6 ms·

It took me about 10 minutes to figure out that the link provided from the Google article really just leads to a workflow where i have to answer just the right q

It took me about 10 minutes to figure out that the link provided from the Google article really just leads to a workflow where i have to answer just the right questions to get to the actual form (https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905?rd=1#ts=1115655 https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905?rd=1...). And, then go through a second workflow, which puts you to... the first workflow. I have yet to reach a page where I can submit the URLs to be removed. I consider myself a neophyte technologist, since I just started a few decades ago with punch cards. I doubt most of the general public will figure out how to perform this process. I will give some grace, and come back in a month.

vineyardmike 5y ago
> I have yet to reach a page where I can submit the URLs to be removed. I consider myself a neophyte technologist, since I just started a few decades ago with punch cards. Internet literacy is probably unrelated to punch card literacy. I followed the link in the article (from kreb) to the google blog post announcing it: https://blog.google/products/search/new-options-for-removing-your-personally-identifiable-information-from-search/ https://blog.google/products/search/new-options-for-removing... That linked to this form: https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/9685456?hl=en https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/9685456?... First you tell them what the info it (eg address Pcture SSN etc). Assuming it matches what is in the announcements as a supported type, you get an inline form asking for your name/email, then a URL to the offending site(s), query terms on google search that yield the site(s), and then optionally screenshots of the content. After, you click a button saying you’re legally the person you’re saying you are. I don’t have data to submit in the form so i don’t know what happens next but it looks like the end. Are you sure you didn’t just submit a successful request and they redirected you to the landing page? Disclosure: I work at G but didn’t know this existed until I heard from Kreb.
- CharlesW 5y ago
  > Internet literacy is probably unrelated to punch card literacy. The parent commenter was using self-deprecating "humor", which I understand can be confusing for Lumon Industries innies. Your outie will appreciate it!
dannysullivan 5y ago
I work from Google Search. Hope this helps clarify... There's a lot of personal info we'll remove such as images of minors, involuntary fake pornography and other issues as outlined here: https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/3111061 https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/3111061 Our announcement this week was about an expansion of removing personally identifying information -- PII -- (such as email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, etc),. This is the page that explains in more detail and where people should begin the removal process: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/9673730 https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/9673730 The removal process will lead you to a troubleshooter. That's designed to help people more quickly get things resolved. For example, if a web page no longer exists on the web, or the site owner removed info, there are faster options you can use rather than going down the formal removal request option. But let's say you want something removed that has PII from a page that's live on the web and where you for whatever reason don't want to contact the site owner. The troubleshooter from that page I mentioned will lead you here: https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/9685456#ts=2889054%2C2889099 https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/9685456#... Say No to contacting the site owner, select Personal Info from the next option, pick the type of info and you'll get to the form (such as here if it involves contact info): https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/9685456#ts=2889054%2C2889099%2C9166584%2C9171202%2C2889115 https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/9685456#... That's where you enter the info. Appreciate the feedback that we should look at how to improve this more -- that said, the troubleshooter itself isn't new, and people have used it to successfully remove information beyond our recent expansion. But we'll see how to make it better.
- utucuro 4y ago
  Hi, a bit of late feedback: at this point, I would expect to be able to prevent at least the contact information pertaining to my own Google account from being searchable. My phone number is already known and verified to be mine by Google, it should be trivial for me (prominently displayed in account privacy settings) to delist this pre-verified information from search.
- WaitWaitWha 5y ago
  Very much appreciate the quick response and explanation! I found that a usability expert can come handy.
giancarlostoro 5y ago
It really shouldn't be this complicated. Google knows my name, email and phone number. Provide a dummy version that hides my stuff, and potentially deprioritizes results with similar first name last name combination from known sites that share people's personal information, hell why even show those sights at all... If a company wants to know about a prospective hire, they can and do pay for background checks.

vineyardmike 5y ago

> I have yet to reach a page where I can submit the URLs to be removed. I consider myself a neophyte technologist, since I just started a few decades ago with punch cards. Internet literacy is probably unrelated to punch card literacy. I followed the link in the article (from kreb) to the google blog post announcing it: https://blog.google/products/search/new-options-for-removing-your-personally-identifiable-information-from-search/ https://blog.google/products/search/new-options-for-removing... That linked to this form: https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/9685456?hl=en https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/9685456?... First you tell them what the info it (eg address Pcture SSN etc). Assuming it matches what is in the announcements as a supported type, you get an inline form asking for your name/email, then a URL to the offending site(s), query terms on google search that yield the site(s), and then optionally screenshots of the content. After, you click a button saying you’re legally the person you’re saying you are. I don’t have data to submit in the form so i don’t know what happens next but it looks like the end. Are you sure you didn’t just submit a successful request and they redirected you to the landing page? Disclosure: I work at G but didn’t know this existed until I heard from Kreb.

CharlesW 5y ago
> Internet literacy is probably unrelated to punch card literacy. The parent commenter was using self-deprecating "humor", which I understand can be confusing for Lumon Industries innies. Your outie will appreciate it!

dannysullivan 5y ago

I work from Google Search. Hope this helps clarify... There's a lot of personal info we'll remove such as images of minors, involuntary fake pornography and other issues as outlined here: https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/3111061 https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/3111061 Our announcement this week was about an expansion of removing personally identifying information -- PII -- (such as email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, etc),. This is the page that explains in more detail and where people should begin the removal process: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/9673730 https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/9673730 The removal process will lead you to a troubleshooter. That's designed to help people more quickly get things resolved. For example, if a web page no longer exists on the web, or the site owner removed info, there are faster options you can use rather than going down the formal removal request option. But let's say you want something removed that has PII from a page that's live on the web and where you for whatever reason don't want to contact the site owner. The troubleshooter from that page I mentioned will lead you here: https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/9685456#ts=2889054%2C2889099 https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/9685456#... Say No to contacting the site owner, select Personal Info from the next option, pick the type of info and you'll get to the form (such as here if it involves contact info): https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/9685456#ts=2889054%2C2889099%2C9166584%2C9171202%2C2889115 https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/9685456#... That's where you enter the info. Appreciate the feedback that we should look at how to improve this more -- that said, the troubleshooter itself isn't new, and people have used it to successfully remove information beyond our recent expansion. But we'll see how to make it better.

utucuro 4y ago
Hi, a bit of late feedback: at this point, I would expect to be able to prevent at least the contact information pertaining to my own Google account from being searchable. My phone number is already known and verified to be mine by Google, it should be trivial for me (prominently displayed in account privacy settings) to delist this pre-verified information from search.
WaitWaitWha 5y ago
Very much appreciate the quick response and explanation! I found that a usability expert can come handy.

giancarlostoro 5y ago

It really shouldn't be this complicated. Google knows my name, email and phone number. Provide a dummy version that hides my stuff, and potentially deprioritizes results with similar first name last name combination from known sites that share people's personal information, hell why even show those sights at all... If a company wants to know about a prospective hire, they can and do pay for background checks.