My 2016 voyeurism conviction (based on 2007 events), expired in 2022 (with 2022 and 2026 certificates to show for it), but I never got round to contacting Google over it -- I guess I thought I got lucky based on several facts:
1) Only several people on planet Earth know about the conviction so I felt there is more to lose by interacting with additional strangers e.g. at Google. I don't even want to bump up the article (make it profitable, high in search rankings) by clicking on it again or having others click on it, when it's possible nobody has clicked on it for 4+ years at least.
2) My article was recently buried under a "did you mean?" search page based on a similar sounding minor celebrity to me (actually my late uncle who I very cunningly created a Wikipedia page for in order to achieve exactly that effect, so a mini tactical victory I'm proud of there). (It's also a fitting tribute to a fine man!).
3) My colleague are foreigners, who lack the general knowledge necessary (name rarity, geography), to connect me with the article.
So my situation is not so urgent.
But now it seems like something has changed..I understand the right to be forgotten -- the Google link takedown option -- is a new procedure with new normals recently developed..
It seems like 5 years ago it was impossible to speak with confidence either way about what to expect.
Based on the glance over experiences here, it seems like Google are defaulting into taking down articles as a matter of routine? Or at least we can begin to know what to expect and what works best, based on patterns.
This makes me think it might be worthwhile. With my criminal record expired and my time on the register about to expire, it seems like this will be the final thread of my punishment expunged, leaving only a few bad memories in the minds of me and several others.
So, as of this hour, what should I do and how should I proceed, and what should I expect? What is the winning formulation?
P.S. The article is lurid enough to look like it is more completely in the public interest than it is, but I somehow I don't picture that point carrying a sympathetic ear. There's no "winning" version of that conversation.