Opting Out of the Phone Book

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Isn't the phonebook operator, just described, nifty? Don't you love using it? Aren't you glad . . . hey, wait a minute. This means that your address can be outed as easily as somebody else's. Even more provocative, Google provides a reverse function in its address and phone book, whereby a person can get your address by typing your phone number.

Of course, these functions are easy to find outside Google. But Google is the site everyone uses for nearly every basic information bit, and it's only increasing in popularity. For whatever reason, you might decide you don't want your address and phone number in the index.

Removing a personal listing requires only filling out an on-screen form (see Figure 16-5). Removing a business listing requires sending your request on company letterhead to a postal address. You can start either by clicking the Removal Info link on the results page. Or go straight to the page here:

http://www.google.com/help/pbremoval.html

Figure 16-5: Use this page to remove your listing from the Google phone book.

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