Google is now purging private medical information from their search results. Bloomberg reported the change in Google’s removal policies, which adds a single line that reads:
Confidential, personal medical records of private people
Google did not give much information to Bloomberg about the change, only telling Bloomberg that they have “confirmed the changes do not affect search advertising.” Google declined to comment further on why they are making this change now.
Google lists very few examples of information they will remove content from their index, including:
- national identification numbers like US Social Security Number, Argentine Single Tax Identification Number, Brazil Cadastro de pessoas Físicas, Korea Resident Registration Number, China Resident Identity Card and more.
- bank account numbers.
- credit card numbers.
- images of signatures.
- nude or sexually explicit images that were uploaded or shared without your consent.
- confidential, personal medical records of private people.
Here is a screen shot of the removal page:
