Many know that I was a victim and survivor of a malicious cyber-attack. I called it Internet terrorism, with no disrespect to the terrorism in our world today. Same as I consider Internet defamation and being cyberstalked a form of being emotionally raped – I am not attempting to make light of women who are psychically raped. We are in a new digital world where words not only hurt – they kill. They can ruin lives – they can destroy careers and they can bankrupt a family.
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.”
What Can You Do To Minimize The Chances Of An On-line Exploiter Victimizing Your Child?
- Communicate, and talk to your child about sexual victimization and potential on-line danger.
- Spend time with your children on-line. Have them teach you about their favorite on-line destinations.
- Keep the computer in a common room in the house, not in your child’s bedroom. It is much more difficult for a computer-sex offender to communicate with a child when the computer screen is visible to a parent or another member of the household.
- Utilize parental controls provided by your service provider and/or blocking software. While electronic chat can be a great place for children to make new friends and discuss various topics of interest, it is also prowled by computer-sex offenders. Use of chat rooms, in particular, should be heavily monitored. While parents should utilize these mechanisms, they should not totally rely on them.
- Always maintain access to your child’s on-line account and randomly check his/her e-mail. Be aware that your child could be contacted through the U.S. Mail. Be up front with your child about your access and reasons why.
- Teach your child the responsible use of the resources on-line. There is much more to the on-line experience than chat rooms.
- Find out what computer safeguards are utilized by your child’s school, the public library, and at the homes of your child’s friends. These are all places, outside your normal supervision, where your child could encounter an on-line predator.
- Understand, even if your child was a willing participant in any form of sexual exploitation, that he/she is not at fault and is the victim. The offender always bears the complete responsibility for his or her actions.
- Instruct your children:
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- to never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they met on- line;
- to never upload (post) pictures of themselves onto the Internet or on-line service to people they do not personally know;
- to never give out identifying information such as their name, home address, school name, or telephone number;
- to never download pictures from an unknown source, as there is a good chance there could be sexually explicit images;
- to never respond to messages or bulletin board postings that are suggestive, obscene, belligerent, or harassing;
- that whatever they are told on-line may or may not be true.
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National Cyber Safety Awareness Month (NCSAM) is here. October is a month that is highlighted by encouraging people to get in the know about their cyber and virtual safety. Especially parents with kids and specifically – teens.
Why teens? Because they are the ones that will most likely be applying to colleges or looking for employment and if their online resume isn’t kept updated and appropriate, chances are good that their won’t be accepted or they may not get that job.
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? Do you know what it says about your teenager?
It is time to “get in the know” and learn to maintain your digital profile.
Here are some 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 Naymz.com, 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 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.
Back to where we started, helping your teen get into your college of their choice, or you want to land your dream job and you want to keep your online profile up to date. Take the steps to make that happen.
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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!
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S-E-X, this is one of the most difficult and sensitive subjects parents dread to talk to their kids about, but it is also just as critical. Now let’s compound it with technology and teens and we can create sexting!
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Cosmo Girl have recently released the results of a new survey. Results from this new survey show that 21% of teen girls and 18% of teen boys have sent/ posted nude or semi-nude images of themselves. What is going on with teens, tech, and sex?
Tips for parents from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy include:
1. Talk to your kids about what they are doing in cyberspace. Just as you need to talk openly and honestly with your kids about real life sex and relationships, you also want to discuss online and cell phone activity. Read more.
2. Know who your kids are communicating with. Of course it’s a given that you want to know who your children are spending time with when they leave the house. Read more.
3. Consider limitations on electronic communication.The days of having to talk on the phone in the kitchen in front of the whole family are long gone, but you can still limit the time your kids spend online and on the phone. Read more.
4. Be aware of what your teens are posting publicly. Check out your teen’s MySpace, Facebook and other public online profiles from time to time. This isn’t snooping-this is information your kids are making public. Read more.
5. Set expectations. Make sure you are clear with your teen about what you consider appropriate “electronic” behavior. Read more.
More articles of interest:
Should you read your teen’s diary?
Should you read your teen’s emails and text messages?
Is honestly the best policy?
Not my kid
Nastygrams: Think before you send
In Florida, SafeFlorida.net was created to help prevent cyber crimes, educate parents, assist teens and more in the growing digital cyberspace.
Be an educated parent, you will have safer teens.
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Cyber Rape: Exposing the Psychological Horrors of Virtual Violation
By Tim Handorf
We all know by now that crimes on the Internet parallel, in many ways, crimes in “real life.” There’s fraud and thefts of all sorts, there’s verbal sexual abuse toward children, and there’s also non-stop internet trolling that has become out-and-out defamation and libel. So if all these crimes are possible in our increasingly invested virtual worlds, then is rape, too, a viable Internet crime?
A case that raised some eyebrows a few years ago occurred on Second Life, a virtual world that has become almost indistinguishable from real life. Companies use it to meet clients, users have actually made significant amounts of real money, and some even devote hours online to building a social network, making love to significant others, and bearing and raising children. Apparently, if you stick with it long enough, using entrepreneurial skills that you would employ in the real world, you can even become a Second Life (and real life) millionaire.
