Use These New Google Privacy Tools to Protect Your Data
The Internet is anything but privacy – a quick Google search for your name will confirm this. But just because our information is in the public domain doesn’t mean we have to give up all notions of privacy. So as of today, Google is rolling out three new privacy tools to help you protect your personal information in Search.
About You Results panel
When people google your name, information about your life and work may come up. Such is the nature of the Internet. However, if your contact information appears in a search, it raises a serious privacy concern. You don’t have to add new spam texts and emails to the ever-growing pile that you’re already dealing with.
Google’s new “Results About You” panel aims to alleviate this problem. The control panel will notify you each time it finds your contact information appearing in a Google search and offer you options to remove this data from Google. You can check the dashboard periodically to see if any new data has been found, but Google will also alert you.
You’ll see a new toolbar in the Google app by tapping your Google account photo and then Results about you. You can also access the tool from the official Google About You results page .
Family SafeSearch rolls out globally
By default, Google doesn’t want you to see explicit images. Unless you change your settings, or your administrator keeps the default settings, all content deemed “adult” (nudity, images of sexual intercourse, or sexually explicit content), as well as any content showing violence or gore, will now be blurred as part of the new SafeSearch . This change will take effect worldwide starting this month.
You can change this setting at any time in your personal Google account. On your computer , go to the SafeSearch settings page . In the Google app, go to your profile picture or initials, then choose Settings > Safe Search . From here, choose Filter, Blur, or Off. The filter completely blocks these images and will be used by default if Google thinks you’re under 18.
In addition, you can quickly access parental controls simply by searching. For example, start a new Google search and type “Google parental controls” or “Google family link”.
Google’s New Personal Explicit Image Policy
Google has had policies in the past to help users remove explicit images without consent from Search (as they should). Now the policy is being expanded: you can now remove any private explicit images you’ve uploaded in the past that you no longer want to show in search. This applies even if you no longer post the image yourself: if you uploaded a photo and then deleted it, but someone else posted the photo on their site, you can request that it be removed from search. One caveat: This policy does not apply to content that you “currently commercialize”.
The image must meet the following requirements :
- Images show you (or the person you represent) naked, in sexual intercourse, or in an intimate state.
- You (or the person you represent) did not consent to the image or action and it was posted OR the image was posted online without your consent.
- You are not currently being paid for this content online or anywhere else.
You can start the removal process from this link .