Google Tool Fights Cyber Snooping with Personal Data Removal
Google's free privacy tool, Results about you, can help individuals remove personal information from search results. This feature is particularly useful for those who want to limit their online presence and protect themselves against cyber snooping.
People-search websites such as TruePeopleSearch, FamilyTreeNow, USPhoneBook, and That'sThem collect information from public records, social media profiles, and other data brokers. They may list a person's name, age, current and former addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, relatives, and associates.
The Federal Trade Commission considers people-search sites to be a type of data broker. Google's tool can monitor search results for personal details such as home address, phone number, email address, Social Security number, passport number, and driver's license number.
When using Results about you, individuals can sign in to their Google account, open Google or the Google app, tap their profile picture, and choose Results about you. They can then enter their name and personal details they want Google to look for.