In today's world, where data privacy is becoming increasingly important, privacy laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have been introduced to protect personal information.
One of the basic rights that GDPR grants us is the "right to be forgotten," which means that individuals have the right to ask companies to delete their personal information. This right is particularly relevant in the online world, where people's personal information can easily be accessed and used by various service providers.
Google is the world's most popular search engine, with almost 90% of the market share. Therefore, if you want to look for information about someone, you are likely to use Google to do so.
Google has been able to remove certain sensitive data, such as bank accounts or credit card numbers, from search results for some time. However, now it is expanding the types of data that people can request to be removed from search results. Under this new policy, Google will allow removal requests to include additional personal information such as phone numbers, email addresses, and physical addresses.
This move comes just months after the company released a new policy that allows people under the age of 18 to request the removal of their photos from search results.
It's important to note that upon receiving a request, Google will check that the removal of the information will not restrict the availability of other information which is widely used such as news.
The company will also examine whether the content appears as part of a public record on government websites or official sources. If this is the case, Google may refuse the request.
While the removal of a search result by Google from its index will not remove the content from the site where the actual information is located, a link detached from Google's search results will make the content much less exposed. This means that people's personal information will be less likely to be accessed and used by various service providers, thereby helping to protect their privacy.
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