There just doesn’t seem to be any way, anywhere, to get a hold of a human being. And I have a valid reason for asking. Here’s what’s up:
My wife is a probation officer. She deals with criminals each and every day. Felons. Gang members. Generally unpleasant people. Because of this, our address is published nowhere. We even filled out the special forms to have our house removed from the online database for the Central Appraisal District, so no one can search for us. This is all pretty common.
Except that my wife discovered the other day that, when she types her name into Google and clicks “Maps”, a map to our house pops up.
This isn’t “wahhh, someone copied that picture of a mouse I drew!”, this is a legitimate safety issue. There has to be a way to contact a human being and tell them that this needs to be fixed. But, after hours of searching, I find myself going in circles, unable to find a single support email address or phone number. Has anyone ever been able to contact Google before? Hell, even just pointing a Google person to this thread might work.
Well, I just googled my name, and luckily, it brings the user to a place in Spain. But there was an option in the box with my name and Spanish address with a link saying Suggest an Edit. Once I signed in, I had an option to say that the place is permanently closed, doesn’t exist, is spam, private, moved elsewhere, or duplicate.
IME its pretty close to impossible for someone who isn’t a paying customer of one of their products to get in touch with Google.
But an institution would probably have more luck than an individual. Has your wife asked her Department to help? I imagine a letter sent from a PD to Googles legal dept. would be the fastest way to get a response.
I’d say that’s a big Catch-22 right there… if you’re signed up with Google, they’ve got your information and (hidden deep in the EULA) you gave permission for them to do anything they want with it, which includes putting it on their maps. If you’re not signed up with them, they probably don’t have the info (or permission to use it).
Is she logged into any google accounts when she does this search - that means gmail, youtube, etc? If you haven’t, have someone who is not in your house try this from their computer - what you you want to find out is whether it’s somehow gotten linked to her google account or if it’s more broadly available. If you’re comfortable, you can PM me her name and I’ll check to see what results I get. But I understand if you’re not comfortable with that.
That said, the main phone line listed in their directory in the ReferenceUSA database we have in my workplace is 650-253-0000 . There are also a bunch of listed numbers for their various locations around the country. I don’t know if any of these will do you any good at getting a live person though.
Lot’s of browsers nowadays have a “private browsing” option (like “New Private Window” in Firefox). It would seem to me that should be the equivalent. Anyone agree or disagree with this?
I just tried it with my name (which is pretty darn uncommon), and Google couldn’t place me on Maps. Which is good.
But, I also have been very, very careful NOT to reveal any personal information on my gmail accounts, and have actively blocked as much google tracking as I can (I use a custom hosts file on my machine).
How odd, I’m in sales and I’m also all over local social media and googling my name gives lots of hits for my place of work and my community work etc. but it does not connect my name with my street residence.
Interesting thread. I just Google-mapped my name (I’m logged into my Google account and Google knows both my home and work addresses from Google Now) and the pin showed my grad school’s address.
Given Northern Piper’s experience, I should probably point out that I have an extremely unusual name; I am almost certainly the only Firstname Lastname in the US.
If you aren’t signed in with google - I’d be very surprised at this behavior - depending on what permissions you’ve given google - it has your contacts, location data, email, and whatnot. It will show you an eta on your amazon package if you type something related. It isn’t showing this to other people.
If you are totally signed out and don’t have any cookies with them - I’d be surprised if it shows up.
Even if it does - they almost certainly got it from public sources. If she has her name listed on any piece of property - it’s pretty much public record in most of the US. You can use sites like zabasearch and spokeo to find out a decent amount of info on a person.
I just checked mine. It shows me living with a Carolyn *********, at an address I’ve never lived at. (no idea who she is) Apparently, this online stuff is about as reliable as an internet legend.