Have you found your personal info on a website that you don’t want shared? Google is now taking requests to remove those webpages from its search results.
In an update to its search terms first reported by Reuters, Google said it has created a form that users can submit to suppress pages that show things like phone numbers, home addresses, login credentials, personal images, or images of identifying documents.
“Google may remove personally identifiable information (PII) that has potential to create significant risks of identity theft, financial fraud, harmful direct contact, or other specific harms,” the company said. “This includes doxxing, which is when your contact info is shared in a malicious way.”
Google said it won’t automatically remove the results, and that there must also be an explicit or implicit threat of abuse for the request to be considered.
A Google representative told Reuters its research has found an increasing amount of personally identifiable information online. It said it now expects to accept a higher percentage of takedown requests, though it said it would not remove information that appears as part of the public record on governmental or official sites.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
