
Read more on ZDNet.
Note that Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has compiled a listing of almost 200 data brokers with links for instructions on how to 0pt-out or remove yourself if it is permitted. You can see their resource here.