Google probably knows a lot about you — including when your private contact info is posted online.
It’s decided to let you know about it, if you want. In a new blog post, Google Vice President of Trust Danielle Romain writes:
“In the coming days, we’ll be rolling out a new dashboard that will let you know if web results with your contact information are showing up on [Google] Search. Then, you can quickly request the removal of those results from Google — right in the tool. We’ll also notify you when new results from the web containing your contact info pop up in Search, to give you added peace of mind.”
To check out this new tool, visit goo.gle/resultsaboutyou or click on your Google account photo in the Google app and select “Results about you.”
The sort of information you can be notified about and have removed includes your:
- Personal phone number
- Home address
- Email address
The site also says it has updated its policies on “non-consensual explicit imagery” to allow people to request the removal of images they may have consented to in the past, but no longer want to be available in Google search results.
Google cautions that it has no control over what appears in other search engines or on websites outside its control, so it’s still important to be vigilant about protecting your privacy. Learn what to look for in “Beware These 8 Signs of Identity Theft.”
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