Wisconsin woman's lesson: Why you should Google your name

BANGALORE, INDIA: A Wisconsin woman was in for a rude shock when she found that Googling her name led people to advertisements for drugs to treat sexual dysfunction. Her trauma didn't end there. She sued Google, but a Chicago court said on Wednesday that Google didn't violate the Wisconsin privacy laws.

According to Reuters, Beverly Stayart claimed that a search for "bev stayart" on the world's largest search engine generates a recommended search for "bev stayart levitra," which can direct users to websites that offer treatments for male erectile dysfunction.

That brings to the fundamental question of what your name could be associated with on Google. Of late, online reputation can make or mar one's life. Recruiters, friends and spouses alike do online checks on names. Friends' list, Facebook posts, Tweets, blogs, and even shares reveal one's personality, which often negates the need for one-on-one talks.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt once said: "If I look at enough of your messaging and your location, and use artificial intelligence, we can predict where you are going to go. Show us 14 photos of yourself and we can identify who you are. You think you don't have 14 photos of yourself on the internet? You've got Facebook photos!"

So, if you were to face a situation like Beverly Stayart, what would you do?   Here is a solution. but be warned it may not be successful completely. You can use Google's removal  request tool asking Google to remove search results or cached content.  

But the sites in Google's search results are controlled by those sites' webmasters, not by Google. Google's index reflects the content on the web. Removing a page from our search results doesn't remove it from the web, and people will still be able to see that page by going to it directly or via another search engine.

Another option is to contact whoever controls that content. Most often, this means that you need to contact the webmaster of the page and ask them to take down the content in question. Even if you found the objectionable content using Google, Google doesn't have control over the sites listed in search results.

Click here to know how to approach webmaster.

Call it self search or ego Googling, it is advisable that you regularly Google your name and check the search results.