possible to contact google to remove link

lola_run

I made a posting on a forum a few months ago and some personal information shows up in google. I want to get this reference removed from the search. How do I go about this?

Steffano2002

Wouldn't it be easier to simply remove/modify the post on the forum itself?

lola_run

Steffano2002 wrote:

Wouldn't it be easier to simply remove/modify the post on the forum itself?

Have done that. The post still shows up in the 'cache' in google.

Rebeller

lola_run wrote:

I made a posting on a forum a few months ago and some personal information shows up in google. I want to get this reference removed from the search. How do I go about this?

Unfortunately, probably not. Google are not well-known for their willingness to deal with privacy concerns. Check out this site for further info.

The danger is that even if you delete the forum posting it could technically continue to exist thanks to google's ginormous cache (this is like a backup of the entire internet and works like this:

when you enter a search term in google and then click on a link in the results presented by google, in many cases you are not going direct to the webpage itself but to a "copy" of the site stored in google's "cache". This is used to speed things up and save google's servers having to compile the same search results for every identical search entered.

Unfortunately, what this means is that a webpage can continue to exist in perpetuity long after the live site itself has been removed or deleted.

I know this doesn't exactly help your problem but I would still recommend (as the poster above me has) having the forum posting itself removed.

EDIT: I see you're already aware of google's cache:cool:

lola_run

Rebeller wrote:

Unfortunately, probably not. Google are not well-known for their willingness to deal with privacy concerns. Check out this site for further info.

The danger is that even if you delete the forum posting it could technically continue to exist thanks to google's ginormous cache (this is like a backup of the entire internet and works like this:

when you enter a search term in google and then click on a link in the results presented by google, in many cases you are not going direct to the webpage itself but to a "copy" of the site stored in google's "cache". This is used to speed things up and save google's servers having to compile the same search results for every identical search entered.

Unfortunately, what this means is that a webpage can continue to exist in perpetuity long after the live site itself has been removed or deleted.

I know this doesn't exactly help your problem but I would still recommend (as the poster above me has) having the forum posting itself removed.

EDIT: I see you're already aware of google's cache:cool:

I have got it removed from the forum itself!!

Capt'n Midnight

could continuous searchs on it (page/site) force the cache to update early ?

Hobbes

Trying to remove something from the net is trying to remove pee from a swimming pool.

tbh, any number of places could of cached your post. broadtracker for example, waybackmachine, spam sites, etc.

Capt'n Midnight

And of course the waybackmachine at http://www.archive.org/index.php

More on the FAQ http://www.archive.org/about/faqs.php#The_Wayback_Machine

Right now there is a 6-12 month lag between the date a site is crawled and the date it appears in the Wayback Machine.

generalmiaow

My understanding of the google cache is that its content only shows up in the sample text you get when you search (on the results page) showing the term in context, and also of course when you visit google's cache itself (a habit of mine - I will very often visit the cache rather than the site itself without thinking, since it highlights terms and in case the site itself is down or slow). I don't accept Rebeller's suggestion that when you click on the usual link on a google results page that some of what you then see is cached at google, since if you look at the HTML it's a plain old HREF, and your browser is not pulling anything from google.

However the cache is still there, as well as the indexed content. Remember that the cache does update itself though. You might be able to game this by creating links to the page (once you've removed your personal info) or using googles "add url" feature to try and get google to crawl it more. Eventually the cache will still be there, but people will be unlikely to come across it unless determined. There is the matter of other archival bots like the wayback machine but google does not index them, and they are more difficult to search.

Interestingly, I've noticed that google indexes and caches profiles on social networks such as bebo but does not allow the public to access this cache. What's even stranger is that google is able to index private profiles that require authentication to see, even in some cases authentication from direct friends...

StickyMcGinty

surely if you posted on a forum you wouldnt have used your real name anyway? your mates are hardly gonna find it

Capt'n Midnight

VinnyL wrote:

surely if you posted on a forum you wouldnt have used your real name anyway? your mates are hardly gonna find it

http://bash.org/?21516 NSFW

[Privmsg] <turno> You're not gonna post it are you ? Please don't .. I'm begging you.
[Privmsg] <Seeker> I'm not gonna post it:) and even if I did she'd never know that your nick turno was her son Michael Savu .
[Privmsg] <turno> *phew* spose you have a point

aidan_walsh

surely if you posted on a forum you wouldnt have used your real name anyway?

_O/ Hello!

Steffano2002

aidan_walsh wrote:

_O/ Hello!

Hello Aidan Walsh! Where do you live and what is your credit card number?

Steffano2002

aidan_walsh
I think I'm a banana tree

Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Killarney, Kerry
Posts: 7,112

I guess I only need your CC number now...

StickyMcGinty

aidan_walsh wrote:

_O/ Hello!

ha ha fair enough, but i doubt your gonna go posting a thread about "How to get viagra" now are ye... well not with that nick anyway!

Thomas_S_Hunterson

lola_run wrote:

I have got it removed from the forum itself!!

Look if you put something on the internet, even if just for a very short time, chances are it's going to end up in countless other places, especilly if it's in any way interesting (anyone rememberthe AOL search database?), and your chances of having that info destroyed is about zero. You've really just got to be very careful about what you stick up.

aidan_walsh

Steffano2002 wrote:

aidan_walsh
I think I'm a banana tree

Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Killarney, Kerry
Posts: 7,112

I guess I only need your CC number now...

And my mothers maiden name

cornbb

Had a similar problem a while ago. I had a moderator remove the post for me, it disappeared from the google cache before too long. Just wait it out for a bit.

zAbbo

create a new post on the thread, might trigger a cache update

lola_run

VinnyL wrote:

surely if you posted on a forum you wouldnt have used your real name anyway? your mates are hardly gonna find it

No, of course not.