I know all this first hand since it almost happened to me.

If you don’t protect it who will?  Your BFF today could become your foe tomorrow.  Your spouse today could be your ex next week.  What will happen if they decide that e-Venge is easier than revenge?  Remember the Internet never forgets!

What is cyberstalking?  What is a Google bomb?  What is this crazy thing calling cyber defamation?

CYBER-HAWKS THAT STALK:  A new HEIGHT of cybercrimes, stalking, stolen identities, cyber-corruption and criminal predators with a keypad

Do you believe your online image, reputation and character are protected? Firewalls broken – hackers hacking – and you are now virtually invaded! Learn from my $11M defamation verdict that changed Internet Culture.

Google Bomb (n) or “link bomb”: Internet slang for a certain kind of attempt to raise the ranking of a given page in results from a Google search. (Wikipedia)

I was a regular person who found out in the most evil way what slander awaited her in cyberspace. My organization, reputation, and identity were stolen, livelihood ruined, her mental health threatened after viral defamatory statements emerged. I was hit with a Google bomb.

Like an epidemic, Google bombs are the latest lethal legal weapon to destroy character and reputations. Our First Lady was hit. No one is immune.  We must be proactive in maintaining our virtual profile.

Still standing and thriving after all she endured both personally and professionally, Scheff now helps others understand the depths of the Internet and what happens when revenge turns to e-venge.

IN THE NEWS: Over 400 newspapers have featured this landmark case. Including a 4-Part LA Times Series, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, AARP, and many more.  Here are snippets of my advice on how to protect your image:

• Wall Street Journal “Until you go through a vengeful attack on your good name, service or business, you have no idea what a Google bomb can do to you.”
• AARP- “Limit the amount of information you provide on the Internet,” she now advises others. “The Internet is not only an educational tool, it can be a lethal weapon,”
• Washington Post –“if you don’t own your own name, someone else will.”
• Family Circle – “Use extreme caution…Whatever you say in the kitchen goes into your kid’s ears and can come out on the computer screen – and go viral!”
• LA Times – “We need very real repercussions for violating a reporter’s privacy in a motel room with a peep camera for mass voyeuristic consumption.”
• LA Times – “The malicious stroke of a key has become the equivalent of a cyberbullet.” 

PEW study shows that about 75% of all Americans are using the Internet. More importantly over 53% of people are Googling each other! Do you know what Google and Bing are saying about you?   Do you know what it says about your teenager?  Is he/she virtually dressed for the college or job interview?

Whether your teen is applying to colleges or interviewing for a job, chances are very good that they are being Googled.

•53% of Americans Google each other. Pew Internet & American Life
•26% of college admissions officers use search engines to research candidates. University of Massachusetts Center for Market Research
•64% of teens say that most teens do things online that they wouldn’t want their parents to know about. anti-drug.com
•77% of executive recruiters use search engines to research applicants. CareerBuilder

What can you do?  Encourage your teens to be sure they are virtually dressed before an Internet search is done on them!  Another words, don’t get caught naked online!  Naked doesn’t necessarily mean nude – it means inappropriate pictures and language that wouldn’t make your parents or grandparents blush!

Here are some 5 quick tips to start. Remember, the Internet is today’s  information highway and your name has a road sign.

1. Sign up for free services and post your resume or other information that pertains to your services, business, profession etc. Some of these services are Visible.me, LookUpPages.com, Ziggs.com, LinkedIn.com.

2. For teenagers that will be applying for colleges, keep in mind, what you post today can haunt you tomorrow. More and more college admissions are using search engines to research their potential candidates. Take the time to secure your social networking sites and other places you surf.  What does this mean? Keep it clean. Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want to show your parents or your grandparents!

3. Be sure to own your own name. Sign up for free services on Blogs with your name as the URL. Blogger.com and WordPress.com are two that are most frequently used. Try to keep them updated as time permits, however owning them is most important.

4. Set up your Google Alerts. You want to know when your name it being used online. This is another free service that will take you minutes to set up and keep you informed when your name is posted on the Internet. Twilert.com is used for Twitter Alerts. This is another free service to be alerted if people are using your name on Twitter.

