# Data Brokers **Entity class:** Organization or company **Domain:** Data Markets ## Definition Firms collect, aggregate, infer, package, and sell data products to customers. Their records feed identity, location, fraud, risk, and intelligence workflows through licensed access and procurement. ## Operational role Commercial data supplies the collection and enrichment layers of a modern intelligence pipeline. Acquisition, licensing, identity linkage, timestamps, and API delivery determine how a supplier’s records become a client’s usable information. Procurement fluency matters because each technical gate also creates a professional role or a business requirement. **Architecture connections:** [[wiki/OSINT|OSINT]] · [[wiki/Entity Resolution|Entity Resolution]] · [[wiki/Intelligence Fusion|Intelligence Fusion]]. ## Relationships - **article-linked mechanism or framework:** [[wiki/Commercially Available Information|Commercially Available Information]]. - **article-linked mechanism or framework:** [[wiki/Collection by Purchase|Collection by Purchase]]. - **collection route:** [[collections/The Civilian Intelligence Marketplace|The Civilian Intelligence Marketplace]]. - **counterterrorism architecture:** [[collections/Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment|Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment]]. - **source article:** [[articles/The Coming Market for Civilian Spycraft|The Coming Market for Civilian Spycraft]]. ## Sources / Provenance - [[articles/The Coming Market for Civilian Spycraft#I. The Citizen as Sensor, the Sensor as State|The Coming Market for Civilian Spycraft — I. The Citizen as Sensor, the Sensor as State]] — October 2026 revision; immediate source for this entry’s place in the marketplace. - [Mordor Intelligence, Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Market.](https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/open-source-intelligence-market) - [Global Market Insights, Open-Source Intelligence Market.](https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/open-source-intelligence-osint-market) - [Emile Ayoub and Elizabeth Goitein, Brennan Center for Justice, Closing the Data Broker Loophole (February 13, 2024).](https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/closing-data-broker-loophole) ## Connected marketplace roles The source article connects this entry with [[wiki/Private Intelligence Economy|Private Intelligence Economy]], [[wiki/Commercially Available Information|Commercially Available Information]], [[wiki/Behavioral Profile|Behavioral Profile]], [[wiki/Duke Military-Personnel Data-Broker Study|Duke Military-Personnel Data-Broker Study]], [[wiki/Fair Credit Reporting Act|Fair Credit Reporting Act]], [[wiki/Consumer Data as National-Security Substrate|Consumer Data as National-Security Substrate]]. These routes locate the associated people, implementations, methods, and operational contexts in [[articles/The Coming Market for Civilian Spycraft|The Coming Market for Civilian Spycraft]]. **Collections:** [[collections/The Civilian Intelligence Marketplace|The Civilian Intelligence Marketplace]] · [[collections/Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment|Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment]].