What happens then, when an avatar (a virtual representation of a “real” person, who carries with it all the vestiges from real life—a personality, a reputation, and everything else our social lives may entail) rapes another avatar in a vicious manner? Is this cause for “real life” police intervention? Well in 2007, Belgian police briefly investigated a virtual rape case exactly as described.
Now many think it borders on the ridiculous that the rape of what is essentially a video game character could be anything tantamount to rape in its physical manifestations. However, Maria Korolow in Hypergrid Business, suggests an interesting reconsideration. For those who have never experienced a virtual world, of course the idea seems absurd. However, it is quite astounding the extent to which real people—hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions—strongly identify with their virtual counterparts.
What’s more, behind these “virtual” entities are real people, and they interact with each other (although via Instant messenger, of course) as real people would. So what are we to think when a user has established relationships in a virtual world, thinks herself safe and free to pursue her own virtual interests—whether it be going to a party, attending a business meeting, or having children—and is suddenly, violently, and horrendously “raped” by an avatar who represents a real person? Are the psychological effects of rape in the real and virtual worlds, then, not exactly the same? In a now famous Village Voice article, Julian Dibble explored these questions when a similarly terrifying rape incident occurred in the early virtual reality world LambdaMOO.
Whatever the answer to this question is, I believe that cyber rape, and the extent to which it can be carried out, should be investigated further. As a phenomenon in virtual reality, we should think about its implications, simply because we are immersing ourselves more and more in these worlds as the Internet continues to develop and integrate itself into every moment of our lives.
By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Tim Handorf, who writes on the topics of top online colleges. He welcomes your comments at his email Id: tim.handorf.20@googlemail.com.
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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.
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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.
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This week CEO and Founder of Reputation Defender, Michael Fertik gives some fantastic 2010 Social Media Predictions that can help you help your future – technically.
Will social media continue to expand in 2010? Most experts agree that social media is more than just a fad, and will continue to be an integral part of our lives in the years to come. Perhaps nowhere will the importance of social media be felt than in the area of personal branding and online reputation management.
Recently, in a guest column for ZDNet, ReptuationDefender CEO Michael Fertik shared his social media predictions for the new year, and why he believes that 2010 will be the year of “Atomic Branding.” Check out Michael’s insights here.
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Cybercrime TV is inviting experts to address 600 policy makers at the International School Safety Convention in Denver, Colorado, April 22-23, 2010, as part of a special session on cyber threats faced by schools, students,teachers, and parents.Washington, DC December 21, 2009 – Cybercrime TV (http://www.cybercrime.tv ) is inviting experts to address 600 policy makers at the International School Safety Convention in Denver, Colorado, April 22-23, 2010, as part of a special session on cyber threats faced by schools, students, teachers, and parents.
The program chair for the session is Andy Purdy, former U.S. Department of Homeland Security cyber head, and founder of Cybercrime TV. High-definition television highlights of the proceedings will be distributed to media outlets worldwide. Cybercrime TV will also produce with participating speakers print materials and interactive presentations.
Purdy expects topics to include cyber security, cyber bullying, sexting, illegal file sharing, online predators, privacy issues, and potential threats to “middle-mile” broadband projects that connect schools to community responders.
Purdy is particularly interested in announcements about new initiatives that can impact legislation and national investment in securing schools.
Purdy’s invitation extends to book authors, filmmakers, documentary producers, researchers, lawmakers, community leaders, and technology developers.
Participants can use the website, Cybercrime.TV, to prepare for the convention and build a community of interest around their themes. The site offers registered members a variety of online tools for collaborating on video and multimedia presentations, as well as private workspaces for connecting with convention attendees.
The International School Safety Convention will take up 12 meeting spaces on the Denver campus of Johnson &Wales University College of Business. The 2-day event is being organized by international school safety leader Michael Dorn for the Denver-based groups, School Safety Partners (http://www.schoolsafetypartners.org ) and the Foundation for the Prevention of School Violence.
Attendees will be primarily high-level decision makers responsible for major school safety funding, business leaders interested in public-private partnerships, and members of the school construction community.
Within the convention, the main feature will be the innovative World Congress on School Safety, which will include Purdy’s session on school cyber threats. The fast pace of the agenda is designed to optimize group problemsolving.
Speakers will have a brief period of time in the Jared Polis Auditorium to present their views before a review panel and the general assembly, followed by questions and answers. They will then proceed to an adjoining conference room to continue their discussions with members of the media and other attendees.
In addition, speakers may take part in presentations covering all aspects of school safety prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery, scheduled in 2 more conference spaces.
The convention will be immediately followed by a 30-day television distribution window, during which broadcast video will be distributed to journalists, television news producers, and online and mobile news video providers at more than 25,000 news organizations on all continents.
Experts interested in participating in Purdy’s school cyber threats session are welcome to register at Cybercrime.TV and provide a brief profile.
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Photo of Andy Purdy.
Also on Examiner.
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