The brand new handbook tells Marines they are able to regularly remove private or undermining advice from Google searches by phoning or e-mailing the web site administrator of the source that released the information, and requesting it be taken down.

“No one will wish to assist you if you’re a jerk, so be fine!” the guide states.

White Pages and much more. For public records databases including PeekYou, Intelius, PeopleSmart, White Pages and more, officials supply site-specific instructions in the handbook to find -out request forms.

They guide Marines that these sites run on implied approval, requiring people in order to safeguard their private information to expressly opt out.

“Some of the websites allow people to opt out through requests online while others require people to upload a copy of a government-issued ID like a driver’s license to fill out the procedure,” they write.

For Google, the writers tell Marines to mention the reason for URL removal requests as “old advice.”

Locating workarounds. Though the handbook’s writers note that numerous websites restrict users to five tips removal requests per e-mail or Internet Protocol (IP) address, in addition they provide several innovative tools to fool the websites into allowing more requests.

Troops can make a bogus email address with Fakeemailgenerator.com after which conceal their IP address with Turbohide.com, a proxy server application.

Pay for secrecy. When other techniques fail, officials inform troops remove private information which will seem online or to cover services that hide, though terms and conditions vary by firm.

Occasionally, however, this approach can backfire. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly supposedly paid a “reputation management” firm to flood the Web with positive info to conceal news stories about accusations of hazardous direction, but the move set him in the news again when it was found by Army Times.

The most effective protection. The manual reiterates the significance of caution when posting any personal information online and reminds troops to what they place that they generally lose the rights, per the stipulations of the sites they use.

“The main consideration to keep in mind is that whatever you post to the Internet is going to be there eternally, otherwise called a ‘digital tat,’ the authors write.