The company can only obtain information on people who've agreed to allow the broker to release their personal information. If the investor does not agree to the release of info the shares are purchased in the name of the broker and the investor never appears on a NOBO list. If the investor can't trust their broker then they need to get a new broker. It is never a good idea to release personal information when trading penny stocks. Many are scams and will rip a person off one way or another. Etrade WILL NOT distribute shares in a private company. They will simply cancel the common shares. When there's talk of a company going private it is always a good practice to take a snapshot of your common shares when there's talk of going private or moving to a non US market.