Google has made a pretty good blogpost about how to manage on-line identities and some integrity issues. The intention is good but sadly Google never discuss anything about when something goes wrong and text & images are published that shouldn´t be.
If you are lucky you can convince the website owner to delete that information. But then you must be aware that the same information still resides in Google caches for up to six months. I have seen a few scary examples:
- member directories never supposed to be public
- invalid information
- copyrighted information
To remove Google cache information quicker than the ordinary indexing cycle you either have to own your website or convince the owner to fill in the information needed and send it to Google. It is easy to do with help of Google Webmastertools. When ready it takes not more than 24 hours before the content is removed. But if you for example want an indexed Tweet to be removed you can forget it. Twitter do never do such a thing since they probably.
- are to big to handle it
- do not take integrity issues seriously
Well some people think "what is on Internet is supposed to be free". People have to be careful with what they publish. I do not agree completely since:
- some people write not so very nice things about other people. And if I do not own the source I cannot remove neither the original text nor the Google cache content. Many website owners like huge blog sites for example have no idea how to remove content from caches.
- if you write something, publish it and then find out something was badly written or perhaps even wrong. you edit your text but old copy is still in Google's Caches for months. Unless you own the root of the website you cannot remove the cached content.
- if fake information is published or copyrighted material it still resides in caches after removal form original source.
I also think every website owner, every bloghotel and places like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace should create simple routines for people to use when they want to remove information both regarding things they have written themselves and others.
I wonder where I did sign that Google and other search engines may use my pictures & texts in their caches after I have removed my initial source? Copyrights law is valid on Internet too but obviously not when it comes to cached content.Anyhow - read the blogpost on top of page. It is a good start when you should make a Internet presence strategy. Set up a Google Alert on your name so you can follow what people write about you. My experience is that it doesn´t find all matches on my name or alias. I have seen information that I should have been notified about but I haven´t. But try it since it is a good start. That is if you have an unique name.
My own strategy - based on experiences - is as follows:
- I do not write anything of importance without having control of the Google caches. Blogger is excellent and provide a method to remove cached content. Removal from Google Index & caches
- I set up social networks so nothing is searchable if possible and therefore not cached
- I cannot control what is cached at at Twitter so I am pretty careful with what I write. I follow up every evening and remove things not suitable to be there in the long run (like temporarily "eruptions")
- I never reuse the same alias at more than one service
- I never reuse the same mailadress when I register at service. Sometimes mail addresses have been exposed at Internet services by mistake for periods. If you use your ordinary mail address your alias is easily cracked (happened at MySpace for example once).
Very often you can search for people by their mail address. This means aliases may be cracked. - I never allow a service to use my mail address book for invitations to friends. A friend at an Internet forum revealed her true identity by sending me such an invitation. At the new forum she appeared under her true name.
- I try to separate all private writing from my business. I use different user names and different accounts. One part of me is public and the other one I try to hide from everyone except for the inner circle.
- My kids do not appear under their true names. I always avoid all possibilities to be connected with them
- I never publish the same information under different identities. It is so easy to cross read information.
http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2011/06/me-myself-and-i-helping-to-manage-your.html
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