Google Makes It Easier to Remove Personal Info From Search Results

[MacRumors]

Google today announced some changes to Google Search that will make it easier to remove unwanted personal information from the web.

Clicking on the three dots next to a search result will provide an interface that lets you request its removal. There are three options to choose from, including "It shows my personal info," "I have a legal removal request," and "It's outdated and I want to request a refresh."

The first option allows users to request the removal of information like phone number, email address, home address, credit card numbers, login credentials, and more, and if selected, Google will review the request and possibly remove the result.

The second option is for content that violates Google's product policies, while the third refreshes search results if a page has been updated.

Google has a dedicated "Results about you" feature that has been refreshed as well. It scans for search results that include information like phone number or address, and provides tools for removing those results.

Article Link: Google Makes It Easier to Remove Personal Info From Search Results

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Good on Google! Every search engine (and LLMs), should have such an option.

I've done a lot of work over the years to make myself invisible on people search sites and search engines. My name is very unique so it would be easy to find me if I had done nothing. This would have made it a lot easier.

 

[johnsawyercjs]

Why should we be required to submit reasons, so Google can decide whether they meet with their approval?

 

[picpicmac]

Good on Google!

Have you considered that this is a way for Google to learn that you, the person who's info is in the search result, is the "you" that is the Google account?

That makes this addition a much more nefarious thing than it may be on first glance.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Have you considered that this is a way for Google to learn that you, the person who's info is in the search result, is the "you" that is the Google account?

That makes this addition a much more nefarious thing than it may be on first glance.

Google doesn't need confirmation if you're already logged in, as 90% of people are..plus they have your IP.

..but yea, I guess that's possible. Whatever the reason, I don't want to show on Google, at all.

 

[delsoul]

You shouldn't have to do a request for every single thing. There should be a broad sweeping action that you only need to enact once.

 

[switz]

Google is like the GoodYear blimp flying overhead with all of your personal information on display day and night by the lighted signs on the blimp.....

 

[JosephAW]

So how do you remove history if you don’t have a Google account?

 

[Plutonius]

Once something is posted on the internet, it is there forever somewhere on the internet .

 

[Iwavvns]

Once something is posted on the internet, it is there forever somewhere on the internet .

Correct. Google, as powerful as they may be, cannot remove every bit of personal info from the entire web. The last word in the first sentence of the OP needs to be changed (web -> search results).

 

[johnsawyercjs]

So how do you remove history if you don’t have a Google account?

Simple! You sign up for a Google account, during which you give them some of your personal info.

 

[PrayForDeath]

This is a welcome surprise from Google

 

[Student of Life]

So they want you to verify and give your info to "remove it" This is Google...

 

[macmyworld]

You shouldn't have to do a request for every single thing. There should be a broad sweeping action that you only need to enact once.

Agreed. I have done this for one search hit and it works. Problem is I need to keep searching to find others to block. It is whack a mole.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Once something is posted on the internet, it is there forever somewhere on the internet .

Yes and no.

Some public stuff has been archived/replicated all over. Especially text, I think.

Other stuff... not so much. Check out some of the stuff on archive.org from 20 years ago. A lot of websites look quite broken because they only preserved some parts of the page, not all of it. Videos especially tend to just not work anymore... if a company didn't take care of migrating and replicating the videos between servers over the years, it's probably just gone. Even if it's still somewhere, it's still lost in the sense that nobody remembers where it is anymore.

 

[I7guy]

Better watch out Apple...Google may become the king of privacy.

 

[Aeronauts]

Looks like a useful tool.

 

[GimmeDatApple]

The removal reasons for personal information are too limited. I can search my name and the first result is a Wiza.co result for my name, company and job title. None of those are covered under personal information. And if you select 'other' it just takes you to Google's help page and down the old unhelpful rabbit hole.

At any rate, I already went to Wiza last week and requested it be removed, so the page results in a 404, but the Google result is still there.

 

[svish]

Good to see this feature. If it works as intended, it should be useful in certain scenarios. But don't think one can use this without signing in to Google.

 

[GimmeDatApple]

Good to see this feature. If it works as intended, it should be useful in certain scenarios. But don't think one can use this without signing in to Google.

How else are they gonna train their own LLM's if you aren't signed into YOUR Google account to request a removal of YOUR information, lol?

They're gonna use it as an identifier for their own purposes, including selling the correlated data points to secretive data aggregation firms like LexisNexis.

 

[Anglagard]

This is a trap people.

 

[andrewxgx]

so in order for my data to be removed from google i need to submit that data to google?

 

[nottorp]

Ohh... from search results. I thought they made it easier to remove yourself from Google's tracking

 

[MikeX]

meh

 

[jlwarlow]

Doesn't always work: