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Ask HN: Are dating websites allowed to let search engines index the profiles?

4 points by fuckokcupid ↗ HN
I have used a dating app Ok Cupid 2 years back, I stopped using 1 mon after creation. What I didn't do is delete or disable my profile. Fast forward now, when a friend searched for my username on Google, OkCupid profile was being shown as the 4th result which shows my address and age.

I don't remember being explicitly asked to take my permission about making the profile public. After emailing the support today, I got a reply saying 'Google is showing profiles now, we can't take them out' which is ridiculous since all they have to do is don't allow in the robots.txt.

I don't find anything in their privacy policy about public profiles etc. I am not sure if I can send a DMCA to take my link down.

8 comments

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WestCoastJustin
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fuckokcupid
So after seeing the profile I immediately deleted it. You think Google would reindex and remove it from search results? or the stale link still exist?
savethefuture
As soon as you entered your personal information into their site you gave it to them so they could display it on your profile. You can't stop google from indexing their site. Its public period. Don't give away personal information if you dont want it to be public.