I found out about a month ago that one of these sites had an arrest record for someone with my same first and last name. As luck would have it he also is the same race and approximate age as I am. We don't really look alike but there are plenty of people who might google me based on a resume or something without knowing what I look like and confuse me with him.
The site was high on the first page of results for my name and it was extremely frustrating. I'm about to graduate and look for a job and it was embarrassing to think that that's what potential employers would first see. And yet there was nothing I could do about it -- heck, the person wasn't even me.
I'm all for freedom of information and those sites have a perfect right to exist. However, I'm glad that Google also has recognized that their business model doesn't serve the majority of its customers and pushed down the results. After reading the article I checked the results for my name and verified that the offending site disappeared from the first two pages. It may seem like a small thing but I honestly feel more comfortable talking to recruiters now than previously.
The site was high on the first page of results for my name and it was extremely frustrating. I'm about to graduate and look for a job and it was embarrassing to think that that's what potential employers would first see. And yet there was nothing I could do about it -- heck, the person wasn't even me.
I'm all for freedom of information and those sites have a perfect right to exist. However, I'm glad that Google also has recognized that their business model doesn't serve the majority of its customers and pushed down the results. After reading the article I checked the results for my name and verified that the offending site disappeared from the first two pages. It may seem like a small thing but I honestly feel more comfortable talking to recruiters now than previously.