News around the web: Un-Google Yourself

User Comments: 9

1. December 1, 2009 11:50 AM
   Heretic said:

   @Ungoogle yourself

   Sucks that Google won't remove customer's private content themselves. All the money, power, and influence in the world and they can't be arsed about customer care. It may be somewhat impractical to have to go around deleting info for millions of people, but ID theft is so prevalent that action has to be taken somewhere. Why not have Google help?

   Reply
2. December 1, 2009 12:56 PM
   Serag said:

   @Heretic

   Google uses most of the information it stores..in many ways..like recommended videos for you on Youtube

   Reply
3. December 1, 2009 1:37 PM
   Heretic said:

   @ Serag

   I'm not talking about that sort of content. I'm talking about personal identification information that people can google up and search for. I know they use a lot of the information they store. That's why they have a search engine in the first place; because they stored information. But, for arguments sake, if I want them to make my social security number less available, I have to take drastic steps to have that risk reduced. I want Google to be able to help me either protect or remove risky personal information that I might have on the internet.

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4. December 1, 2009 7:26 PM
   Vicenarian said:

   I think the main thing people need is education on keeping their identities private online. Most teenagers out there today have no idea that their photos posted to flickr can be googled easily. And worse still, most people so willingly give out, and freely post online, their private information such as phone number, date of birth, etc. etc.

   One particularly dangerous trend I have noticed is Facebook "quizzes". Not only the type that you use an app for, but the ones where people post stuff like this:

   --------------------------------------------------------

   RANDOM QUIZZZ?!?!?!

   What is your favorite food?

   Yogurt!

   What is the name of your pet?

   Fluffy!

   What high-school did you go to?

   SuperHero High

   Who is your favorite author?

   SHAKESPEARE!!

   What is your social insurance number? (just kidding)

   ------------------------------------------------------------
   ------

   Now, most of these questions might seem trivial and innocent, except when you consider that,

   LOTS OF WEBSITES USE THESE QUESTIONS TO RESET/RETRIEVE MISSING PASSWORDS!!!

   I know the problem isn't as bad as it used to be...many websites have put this into consideration by requiring an alternate email, etc. but this information can still so easily be used to cause trouble for a person.

   Reply
5. December 1, 2009 10:25 PM
   vangrat said:

   @ungoogle

   I personally go through and google myself at least 3-4 times a year and try my best to delete anything that might be detrimental to my own personal identity. It is also why I try to keep a seperate online screen name that I do not connect back to my real name.

   Reply
6. December 2, 2009 4:23 AM
   freedomthinker said:

   Pirate bay FTW !

   Reply
7. December 2, 2009 7:40 AM
   swilllx2p said:

   @ungoogle

   I have actually never googled myself...I'm going to have to do it and see what comes up. I honestly don't care if they use info to suggest sites to me that are relevant to what i've visited in the past and such. If i do google myself and see a ton of info maybe i'll change my mind..but at the moment I just don't care.

   Reply
8. December 2, 2009 8:39 AM
   Serag said:

   @ Heretic

   Got your point now..sorry I didn't get it earlier and yea..you got a point there o.o

   Reply
9. December 2, 2009 9:07 AM
   Chazz said:

   I am happily un-googlable( wow...new word?)

   Reply

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