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diff --git a/wired/old/published/repdef/reputation-defender-article.txt b/wired/old/published/repdef/reputation-defender-article.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c47660d --- /dev/null +++ b/wired/old/published/repdef/reputation-defender-article.txt @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +It used to be that those embarrassing photos from the company Christmas party got pinned up by the water cooler for a few hours, you found them and you threw them away. Nowadays those photos find themselves on Flickr and can get a million page views in an hour. How are our future leaders going to lie about college drug use when we have the pictures available on Facebook?
In an age where mistakes can live forever in the spinning disks of an internet server there is, it appears, a need for someone to clean up after us. That is precisely the goal of a new start up, Reputation Defender.
Originally conceived as a way for parents to protect their children from potentially career damaging postings to MySpace or Facebook, the people behind Reputation Defender quickly realized it had a broader appeal. Michael Fertik, one of the founders of Reputation Defender, says, "I don't like the idea that kids and teenagers might suffer lifelong harm because of momentary mistakes. So I started the company. Then it seemed natural that adults might want the service, too. We all make honest mistakes, and there's no reason the Internet should make those mistakes eternally hurtful to ourselves and others."
Fertik has a point, afterall even bankruptcy
Reputation Defender breaks its services into three categories, "My Reputation," "My Child," and "My Privacy." My reputation is aimed at adults and helps to track down and eliminate those momentary lapses of reason that haunt you. My Child is aimed at parents who want to protect their children from the errors of youth coming back to haunt them later in life. The last of these, "My Privacy," is not yet publicly available but according to the copy on the website promises to do something about the "hundreds of online phonebooks and data brokering websites... (which) offer revealing information, including social security numbers, driver's license numbers, home address history, income, marriage and divorce records, email addresses, tax liens, and phone numbers."
Before you dismiss Reputation Defender as just another startup pipe dream consider that Fertik is a graduate of Harvard Law, another boardmember is a former presidential campaign speech writer, and the advisory board includes a Law Professor at Harvard and some MIT graduates. This is not just a clever concept from some teenagers.
For those that dismiss the need for such a service consider that according to CareerBuilder.com, twenty-six percent of hiring managers say they have used Internet search engines to research potential employees.
Using both site scraping robots and good old-fashioned human detective skills, Reputation Defender promises to scour the internet, particularly social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Xenga, Flickr and others, for materials that could be damaging to your career, your children's chances of getting into college and yes, even your chances of getting elected to public office.
As for the removal process, Fertik remained vague about the exact means of removing content. He offered instead, "I can say we have codified a series of procedures (that we are continually refining) that are specific to the source, location and nature of the content we are asked to destroy."
But what about me? I posted those pictures of you at the Christmas party because they are funny, it is you, and you *did* do it. Should I be bullied into removing them just because you consider it a mistake? Libel laws certainly apply if I post something about you that is knowingly false, but if the material in question happens to be a photograph does libel still apply? Generally speaking, no. Under the United States law, a statement cannot be held to be libellous if it is true and libel has historically been difficult to prove.
According to Mr. Fertik, "it should go without saying that there are certain types of content that are extremely difficult--and sometimes impossible--for us to get removed. Some clients and prospective clients would like us to get news articles in major publications or court records removed from the Internet. We've had to tell them that these requests are extremely difficult to fulfill and sometimes impossible. Moreover, we consider ourselves sensitive to First Amendment issues, and we are not too keen on the idea of squelching genuinely newsworthy speech." In such cases Reputation Defender offers its clients a full refund.
The line between free speech and libel has long been a contentious debate both in courtrooms and out. But in the end it may not be that serious. Fertik makes an analogy between Reputation Defender and credit reports. "It's useful to have your credit monitored and to be on top of your credit score before there is ever a problem. It's the same way with personal reputation. In the Internet era, everyone needs to know what's being said about him or her (or his or her child) before it's too late."
Celebrities have long employed various companies to track and monitor what is said about them in the press (you didn't really think it was Britney Spears herself suing US Weekly did you?), now you and I have the same option. The sad part is we may need it.
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