How to Opt Out of Data Brokers in Minnesota

Minnesota now has one of the most powerful consumer data privacy laws in the country. The Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act took effect on July 31, 2025, giving residents robust rights to opt out of data sales, targeted advertising, and automated profiling. Better yet, the law's cure period has expired — meaning the Attorney General can now pursue enforcement immediately. Here is how to use your new rights to remove your data from brokers in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act (MCDPA)

Signed into law in 2025, the MCDPA is one of the most comprehensive state privacy laws in the nation. It gives Minnesota residents rights that go beyond what most other states offer:

• Right to access: You can confirm whether a business is processing your personal data and obtain a copy.
• Right to correct: You can request that inaccurate personal data be fixed.
• Right to delete: You can request that businesses delete your personal data.
• Right to data portability: You can obtain your data in a usable, transferable format.
• Right to opt out: You can opt out of the sale of your personal data, targeted advertising, and profiling.
• Right to question profiling: Minnesota is one of the first states to give consumers the specific right to question automated profiling decisions and understand the logic behind them.

What Makes the MCDPA Unique

Several features set Minnesota's law apart from other state privacy statutes:

• Data inventory requirement: Minnesota is the only state that requires businesses to maintain a formal inventory of all personal data they process — where it is stored, how it is used, and who has access.
• Universal opt-out signals: Businesses must honor Global Privacy Control and other universal opt-out preference signals, allowing you to exercise your rights automatically through browser settings.
• Profiling transparency: Consumers have the right to question the results of automated profiling and understand how decisions affecting them were made.

Step 1: Discover Where Your Data Is Listed

Before you can opt out, you need to know which data brokers have your information. Start with these steps:

1. Google your full name along with your city and zip code
2. Search your name on people search sites including TruePeopleSearch, Spokeo, WhitePages, BeenVerified, Radaris, Intelius, PeopleFinders, and FastPeopleSearch
3. Check your name on property record sites, especially if you own a home in Minnesota
4. Search for your phone number and email address separately to find additional listings

Make a list of every site displaying your personal information. Most Minnesota residents find themselves listed on 20 to 50 different data broker sites.

Step 2: Submit Opt-Out Requests

Each data broker has its own opt-out process, though they often make it deliberately inconvenient. For each site on your list:

1. Navigate to the site's privacy policy or look for a "Do Not Sell My Info" link in the footer
2. Locate the opt-out form or designated email address
3. Submit your name, address, and other identifying details to specify which records to remove
4. Complete any verification steps, such as confirming via email or uploading identification
5. Document your request with screenshots and dates

Step 3: Invoke Your MCDPA Rights

If a data broker does not have a clear opt-out form, or if they ignore your initial request, you can formally invoke your MCDPA rights. Send a written request citing the Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act.

Step 4: Enable Universal Opt-Out Signals

The MCDPA requires businesses to honor universal opt-out preference signals. Take advantage of this by:

• Installing the Global Privacy Control (GPC) browser extension or using a browser that supports it natively, such as Firefox, Brave, or DuckDuckGo
• Enabling any built-in privacy or "Do Not Track" settings on your devices
• Using privacy-focused search engines that do not track your queries

Once enabled, GPC automatically signals your opt-out preferences to every website you visit — and Minnesota businesses are legally obligated to respect that signal.

Step 5: Address Minnesota-Specific Public Records

Minnesota has open public records that feed the data broker ecosystem:

• Property records: County assessor offices publish ownership, home values, and addresses online
• Voter registration: Voter file data is accessible and frequently scraped by data brokers
• Court records: Minnesota's court system publishes case records through the Minnesota Judicial Branch website
• Professional licenses: State licensing boards maintain public databases

While you cannot erase yourself from these public records entirely, you can limit how data brokers exploit them by consistently submitting opt-out requests and monitoring for new listings.

Data Broker Registration Coming in 2027

A particularly powerful provision of the MCDPA takes effect on July 31, 2027: all data brokers operating in Minnesota must register with the Attorney General. This will create a public list of every data broker collecting Minnesotans' data and make enforcement significantly easier. Until then, identifying all relevant brokers requires manual research or a comprehensive removal service.

The Easier Path: Automated Data Removal

Opting out of 100+ data brokers individually takes roughly 40 hours of initial work, plus ongoing monitoring every few months. PrivacyOn automates the entire process for Minnesota residents. We submit opt-out requests to more than 100 data broker sites on your behalf, re-submit when they re-list your data, and monitor the dark web for leaks of your personal information.

PrivacyOn's coverage includes the major national data brokers as well as regional aggregators that scrape Minnesota public records. Family plans cover up to 5 people, and pricing starts at $8.33 per month.

Minnesota Privacy Resources

• Minnesota Attorney General Consumer Division: File privacy complaints at ag.state.mn.us
• Global Privacy Control: Install at globalprivacycontrol.org
• IdentityTheft.gov: Report identity theft and create a recovery plan

Take Action Now

The MCDPA gives Minnesota residents some of the strongest privacy rights in the country — and the expiration of the cure period means businesses can no longer ignore your requests without consequences. Whether you handle opt-outs manually or let PrivacyOn manage the process, the key is to start today. Your personal data is already out there, and every day you wait is another day brokers profit from it.