Removing a Google page containing personal info

[nativenewyorker]

Note that this is not about how to report duplicate or copyrighted content to Google.

A friend of mine has their full contact information listed on a 3rd party website. Can a request be made to Google to remove this page from their search results based on privacy concerns?

[tedster]

You need the cooperation of the website that is publishing the information. Otherwise, anyone could knock out any page at all, including their competition. Google has a set of pages that discuss how to remove a url from their index:

[google.com...]

[nativenewyorker]

Thanks for the reply. I don't anticipate getting the website owner to comply will be difficult. However, the problem is getting magnified because the original page is getting scraped. I doubt that I could get in touch with the scraper, much less getting them to comply with a request for removal.

Other than contacting an attorney, are there any other suggestions?

[tedster]

Just move fast with the original webmaster - and then you could report the scrapers as spam, I suppose. But don't hope for quick results from that. Those scraped pages will probably just need to fade away over time. The problem here is there's no law being broken, no reason for Google to act simply based on privacy concerns, especially since the original information was given freely.

[edited by: tedster at 6:13 am (utc) on Nov. 24, 2007]

[nativenewyorker]

... since the original information was given freely

No, it wasn't. The website got this information elsewhere. My friend did not authorize it to be published anywhere.

Removing the original page with the website owner's help and then eliminating the scraped pages with a spam report sounds like a good plan. Thanks again.

[Quadrille]

It is not a Google issue; it really is between him and the original publisher. Removing from Google certainly won't stop scrapers or anyone else, for that matter.

If the publisher will not fully co-operate, their web host might, and a lawyer is a last resort, useless if the site is in another country.

Once the original has gone, there's virtually no chance of anyone finding it by chance, unless it's the only mention of your friend's name on the web. And one way around that is to ensure his name does appear in appropriate settings, so that the last dregs of the scraper's efforts are pushed down, out of sight (really not a problem; most don't last in the serps for long!).

The fact that you can inform the publisher about the scrapers should help you get favourable consideration!