9/01/2010

Google yourself - Self-googling as a tool for privacy protection

Due to the growth of recent social networking web application such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. its not un-common to unknowingly disclose personal details into the public domain. The use of seach engines such as Google is a popular way to find out if you have increased the potential vulnerability of identity theft. 


Whilst "self‐googling, can be the theory of narcissism,"2 its also a good way to investigate personal, and related information about oneself. The consequences of having an unwanted Internet presence can be quite serious, not only from an information security perspective, but also from a social one. Once you have identified the appropriate information you need to remove them, this is the hard part. Google Webmaster tools provide several guidelines for this.


Digital presence create cyber footprint which are not always so easy to get rid off, and can follow the unsuspecting cyber citizen home!!! So perhaps Googling yourself every once in a while is a healthy thing and no so bad after all. 


References:

  1. http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/removals
  2. http://www.citeulike.org/user/thiemehennis/article/6895338
  3. http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/take_action/google_yourself.html
  4. http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1893965,00.html
  5. http://www.wikihow.com/Ungoogle-Yourself

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