Phone numbers, email addresses, and email IDs are already included in the list of personal information that Google considers to be removed.
Google, the world’s most popular search engine, now takes privacy a little more seriously with an expanded list of details about personal information that can be removed when requested by search results, such as phone numbers and addresses.
Users have long been able to tag confidential personal information that appears in Google search results, such as government ID, bank account and credit card information, and even information published in a docking campaign.
But now the removal request service has been expanded to include personal contact information, such as physical addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, and login credentials.
This move marks a change in Google’s privacy policy, which has so far been weaker with regard to contact information under the pretext of public easy access to information.
Contact information that is considered to be in the public interest, such as the phone number of an organization or politician, will continue to appear in search results.
In addition, Google has set a higher bar for those who want information removed as part of a docking campaign. Applicants must be able to demonstrate that not only is their contact information made public, but there is also a risk of danger to those concerned.
“Research has told us that there is more personal information that users consider sensitive,” Michelle Chang, head of global search policy at Google, told Reuters in an exclusive interview. “They are increasingly reluctant to tolerate this content online.”
This is due to tens of thousands of removal requests received from Google in the last year, of which Chang said only about 13 percent were accepted – with the approval rate expected to increase with the latest expansion.
However, any information removed by Google may be accessed by other search engines.
Google has doubled its privacy measures recently. Last year, the parent company Alphabet announced a series of extensive changes to make Search, YouTube and other applications safer for children, including removing photos in search results for people under 18 on demand.
Earlier this week, Google also launched a new data security section for all apps in its Play Store, such as Apple’s labels, requiring developers to specify how user information will be used before each app is downloaded. This followed Google’s changes in February to limit Android ad tracking.
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