5. Buy your domain name. This can be minimum in costs and the return will be priceless. Purchasing your name through GoDaddy or another source, can cost you about $9.99 a year (ie: www.suescheff.com). Building a small website can also be cost effective. GoDaddy and Weebly.com offers services to assist you. You may even know someone that can build this for you. Most teens today are very proficient with their technology skills.

Your online resume can literally make or break your interview or acceptance at colleges.  Don’t risk it,  keep your virtual presence alive and clean.

Be an educated parent, pass this on to your teens!

By Sue Scheff, Author and founder of Parents’ Universal Resource Experts

Order today!

Books:

Wit’s End! Advice and Resources for Saving Your Out-of-Control Teen (HCI 2008)

Google Bomb! The $11.3M Verdict That Changed the Way We Use the Internet (HCI 2009)

The Internet as a technology for information and quick, inexpensive communication may be fascinating for millions around the globe, but if put to malicious use against someone, it can be a paralyzing weapon.

That is what happened in the case of Sue Scheff, author of Google Bomb (HCI Books, 2009). In her book, co-authored with lawyer John W. Dozier, Sue tells the story of her victimization through serial defamatory attacks on the web that destroyed her professional career and trampled her personal reputation as well as her social life. Just by Googling her name, or that of her organization, countless people could mark her and her organization as evil entities, all because of false, malicious, and unchecked accusations (and even effusive abuse) made against her by someone who failed to use her for her own vested interests.

In today’s world, Google has become the measure of one’s reputation – hence the term “Google Bomb”. Standing up against the coercion, however, Sue finally won the historical $11.3 million defamation suit against the culprit responsible for her loss. It was very informative talking to Sue for an interview to run in the journal Recovering the Self (Vol. 3, No 1). Following is a slightly abridged version of Sue’s interview.

Read entire interview here.

Initially you are shocked – wondering who these people are?  Why are they doing this? In many situations, you don’t even know the perpetrator, but they certainly believe they know you!

In 2006 I won a landmark case for Internet Defamation and Invasion of Privacy.  It was a jury verdict of over $11M for damages done to my organization (Parents’ Universal Resource Experts) and myself.

I was literally bombarded with what are called “Google bombs” – and worse than that, they would attack my friends.  My friends would try to fight back and the more you debate these people (stalkers/bullies) the more they engage and it can go from bad to worse within a matter of a few minutes of keystrokes.

With stalkers/bullies, you will never win – Yes, I was vindicated in a court of law, but did that remove all the slime that was online?  It didn’t – and I continually have to spend time explaining these unfortunate people that have nothing better to do with their lives but to hurt others.  They no longer hurt me – I only feel terrible for others that have to listen to their ranting.

In my situation, many of my stalkers/bullies are former institutionalized patients – I represent and advocate for parents that are looking to get their at-risk teens help they need.  These stalkers/bullies don’t believe in residential therapy – maybe they had a bad experience, or maybe they just believe your teen is doing just fine smoking dope and skipping school – and possibly joining a gang – (why not, in many cases, they did it – and look at them now).  Yes – that is scary.

In my story, I did struggle with my teen daughter – I had to reach out for help, and unfortunately for my daughter and myself, I chose a program that was horrible.  It abused my daughter both emotionally and physically.  My story is documented in Wit’s End (Health Communications, Inc) or you can read an abbreviated version at www.aparentstruestory.com.

When I opened my organization, I was determined to help  parents not to get scammed into the same ordeal we went through.  I was actually sued by the program that abused my daughter (WWASPS – Carolina Springs Academy) for Internet Defamation.

I fought back and went to a jury trial in Utah in 2004, which I won with the truth.  The truth is always your defense.  No one condones child abuse.

When you can’t beat someone legally, the next best step today is taking it to the wild west of the Internet!  Yes, the next thing I realized I was being slammed online.  Called a child abuser, kidnapper, Ed-con, exploited families, a crook, and worse.  Some comments even got sexual and disgusting.  As my family and friends were reading this – I was mortified.  I had to take legal action.  The rest is history – as I won again in a jury trial for damages of over $11M.

Here we are in 2010 and I still have stalkers – but what I have learned from my experience is what others need to know when they are stalked.

• Never fuel it or engage in it – you will only fire it up.  The stalker/bully wants to get a reaction, as hard as it is, don’t do it.
• If you can, block him/her and report them to the moderator of the forum (ie: Twitter, Facebook, Blogspot, Google etc.)
• If you attempt to tell your side of the story, even when it is the truth, you will never win.  These people are determined to destroy you – no matter how blue the sky is, they will always be more determined it is green.
• Remember, when reading their crap, it is 99.9% twisted truths or outright lies.  They may tell you to go and read X, Y, and Z – but neglect to tell you to read A, B and C – which completes the story.  (For example, my stalker likes to tell people to read my trial transcripts – almost 1000 pages – and they direct you to certain page numbers, but unless you read the whole trial – you won’t understand those few pages, and I may look very bad – afterall, isn’t that the job of opposing counsel?)  What would happen if you only heard one side of a case in trial?  No one would hear the entire story.
• What motivates these stalkers and bullies?  That is a million dollar question.  Depending on who they are, in many cases they simply enjoy hurting others.  In my case I believe these are seriously deranged people that want all residential programs closed.  They don’t understand that many parents are only doing what is best for their teen.  Yes, I chose a bad program -but I have taken my mistakes and turned them around to help others.
• Ignoring them is the best form of defense you have. Again, it can be extremely difficult, but remember, the more you try to tell your story, the more they will distort it.  You will never win.  It is just a matter of time and unfortunately for someone else, they will move on to another target.

There are lots of great online resources with more information on bullying:

• http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/adults/cyber-bullying.aspx
• http://www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying
• http://www.cyberbullying.us/
• http://connectsafely.org
• http://www.stompoutbullying.org

Learn more in my latest book – Google Bomb, The Untold Story of How the $11.3M Verdict Changed the Way We Use the Internet, Health Communications, Inc.

We open National Cyber Safety Awareness Month (NCSAM) with a few educational and informational websites with some top resources you need to keep safe in cyberspace.  Resources that have been consistent in keeping up with the changing times online and people, books and websites that can help you help your teens and children stay safe.

1.  Connect Safely – ConnectSafely is for parents, teens, educators, advocates – everyone engaged in and interested in the impact of the social Web. The user-driven, all-media, multi-platform, fixed and mobile social Web is a big part of young people’s lives, and this is the central space – linked to from social networks across the Web – for learning about safe, civil use of Web 2.0 together. Our forum is also designed to give teens and parents a voice in the public discussion about youth online safety begun back in the ’90s. ConnectSafely also has all kinds of social-media safety tips for teens and parents, the latest youth-tech news, and many other resources.

2.  YourSphere and YourSphere for Parents - Yoursphere.com offers a vibrant, online, interactive, experience for kids and teens. Member’s safety and privacy come first through the application of common sense safeguards. The site devotes a hyper-focus towards supporting the positive interests, talents and aspirations of its members.

3.  Cyber Safe Family – CyberSafeFamily.com was formed to educate parents on internet safety because we believe education is the key in keeping kids safe online.  Many parents are intimidated by today’s technology and overwhelmed with these questions.

4. PG Key – PG Key was created by a design and development team that includes industry experts with years of experience in creating powerful yet easy to use software applications. In addition to the experienced technical members, the team also includes representatives from law enforcement (an FBI agent that specializes in cyber crimes), education (a Ph.D. that currently serves as a district superintendent), the medical community (an M.D. and current member of the American Board of Pediatrics) and many others … including ordinary, non-technical, but concerned parents.

5. Wired Moms – Wired Moms is a coalition of moms and mom groups with a central focus of connecting with their families through technology and to getting the most out of the new innovations that make their lives easier and more fun and keeping our kids and ourselves safe online.

6.  Fortalice Solutions, LLC - In bits and bytes, the digital world holds pieces of our lives. And the team at Fortalice are your watchmen, because protection of your information is worth fighting for.Fortalice is a computer security firm.  A team of experienced cybercrime fighters helping governments, businesses and consumers protect their cyberturf. We design, develop and deploy customized IT solutions that help fend off the bad guys. But cybersecurity isnʼt always about technology. Itʼs about arming people with the knowledge to defend themselves.Over the last twenty years, our team of experts has taught the United States Government, some of the countryʼs largest banks and thousands of consumers how to safeguard their information.

7.  ReputationDefender - ReputationDefender was created in 2006 to defend your good name on the Internet. Today, ReputationDefender has grown to be the world’s first comprehensive online reputation management and privacy company. We’re the most experienced and most technologically innovative company of our kind. With customers in over 35 countries, ReputationDefender is proud to serve a global customer base throughout the world’s largest community – the Internet.

8.  Veritate et Virtute – Christopher Burgess - Author – Speaker – Humanitarian – Senior Security Advisor – - – My focus is on Safety, Security, Intelligence, Intellectual Property and Humanitarian issues. I put particular emphasis on the protection of both the young and the elderly of our society. I co-authored w/Richard Powers: “Secrets Stolen, Fortunes Lost: Preventing Intellectual Property Theft and Economic Espionage in the 21st Century” My published works, books & articles, audio pod-casts and video presentations can be found at www.secretsstolen.com.

9. Look Both Ways – Linda Criddle – LOOKBOTHWAYS Inc.’s mission is to make the Internet safer for all consumers. In addition to providing free web resources to consumers, LOOKBOTHWAYS Inc. specializes in understanding the Human Factor in Online Safety. The company develops internet safety technologies; provides product design, safety reviews, and other consulting services to leading technology companies; and advises regulatory bodies, and various law enforcement agencies.

10.  Google Bomb Book - The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict That Changed The Way We Use The Internet – In today’s technology-dependent world, the Internet has become a legal lethal weapon against the privacy and reputations of its users. Based on Sue Scheff’s landmark Internet defamation case that gave face to online harassment, cyberbulling, privacy invasion, and Google™ bombs (the practice of manipulating the ranking of web pages), and stirred Internet regulation and free-speech debates, Google™ Bomb arms readers with information, legal advice, and reputation defense (and clean up) mechanisms from one of the country’s top cyber abuse attorneys, John W. Dozier, Jr.

11. iKeepSafe – The Internet Keep Safe Coalition is a broad partnership of governors and/or first spouses, attorneys general, public health and educational professionals, law enforcement, and industry leaders working together for the health and safety of youth online.  iKeepSafe® uses these unique partnerships to disseminate safety resources to families worldwide.

12. Net Cetera OnGuard Online – Net Cetera covers what you need to know, where to go for more information, and issues to raise with kids about living their lives online.  OnGuardOnline.gov encourages you to use this guide with your kids, in your school, at your PTA meeting, or anywhere else parents might gather. Feel free to order as many free copies as you’d like, put your own sticker on it, reprint sections in a newsletter or on a website, download a button or link to it, or even reprint it with your own logo. These materials are in the public domain.  To order free copies of Net Cetera, visit bulkorder.ftc.gov. To find out more about reprinting the guide, contact OnGuardOnline@ftc.gov.

This is only a short list, there are many more.  Locally, parents should check their local Sheriff’s Office websites.  In Broward County, they offer an Internet Safety page for kids.

This list is in no particular order.  All have valuable information.

Do you have more, please add them to comments!  Include websites too!  Paying it forward to keep everyone safe in this new digital world!

Read more.

I don’t think we can stop talking about this topic enough today.  Summer time, although years ago – prior the technology of computers and cellphones with Internet service, used to mean playing outside, building forts in the woods (which we never hear anymore – now we have fear of abductions), or going to the beach or pool without a gadget.  I have written a lot on Internet Safety, including my book, Google Bomb.  Connect with Kids just posted a new article on kids and their screen time.  Take the time to remind yourself of Internet Safety for you and your kids!  After all – today summer time means more online time.

Source: Connect with Kids

Screen Time

“Instead of using that time to become an adult, by learning how to talk adults, learning how to talk to women, learning how to talk to men, learning how to figure out what they want to do with their lives. Those are hours that are lost, that can never really be regained.”

