Mumbai, Apr 28 Google is updating its policies, adding new options for removing users’ personally-identifiable information from Search.
It is expanding the types of personally identifiable information that a user can request to remove from Search, adding options such as phone number, email address, or physical address.
“For many years, people have been able to request the removal of certain sensitive, personally identifiable information from Search — for example, in cases of doxxing, or information like bank account or credit card numbers that could be used for financial fraud,” Google explained in a blog post.
“Under this new policy expansion, people can now request removals of additional types of information when they find it in Search results, including personal contact information like a phone number, email address, or physical address,” it added.
The policy will also allow for the removal of additional information that may pose a risk for identity theft, such as confidential log-in credentials, when it appears in Search results.
The policy change comes after feedback from users as the availability of personal contact information online can at times be used in harmful ways, including for unwanted direct contact or even physical harm.
As per a support page, for the tech giant to consider the content for removal, it must meet both of these requirements- the contact information is present and there’s the presence of either explicit or implicit threats, or explicit or implicit calls to action for others to harm or harass.
Types of personal information
Overall, Google will consider the following types of information for removal:
-Confidential government identification (ID) numbers
- Bank account numbers
- Credit card numbers
- Images of handwritten signatures
- Images of ID documents
- Highly personal, restricted, and official records, like medical records
- Personal contact info (physical addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses)
- Confidential login credentials
The tech giant may remove the provided URL(s) for all queries or remove the URL(s) for only queries including a user’s name, or in some circumstances, deny a user’s request.
“When we receive removal requests, we will evaluate all content on the web page to ensure that we’re not limiting the availability of other information that is broadly useful, for instance in news articles. We’ll also evaluate if the content appears as part of the public record on the sites of government or official sources. In such cases, we won’t make removals,” it explained.
“It’s important to remember that removing content from Google Search won’t remove it from the internet, which is why you may wish to contact the hosting site directly, if you’re comfortable doing so,” it further noted.