There is a little-known Google feature that can tell you if your home address and details are being sold online - and it’s completely free to check.
In an age where people are more aware of the importance of cybersecurity than ever before, you can now find out if your personal information, such as your home address is being sold.
This is because there is now a tool from Google that enables you to remove this kind of information about yourself from the search results.
However, a lot of people are still not in the know about this important safety feature.
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So, how does it work? The privacy tool works by helping you to find and request the removal of search results which contain your personal details.
This includes things like your phone number, email or even home address.
It’s important to note that this doesn’t wipe them from the internet itself, but will remove them from appearing in Google’s search results.
Many people have taken to social media to react to finding out about the feature, with one user writing on Reddit: “Google has a free tool that will remove your personal info from searches. After seeing that horrifying post in r/texts yesterday (IYKYK) I remembered there is a great feature Google has called "Results about you" that you can access with an active Google account. This will search for your full name, address, phone number, and email and if results are found, share them with you so you can request to remove them. All of my requests have been approved within a day or two. Definitely recommend people to look into this, as it's honestly horrifying how easily it is to find out people's personal information.”
Many people replied, with one saying: “Used this to remove the results of the public information sites. You can request your information be removed from those sites as well.”
Another commented: “I never knew about this so thank you. I will be using this tool from now on.”
A third user wrote: “It actually works. I've got a couple emails saying thing's have been removed. I searched afterwards, nothing.”
And a fourth added: “Thank you SO much for this info. Have been doing it one by one, on my own, and it’s wretched.”
While the US isn’t the only country that the feature works in, it’s not yet available worldwide yet.
Instead, it’s currently limited to specific countries and regions while Google gradually expands it.