– Timothy Fong, M.D., addiction psychiatrist

The American Academy of Pediatrics named the month of June “Internet Safety Month” – clearly a challenge for parents throughout the year. A survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation reports that kids spend up to seven and a half hours each day with electronic media.

If you add the time some kids spend in front of a TV, computers, cell phones and video games, it’s more hours than anything else in their lives except sleep! And that begs the question if they spend so much time plugged in, what are they missing out on?

Sabrina and her brother Ruben are fighting over the family computer. At the same time, their younger brother Daniel is playing videogames with a friend.

“It’s just fun killing other people and stealing their stuff,” says Daniel, 8.

And sister Alinna waits to watch her favorite program on the big TV.

“I dream about watching TV, and I watch Sponge Bob in my head,” says Alinna.

Four kids in one family who love anything with a screen.

“It’s just nowadays it seemed like they’re a lot lazier, and just want to sit on the tube and on the phone all the time,” says their father, Harry.

For all those hours spent online or watching TV, what are they not doing? Experts say they’re not reading, studying, exercising or even just talking with other people.

“Instead of using that time to become an adult, by learning how to talk adults, learning how to talk to women, learning how to talk to men, learning how to figure out what they want to do with their lives. Those are hours that are lost, that can never really be regained,” says Timothy Fong, M.D., addiction psychiatrist.

Yolanda has tried to limit her kids’ time in front of a screen.

“Well my mom gives me an hour, but I usually do like 3 hours. If they don’t notice,” says Sabrina, 16.

“Even though I get frustrated with it, I allow it to happen because that’s what makes her happy,” says Yolanda Delano, mother.

What Parents Need To Know

A new study reported in Pediatrics Magazine says that children whose parents set consistent rules about television use were less likely to exceed the recommended screen time limits – no more than one to two hours a day.

Chances are, if your children are like most, they spend too much time glued to the screen watching television, surfing the Internet and playing video games. So, how can you break this habit without wrecking havoc in the home? The answer, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, is to find fun, positive activities that children enjoy and to smartly manage their screen time.

Following are 10 tips for parents to help their children make a painless transition from couch potato to a physically and pro-socially active child:

1. Remove television sets from children’s bedrooms.
2. View television programs with children and discuss the content.
3. Use the VCR to show or record high-quality, educational programming for children.
4. Suggest several options for positive physical and pro-social activities that are available through local park districts, schools, and community programs.
5. Recommend pro-social activities, such as volunteering at Humane Society of the United States (visit www.hsus.org).
6. Encourage alternative activities for children, including hobbies, athletics, and creative play.
7. Support efforts to establish comprehensive programs in schools that include quality, daily physical education; classroom education; daily recess periods; and extracurricular physical activity programs.
8. Form coalitions including libraries, faith-based organizations, and neighborhood groups to help provide physical and social environments that encourage and enable safe and enjoyable physical activity, including new sidewalks, safe parks and keeping close-to-home physical activity facilities open at night.
9. Ensure that appropriate activity options are available for disabled children.
10. Serve as a good role model; be active when viewing television and surfing the Internet in the home.

Resources

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• Parents Can Successfully Set Limits on Children’s TV Watching

Posting vile and offensive remarks may be considered free speech, however when it crosses a line into defamatory statements, there may be legal ramifications for that poster.  Although some people think that being anonymous online shields their identity, there are many ways that your digital footprint can be traced back to your computer.

Free speech does not condone defamation. What is Internet defamation?  Internet defamation, sometimes called “defamation of character”, is spoken or written (or posted online) words that falsely and negatively reflect on a living person’s reputation.

If a person or the news media says or writes something about you that is understood to lower your reputation, or that keeps people from associating with you, defamation has occurred. Slander and libel are two forms of defamation.

Determining the difference between defamation and posting an opinion can be a gray legal area of law.  Proving defamation, although you may believe to be easy, can be quite costly and time consuming.

