5 ms·

Shouldn’t there be one place I can ask for them to remove all references to me containing my phone number or address? It seems silly to have to do this hundre

Shouldn’t there be one place I can ask for them to remove all references to me containing my phone number or address? It seems silly to have to do this hundreds of times even if it does work.

23B1 4y ago
This is a psyop to make regulators and low-information users think it'll achieve anything.
- bigmattystyles 4y ago
  Just like credit reports, this also inverts the responsibility - you are responsible to get your information delisted as opposed to giving your explicit OK for it to be listed or appear in a search engine. It never ceases to amaze me, how if a bank lends to someone who pretends to be me, why is that my problem and why should my good name and reputation be soiled. Putting that onus on the defrauded consumer is really overlooking the fact that the bank or lender didn't do enough due diligence.
ghaff 4y ago
Under some circumstances, e.g. buying a house, your address is probably a matter of public record--at least in the US. Certainly legal judgements and so forth are. Well beyond Google, deep web sites also store a ton of information on you. At least these are mostly not free these days but for $50 or so and a modicum of information about you, especially if have an unusual name, I can probably dig up a ton of information about age, where you've lived, and so forth.
- jrochkind1 4y ago
  What happens if you use this new Google tool on a, say, a legal judgement or property record or so forth? Do you think it refuses to remove it from search results if the software thinks it's a matter of public record? I doubt it, but that is an interesting point... can I remove legal judgements and so forth from google search results this way already?
  - jefftk 4y ago
    I would expect it to suppress the result for this particular search term, but not from ever showing up in the results?
    - jrochkind1 4y ago
      Is that how the tool announced in OP works in general? I had assumed it removed it from all Google search results; going back and looking at the OP... I'm not really sure. (Google not being transparent about what they're doing? Shocking!)
      - jefftk 4y ago
        Hmm, I think I was wrong. The post says "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" which does make it sound like they would be removing the page from all search results?
- googlryas 4y ago
  If something is part of a public record, it doesn't mean the government needs to let Google index it. In fact, it doesn't even need to be on the internet - they could require you to physically go to city hall to request the record and it would still be a public record. If you know my very unique last name, and the county I live in, my county will just tell you exactly where I live, and other things like how much I paid for my house. It doesn't need to be that way.

Shouldn’t there be one place I can ask for them to remove all references to me containing my phone number or address? It seems silly to have to do this hundreds of times even if it does work.

23B1 4y ago

This is a psyop to make regulators and low-information users think it'll achieve anything.

bigmattystyles 4y ago
Just like credit reports, this also inverts the responsibility - you are responsible to get your information delisted as opposed to giving your explicit OK for it to be listed or appear in a search engine. It never ceases to amaze me, how if a bank lends to someone who pretends to be me, why is that my problem and why should my good name and reputation be soiled. Putting that onus on the defrauded consumer is really overlooking the fact that the bank or lender didn't do enough due diligence.

ghaff 4y ago

Under some circumstances, e.g. buying a house, your address is probably a matter of public record--at least in the US. Certainly legal judgements and so forth are. Well beyond Google, deep web sites also store a ton of information on you. At least these are mostly not free these days but for $50 or so and a modicum of information about you, especially if have an unusual name, I can probably dig up a ton of information about age, where you've lived, and so forth.

jrochkind1 4y ago
What happens if you use this new Google tool on a, say, a legal judgement or property record or so forth? Do you think it refuses to remove it from search results if the software thinks it's a matter of public record? I doubt it, but that is an interesting point... can I remove legal judgements and so forth from google search results this way already?
- jefftk 4y ago
  I would expect it to suppress the result for this particular search term, but not from ever showing up in the results?
  - jrochkind1 4y ago
    Is that how the tool announced in OP works in general? I had assumed it removed it from all Google search results; going back and looking at the OP... I'm not really sure. (Google not being transparent about what they're doing? Shocking!)
    - jefftk 4y ago
      Hmm, I think I was wrong. The post says "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" which does make it sound like they would be removing the page from all search results?
googlryas 4y ago
If something is part of a public record, it doesn't mean the government needs to let Google index it. In fact, it doesn't even need to be on the internet - they could require you to physically go to city hall to request the record and it would still be a public record. If you know my very unique last name, and the county I live in, my county will just tell you exactly where I live, and other things like how much I paid for my house. It doesn't need to be that way.