Google offers a free privacy feature called “Results About You” that allows people to request the removal of search results containing sensitive personal information, helping reduce exposure to data collected and resold by online data brokers.
Data brokers often compile and sell details such as names, home addresses and phone numbers to a wide range of buyers, including telemarketers and fraudsters. These listings can appear in search engine results, making personal information easily accessible.
How The Tool Works
Google’s Results About You feature monitors search results for personal data such as a user’s name, email address, phone number or home address. Once the tool is configured, Google notifies users when it detects such information online.
Users can review the flagged pages and submit requests to remove those results directly from Google Search. In the United States, the tool can also detect and flag highly sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, passport numbers and driver’s licence details.
The automated monitoring requires a Google account, though users can still manually request removal of sensitive results without one.
Privacy Experts Support The Feature
Thorin Klosowski of the Electronic Frontier Foundation described the tool as one of the most accessible privacy protections currently available.
“In terms of stuff that’s right there, no effort, it’s probably number one,” Klosowski said, noting that easy access to personal data can create risks ranging from harassment to identity theft.
Limits Of Search Result Removal
While the tool can remove links from Google Search results, it does not erase the information from the original websites where it is published. That means the content may still exist online but becomes harder to find.
Klosowski said this still provides meaningful protection by reducing visibility of the most easily accessible information.
“If very dedicated people want to find you, they will,” he said. “But Google is so ubiquitous and it is so easy to use, it’s pretty helpful to get rid of the worst, most obvious stuff.”
Users must also enter the personal details they want monitored into Google’s system, which may raise privacy concerns for some individuals.
Google said the data submitted to the service is used only for the removal process and protected through encryption and security safeguards.
Additional Steps For Data Removal
People who want to remove personal information entirely from the internet may need to contact data brokers directly and request deletion of their data. Some paid services also perform these requests on behalf of users.
Residents of California can use a government-run service called the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, which sends removal requests to thousands of data brokers simultaneously.
According to Google, more than 10 million people have used Results About You since its launch in 2022, though that represents a small portion of the roughly 1.8 billion Google accounts worldwide.
Featured image credits: Pexels
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