Google has just begun accepting applications to remove personal information such as phone numbers and physical and email addresses from search results.
The giant for digital advertising and Internet search in Mountain View said in a recent blog post that it has expanded the range of data that people may want to remove because “with information that appears in unexpected places and is used in new ways … policies and protections must evolve. “
Earlier, in order to consider removing phone numbers and addresses, Google required a person to show that such information was disclosed along with a threat or call for injury or harassment.
To apply for removal information, people must use Google information online form to send URLs – webpage addresses – showing the content, and the company also wants a URL of search results showing the link to the content, plus screenshots of the content to make it easier to process the query.
“Having personal contact information online can be shocking – and can be used in harmful ways, including unwanted direct contact or even physical injury,” said Michelle Chang, head of Google’s global search policy, in the blog post.
The company will decline requests if its review finds that removing the page would limit the availability of other information that deserves news or otherwise “widely useful” to the public, or if the information appears in public records on government or official websites, he said. Google.
The company’s policies also allow the removal from the search results of information such as medical records and confidential data that can be used for identity theft or financial crimes, such as login credentials, social security numbers, bank account numbers and credit maps and images of signatures and identity documents.
The removal of personal information will be done by ensuring that the web page that contains it does not appear in search results, Google said. In some cases, especially when the information in question is data such as bank account and credit card numbers, the page will be removed from any search results, while in other cases the page will not appear in search results containing the person’s name or other identifier. .
“It’s important to remember that removing content from Google Search won’t remove it from the Internet, so you may want to connect directly to the hosting site if it’s convenient for you to do so,” Google warned. in the explanatory.
Google: You can now ask to have your address, phone number removed from search results
