IT Trends | News

Google Looks To Protect Online Reputations

• By David Nagel
• 06/15/11

Google has launched a free suite of tools designed to help individuals protect their online reputations by identifying and dealing with personal information posted about them.

Dubbed "Me on the Web," the service includes tools for notifying users when information--including images--is posted about them. It also offers tools for dealing with information that's been posted inappropriately, such as disparaging, embarrassing, or confidential information, about individuals.

In a blog post today, Google project manager Andreas Tuerk wrote, "... Your online identity is determined not only by what you post, but also by what others post about you--whether a mention in a blog post, a photo tag or a reply to a public status update. When someone searches for your name on a search engine like Google, the results that appear are a combination of information you've posted and information published by others. Today we've released a new tool to help make it easier to monitor your identity on the Web and to provide easy access to resources describing ways to control what information is on the Web."

Google's Me on the Web service offers users tools for managing personal information posted about them.

Those tools are accessible within the Google Dashboard section of users' Google account settings. They include:

• Tools for locating information about yourself and setting up notifications for when personal information is posted;
• Tools for removing pages from Google's search results; and
• Tools and tips for keeping information out of Google.

The "Me on the Web" service is live now. Additional details can be found on the Google Public Policy blog.