San Francisco - Alphabet’s Google has quietly decided to scrub an entire
category of online content personal medical records from its search results, a
departure from its typically hands-off approach to policing the web.
Google lists the information it removes from its search
results on its policy page. On Thursday, the website added the line:
“confidential, personal medical records of private people.”
A Google spokeswoman confirmed the changes do not affect
search advertising but declined to comment further.
Read also: How insurers check up on you
Previously, Google had only removed webpages with
identifying financial information, such as credit card numbers, and with
content that violates copyright laws.
In 2015, Google bent its longstanding laissez-faire policy
by adding “revenge porn” to its removal list sexually explicit images uploaded
without consent.
Health records can also appear online without consent. In
December, a pathology lab in India mistakenly uploaded the records of over 43 000
patients containing sensitive information, including names and blood tests for
HIV.
The records were indexed in Google’s search results. Google
has also recently adjusted its tightly-held search ranking system to filter
misleading articles, or fake news, following criticism for hosting and
promoting the content in results.
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