How to remove yourself from Google

A decade ago, if someone didn't know anything about you other than your name, it would be pretty tough to find out any more.

That isn't the case now though. Now they can find a picture of you, potentially contact you and possibly even find out the area in which you live, which is quite a scary thought.

All is not lost though, as a European court ruling recently stated that Google now has to allow everyone to be forgotten online, so here is how you remove yourself from the powerful search engine.

How do you do it?

To remove yourself from Google, you will need to fill out the "request to be forgotten" form, which is available to anyone who has the time and desire to fill it in.

It requires your name, email and, if you are a legal representative for example, the relationship to the person you are looking to be removed.

It is important to note that you are requesting the removal of the search link to the data, rather than the data itself. Therefore, the data will still be there but it is unlikely anyone will be able to access it or know it is there.

You will then need to attach a form of ID to the form and send it off to Google, along with an explanation under each link as to why you are requesting the removal of it.

What happens after you have sent the form?

Google will evaluate each request and take action accordingly. According to the search giant: "When evaluating your request, we will look at whether the results include outdated information about you, as well as whether there's a public interest in the information."

The company will look at a number of factors including "financial scams, professional malpractice, criminal convictions, or public conduct of government officials."

The idea is that while the court ruling demands that everyone has the right to be forgotten, the links requested to be removed, should they be connecting a person to outdated or irrelevant data.

Therefore, criminals who have been convicted, which according to the BBC account for more than half of the requests sent to Google so far from the UK, might find it harder to have their requests granted.

The decision on whether the link should be removed or not will be made by a board that is overseen by national data protection agencies.

What happens after it is removed?

If your request is granted and the link connected to the information is removed, the changes should start to appear from the middle of June.

If someone then searches for something that has been removed, they will be greeted with a notice telling them that the removal has happened.

However, another point to remember is that the changes will only effect searches that happen in Europe.

Therefore, if someone searches for the information on Google.co.uk, the notice will come up but if they use Google.com, the results will still be revealed as the court hearing only relates to Europe.

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