Just days after the shootings of two state lawmakers and their spouses set off a manhunt in Minnesota, reports emerged(nuova finestra) that the suspect in the case may have used an online people-finder site to locate the homes of the victims.

Citing court records, Politico reported(nuova finestra) that the police had found a notebook in the suspect’s car listing 11 data brokers — companies that sell access to people’s personal information — and a printout of dozens of lawmakers’ names and home addresses.

Though they may not be widely known to the public, online people-finder sites like the ones suspected of playing a role in the Minnesota shootings have for years been quietly pulling data from public records, social media, and other sources to create ready-made dossiers. No warrant required. Just a name and an approximate location.

We wanted to know just what information can be found on these sites, and just how easy it is. So we tried it. On ourselves.

Much of the information we retrieved was found on two sites, which both rank highly on a web search for “people finder.” (Proton is not naming the services to discourage copycat attacks.)

What we found for free

Using one of the most visible free people-finder tools, we searched for a member of the Proton team. In less than a minute, we had the following:

  • Full legal name, age, and aliases
  • A timeline of current and past addresses
  • A working cell phone number listed alongside several older landlines and mobile numbers, some of which were outdated or belonged to a family member
  • Over a dozen relatives and associates, identified by full name
  • A prompt to “unlock” even more data with a paid upgrade: employment history, social profiles, and financial records, such as bankruptcies and liens (which are already available in the public record)

Some of the information was outdated. But most of it was accurate enough to locate someone in the real world or dig further. And all of it was free.

Read more: What are data brokers?

What we found with a paid service

Next, we purchased a one-month membership for a well-known people-finder platform. The plan includes unlimited access to background and location reports, searchable 24 hours a day. The cost? $28. For an additional $8, we unlocked a separate service that provided unlimited email-based reports. Here’s what we found:

Contact and location history going back years, including addresses, unit numbers, and property ownership.

Phone and email address history, including addresses from as far back as early adolescence.

Social media profiles across multiple platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and even MySpace, complete with bios, usernames, and live profile links.

Employment history going back over almost two decades.

Relatives and associates, each listed with the option to generate separate reports.

Additional categories, including sections for criminal records, property value, business affiliations, licenses, and more, even if none of those were found.

The platform allowed users to download everything as a PDF, essentially turning a person’s digital footprint into a portable, shareable dossier.

When data becomes a weapon

Doxxing, swatting, and targeted harassment become far easier when this kind of information is only a few clicks away. As The Register reported(nuova finestra), virtually nothing in current US law prevents data brokers from selling this information to almost anyone who comes knocking — insurance companies, political operatives, or even foreign governments.

And the impacts go beyond physical safety. This same unregulated data is also fed into the algorithms that help decide whether someone gets a loan, a job interview, or housing. As we’ve written before, the data broker economy underpins a growing wave of AI-powered decision-making — often without transparency or accountability. The consequences can be life-changing, whether or not the information is true or up-to-date. And in many cases, you’ll never even know why you were denied.

Privacy shouldn’t be a survival strategy

You shouldn’t have to live in fear of being looked up. You shouldn’t need to erase your digital life just to feel safe. What we found may not be surprising to people who’ve worked in newsrooms, at background-check companies, or in other investigation-adjacent fields. But for most people, this ecosystem is more or less invisible.

This same for-profit surveillance system that is believed to have exposed those Minnesota lawmakers(nuova finestra) to a plotting attacker is built to scale, not to protect. Data brokers aggregate and sell sensitive personal information to whoever’s buying, with no meaningful oversight, and the result is a system designed to expose and potentially put you at risk of harassment — or far, far worse.