One landmark case in Florida was tried in Broward County.  This case resulted with an $11.3M jury verdict for damages done to the plaintiff after she was defamed online by another person.  This story is told in Google Bomb, which is a must read for anyone that is online.

Online hate speech can be costly.  Think twice before you post, and most of all, think twice before you hit send on an email you wrote out of emotion.  You never know what will be coming back to haunt you.

Watch video from Jax4News here. Visite www.googlebombbook.com for more information on Internet defamation, slander and your online responsibilities.

Related articles:

Think Before You Hit Send: Nasty-grams
One Click Away
The Cyber Housewives
Virtual Vanity
Online Gossip vs Online Facts
Wild West 2.0

Read more.

Google Bomb: The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict That Changed the Way We Use the Internet

John W. Dozier Jr. and Sue Scheff
Health Communications, Inc. (2009)
ISBN 9780757314155
Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (01/10)

First of all, I have to say “Google Bomb” may be the most important book anyone that has Internet presence should read. Owning a number of online businesses myself, I was eager to read this book because I wanted to know more about Sue Scheff’s experience and the successful outcome of a lawsuit. Her case was the first in Internet defamation and landed her $11.3M. But, there was so much more I learned than her story.
Written by Sue Scheff herself, as well as John W. Dozier Jr., a Internet law attorney, “Google Bomb” not only tells of Scheff’s experience with defamation by nasty people but also the emotional trauma she went through. For a site that started off being a helpful site to parents of troubled teens, it ended up smeared all over the Internet as deceptive. The interesting aspect is that the disparaging comments went viral and ended up on the top of the Google search engine. Consequently, potential visitors to Scheff’s site were redirected to derogatory and defaming information.

Dozier’s parts of the book follow Scheff’s comments and experience. They intermingle, giving the reader a fuller understanding of how others can control your site by, for e.g., creating anchor texts on their site but using your information and directing the visitors to their site where the defamatory information exists. Or, in other cases, the anchor texts are used by competitors so the visitors are directed to their sites instead of yours.

Dozier also explains how you can protect yourself against such attacks and gives suggestions of some Internet companies that offer this service. He also goes into copyright violations, cyberstalking, the Striesand Effect, hacking, spamming, and theft of trademarks. As I mentioned before, this could be the most important book you could read. It sure is for me. I used a full container of sticky tabs to mark important information and areas I need to re-read and implement.

“Google Bomb” is highly recommended because it gives you important information of what could happen to innocent people if not protected or on top of matters. Unfortunately there are many laws not in place to protect us on the Internet so we have to take our own responsibility to be cognizant and one way is to sign up for Google Alerts. This book isn’t meant to scare the site holders, but to inform them of what could happen if not aware. Awareness is the key, and by reading “Google Bomb” I can guarantee you will become more aware than you were before.

On www.readersview.com

It’s official; PEW study shows that about 75% of all Americans are using the Internet. More importantly over 53% of people are Googling each other! Do you know what Google is saying about you?

If you fall in any of the categories above, you have reason to be concerned about your virtual image. Being caught naked online doesn’t necessarily mean “butt” naked, however it does mean virtually exposed in ways that may not be flattering to you or your quest in life.

Google Bomb, The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict that Changed The Way We Use The Internet, is a great place to start on repairing and/or polishing your online image. Learn from my story, gain from my virtual disaster that lead to an awareness of the power of a keystroke. Google Bomb also offers great tools to help you dress yourself up online.

For more great tips  on maintaining your virtual profile, visit my series on Virtual Vanity.

Order Google Bomb book today and take control of your wardrobe virtually – remember, whether you are applying for a job, going on a date, or interviewing for admissions at a college – chances are very high someone will be Googling you.
 

What is a Google bomb?

Google Bomb (n) or “link bomb”: Internet slang for a certain kind of attempt to raise the ranking of a given page in results from a Google search. (Wikipedia)

Insure your cyber profile.  Learn how to wear your virtual clothes.

Also on Examiner.

We talked about Internet Defamation and how it can devastate your business and reputation. 

Learn more – click here to read the transcript and listen!

Reminder: Purchase Google Bomb book to learn more about how you can maintain your virtual image!  Learn from my mistakes!