Google to notify users if their personal information appears in Search

Google on Thursday said that starting early next year, it will notify users if their personal information like phone number, email and home address appear in Search results.

The 'Results about you' tool will make it easier to make removal requests of personal information from Google Search, said the company.

"Early next year, you'll also be able to opt into alerts if new results appear with personally identifying information, so you can quickly request their removal from Google Search," said the tech giant.

Apart from the new tool, the removal requests can also be done globally by anyone using Google's form-based system.

The feature has already started appearing for some Search users.

With this new tool, if you find your personal information like home address, email address, phone number or any other information on Google Search, just click on the three-dot overflow menu that appears in the top-right corner of each result.

Currently, to remove any personal identifiable information (PII), you need to go to a Google Support page and fill out a form containing the URL you wanted to be removed from the search results.

Removing contact information from Google Search doesn't remove it from the web, "which is why you may wish to contact the hosting site directly, if you're comfortable doing so".

Earlier this year, Google updated its policies around removing personally identifying information.

--IANS

na/