Data Brokers and Domestic Terror: A Deadly Wake-Up Call for Online Privacy
In June 2025, federal investigators arrested a Minnesota man, Shane Boelter, for plotting the targeted killing of public officials. What made this case especially disturbing wasn’t just the weapons or the written kill list. It was how Boelter found his victims.
He used people-search websites.
Sites like Truepeoplesearch, Spokeo, BeenVerified, Whitepages, and others made it easy for him to look up home addresses of elected officials. His notebooks listed more than 45 names, including Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, with her home address written right next to her name.
These sites didn’t hack anyone. They didn’t steal private data. They aggregated publicly available information and packaged it for anyone to access—for free or for a smaIn June 2025, federal investigators arrested a Minnesota man, Shane Boelter, for plotting the targeted killing of public officials. What made this case especially disturbing wasn’t just the weapons or the written kill list. It was how Boelter found his victims.
He used people-search websites.
Sites like Truepeoplesearch, Spokeo, BeenVerified, Whitepages, and others made it easy for him to look up home addresses of elected officials. His notebooks listed more than 45 names, including Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, with her home address written right next to her name.
These sites didn’t hack anyone. They didn’t steal private data. They aggregated publicly available information and packaged it for anyone to access—for free or for a small fee.
Boelter weaponized this data.
How He Did It
According to the FBI affidavit:
Boelter had handwritten notebooks detailing names and home addresses of targets.
He had a list of over a dozen people-search websites.
Investigators found semi-automatic rifles, loaded magazines, and tactical gear in his abandoned vehicle.
He used these tools—both digital and physical—to plan an attack.
This wasn’t just premeditated violence. It was digital recon turned lethal.
What Are People-Search Sites?
These websites are built on personal data collected from:
Property records
Voter rolls
Utility bills
Credit headers
Marketing databases
They link a name to addresses, phone numbers, relatives, and even the names of neighbors. If you’ve ever owned property, had a listed phone number, or applied for a mortgage, your data is probably on these sites.
And that’s the problem.
This data isn’t just marketing fuel. In the wrong hands, it’s a roadmap to your front door.
Real-World Consequences
We’ve seen this before:
Cybercriminal gangs using people-search data to target executives’ families.
Stalkers using address records to harass victims.
Protestors and extremists showing up at judges’ or journalists’ homes.
Now we have federal evidence of a mass assassination attempt based on addresses found through people-search tools.
This is no longer hypothetical.
You Can’t Rely on Laws Alone
Many states, including California and Colorado, have privacy laws allowing individuals to opt out of having their personal data sold. But the process is:
Time-consuming
Fragmented
Constantly changing
And it often doesn’t cover family members living at the same address.
Even when you opt out of one site, another might republish the data days later. It’s a never-ending loop unless you have dedicated support.
How mePrism Helps
mePrism Privacy is a consumer privacy agent. We:
Identify where your personal data is being published.
Submit opt-out and deletion requests to over 600 data broker websites.
Monitor reappearance and enforce permanent removal.
Include social media privacy controls for a more complete privacy shield.
Our service is especially valuable for:
Elected officials
Law enforcement
Judges and prosecutors
Executives and public-facing employees
Victims of harassment or stalking
We’ve helped large organizations onboard entire employee populations to protect them from being doxed or targeted. The process is simple. We handle the requests, monitor compliance, and escalate when companies don’t cooperate.
Why It Matters Now
The Boelter case is a warning.
There’s a gap between what the law allows and what safety demands. You don’t need to be famous to be a target. If someone is angry, radicalized, or unstable, people-search data gives them exactly what they need.
Your address. Your relatives. Your contact info. Your vulnerability.
What You Can Do Today
Search for your name on sites like Truepeoplesearch and BeenVerified.
See how much of your information is already out there.
Use a service like mePrism Privacy to request removal from data broker sites.
Talk to your employer or organization about privacy services for staff.
Consider freezing your credit and limiting exposure on social media.
This isn't about hiding.
It’s about reducing risk in a world where digital tools make targeting easier than ever.
If someone had removed Representative Hortman's home address from those websites, would she have still ended up in Boelter’s crosshairs?
We’ll never know.
But what we do know is this:
Every day your data sits exposed online is another day of unnecessary risk.
Protect yourself. Protect your family.
Let mePrism Privacy help.
Ready to try mePrism yourself?
At mePrism, we help you take back control of your personal data. Our service scans the web for your exposed personal information—like your name, address, and contact details—and removes it from data broker sites that sell it without your consent. Whether you're protecting your privacy, reducing spam, or guarding against identity theft, we make the process simple, secure, and effective. Ready to clean up your online footprint?
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