DirtSearch

Privacy • July 10, 2013

The Snowden Leaks and Your Privacy

Your data is the new currency, and snowden leaks and your privacy sits right at the center of how it’s bought and sold. The NSA surveillance revelations have changed the way we think about digital privacy. What does it mean for average citizens? This guide breaks down snowden, leaks, privacy and points you to the official sources DirtSearch tracks across all 50 states.

How to opt out effectively

Opt-out forms exist for nearly every major broker, but they’re often buried and frequently rebuilt to make removal harder. Treat opt-outs as recurring maintenance rather than a one-time fix — many brokers re-add records after a few months when fresh public-record data flows in. Tools like Privacy Duck, DeleteMe, and Optery automate the process for a fee, but you can replicate most of it manually.

Reducing your exposure

Shrinking your public footprint is a long game. Use a separate email for accounts that require one, lock down social-media privacy settings, and avoid free services that monetize identity data. Consider a P.O. box or commercial mailing address for anything tied to your legal name.

What’s actually collected

Data brokers aggregate hundreds of fields per person, including address history, relatives, vehicle ownership, voter registration, court filings, and inferred attributes like income range and political leaning. Most of it originates from public records and commercial data feeds, then gets repackaged and sold to marketers, recruiters, landlords, and law enforcement.

Applying this to The Snowden Leaks and Your Privacy

When the specific question is "The Snowden Leaks and Your Privacy", the same principles apply: identify the correct authority, use the official portal, and verify with a second source before acting. DirtSearch’s privacy resources point to the actual government databases that publish this information for free, and the state pages let you drill down to county-level records that aggregators frequently miss.

Key takeaways

  • Audit your public footprint at least once a year.
  • Assume your data is being broker-traded unless you’ve actively opted out.
  • Treat opt-outs as recurring maintenance, not a one-time task.
  • Separate identity from accounts that don’t need your real name.

Keep researching

For more on snowden leaks and your privacy and related topics, browse DirtSearch’s state-by-state public records guides, federal nationwide tools, and our growing library of free background-check tutorials. All sources are official, free, and require no signup.

Open search tools Browse all states Use nationwide tools Read FAQs

Related articles