Do you value your online privacy? If you don’t, you should! Privacy is a coveted commodity and becoming harder and harder to maintain. The amount and extent of personal information that can be found online is scary. In the case of Google, what started as a helpful search engine has become a place where it is challenging to maintain privacy.
Google is now doing something proactive to protect your privacy online. As of this month, Google is offering a tool you can utilize if you don’t want your email, phone number, street address, or other personal information to be found online. Essentially, you can request that your contact details are stripped from Google search results.
What was Google’s policy before this?
Google could always strip your personal data from their online search engine, but they only did it when requested, due to potential threats, such as doxxing or an identity threat. In these instances, they offered to scrub personal and financial information.
How do I request Google to remove me?
Now, Google users can rest (somewhat) easily. Threat or no threat, Google will scrub your personal data online at your request.
You simply fill out a form to take your contact info out of search results — you can find the form here. Expect to be asked to provide URLs of any web pages displaying your personal data and screenshots showing where it is displayed.
It’s important to note that Google can still deny a request to remove personal data. Though uncommon, they do this in cases where the information is widely available.
tolen information, data, and identities are at the core of cybersecurity risks. In many ways, we operate in a single effort to protect data. As IT security professionals, it’s encouraging to see Google do its part to help protect online users’ privacy. We frequently cover topics related to online privacy on our blog. Read some of our relevant blogs on the topic: Building Owners – Blur Your Google Street View For Increased Privacy and Physical Security, New Trend: Popular Websites Port Scanning You Without Prompt, and 9 Tips to Protect Your Privacy Online in the New Year.
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