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Forget Publicists, All The Cool Kids Have Online Reputation Managers
from the are-you-serious? dept
It's been well-documented that Google has become something of the mythical permanent record teachers warned you about as kids. There are plenty of stories about people losing jobs or discovering dubious information about dates using Google. A few years back, services popped up claiming that they could scrub your online record clean -- though, how successful such services could be was certainly called into question. However, it appears that those services have morphed into a new, somewhat scary, category called online reputation management. While it's to be expected that corporations might have people monitoring online reputations, it's quite another thing to have individuals hire firms to do the same thing. From the description in the article, it sounds like this involves a combination of search engine optimization, plus legal bullying of anyone who says something you don't like. If anything, that sounds like a recipe for more trouble, but you can see how it would appeal to those who are unhappy with how they're perceived online. Obviously, it's no fun to have something bad about you exposed online, but efforts to suppress that information have a decent likelihood of backfiring and serving to highlight that information. I wonder if these online reputation managers have malpractice insurance for when that happens?
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I like my name
My name is rather common. And my last name is Flowers, so you end up getting pages and pages of flower shops whose owners happen to share my first name. I do however periodically search with my name and hometown and name and screen name and remove whatever I find...but usually there's only one or two results.
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some 1 should tell the lawyer from http://techdirt.com/articles/20080128/02263889.shtml about that service
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Maybe 1984 wasn't like "1984" but
In "1984" Winston Smith and his fellows actually had to go round up all the old newspapers and destroy them to change the past. The real Party of EngSoc will have a much easier time: they'll just send out a takedown notice for the offending web page.
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"I do however periodically search with my name and hometown and name and screen name and remove whatever I find"
and by remove, you mean what???
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I have a relatively uncommon name, but searching for me finds another guy with the same name, same area of origin (I travel a lot but came from the Bay Area) and a similar profession. Except this guy is a lot more crass than I am.
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Re:
Sorry. I'll tone down my comments so you don't look as bad.
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It would be appreciated.
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I have stuff written about me in various corners of the internet, though there has been way more about me in the past, what is left now is the remnants of what I simply cannot get the website owners to remove. It didn't take me too long to get a lot of stuff removed, all it takes 95% of the time is a simple email to the webmaster, if they refuse to comply then I threaten legal action, although I wouldn't take it that far, most webmasters simply don't want to take the risk and just comply with me.
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What to do to fix CDA 230?
It seems the real problem here is CDA 230. A webhost (like AutoAdmit or Encyclopedia Drmatica) can know that it has completely libelous and false information on its site, but then claim immunity under the Communications Decency Act. The real response is to sue the person who posted the libel, but if they used TOR or a proxy then there's nothing that can be done to find them.
Then the anonymous libel just gets left up on the site forever.
It'd be a much better system that if the original poster can't be found then the webhost has to be willing to take down the material or to defend it in court. It'd still take a subpoena to get IP addreses, just change the rules when the OP can't be found. Otherwise sites like ED and AutoAdmit can knowingly profit from libel, and intentionally be jerks about removing stuff.
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This is what I need -- Online Reputation Managemen
Because I have had such a terrible time getting a job, and think either my by now lousy credit or the government or some kind of corporate or Republican network is "badmouthing" me, I think this is exactly the kind of reputation protection service that someone like myself could benefit from. Have my medical records been leaked? Are former employers bad talking me? Is it the absence of former agencies for whom I claim a year or more of work here or there? What with John McCain running as "the Manchurian Candidate" having spent years unsupervised in thrall to his North Vietnamese prison guards, did you know that Americans will not even be considered for a federal job in the U.S. Government nowadays, if you have travelled overseas for more than two weeks within the ten years of your background that they check? Also, those government jobs with benefits pay much better than private sector jobs, on the average. No wonder my private enterprise efforts at employment are so frustrating. Pretty soon, America will have no advantages and every disadvantage internationally, in business and economics and leading new enterprises and worker satisfaction levels. Case in point? Why, myself, of course! http://www.myspace.com/italosuave (check out my blogs) and http://www.youtube.com/mdelcamp1 (check out my channel(s)
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Filling a void in the law
If #10 is right, then there's a loophole in the law right now that lets really nasty things (like threats to rape and false accusations of having STDs) stay online with no recourse. You can't find the person who posted it, and the website claims to have no duty to take it down.
Looks like ReputationDefender is filling a pretty big void left by the law. Can we fix the loophole in CDA 230 instead? There has to be protection for legitimate whistleblowers, but some way for innocent victims to get recourse.
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Reputable Reputation Management Firm
Thanks Techdirt for bringing attention to this issue. I work for DONE! SEO, a leading provider for SERM services. You can find more info about us here:
http://www.doneseo.com/serm/
Here's some recent press about our firm.
http://www.tbrnews.com/articles/2008/01/31/business/business.txt
Jeff Henderson
Business Development
DONE! SEO
www.doneseo.com
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Don't belittle this issue
As someone who has suffered defamation online, I find the tone of this article offensive. Trying to have such material removed is not legal bullying; it's standing up to bullies.
Some of these people are quite arrogant in dealing with people they regard as powerless individuals. It's quite satisfying to see them backdown when lawyers become involved.
We need better laws.
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Social Network Terms of Service
To legally prevent an employer from using info from a social networking site, one might post terms of use that forbid such use. The idea is not legal advice, but it is something to think about.
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Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Interesting to see the parallels between online reps and the idea of 'whuffie' put out in C. Doctorow's 'Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom'. You can read it online for free. That said, if someone's putting bad stuff out there about you, counteract it by getting friends, family and even yourself to put good stuff out there about you, duh.
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Great topic
I know reputation management would explode a few years ago and I think eventually it will overtake SEO in revenue generated.
Think about it, only companies need marketing, everyone needs reputation management.
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nice post
hi, this post is supervb, i bookmarked your post.
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website promotion
Your article is much more informatics for all of the visitor. I am very happy to read it. This is really very nice. Thank you for it.
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Online Marketing
Great post. Blogs are a very natural way to attract links. I’d love to see a post on how to get your company to blog. Particularly if you are dealing with a large, conservative company.
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search marketing
very useful articles…..I think seo off site more important and power full for geeting free traffic than seo on site, I already implemented for my web……so I am focus on off site optimisation…thanks
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Markant
So how does the future look to this?
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Good Post
Offsite SEO is more important than onsite but without proper onsite SEO you cannot get high rankings.
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Wow
I run an online reputation management company and I do not think this is something needed by the everyday person. We focus our services on businesses and high profile individuals as there may be things pop up in search engines that can lose them money and damage their reputation which could have many negative consequences. I think it is ridiculous for just the regular school kid to be needing a service such as that because in all reality no one will be searching their name and there is not much ROI involved. There have been cases such as nude/derogatory photos, personal information in documents and PDF's, and so on have gotten out and they need those taken down which usually ends up being a joint effort between our company and a law firm. Would love to speak with anyone who may need these services for their company. The Sayre Group
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