We’ve recently learned that government agencies seem to be passing around links to Spokeo’s data aggregation website in the past few days. Spokeo is a web-based data aggregation company that collects a large amount of information about individuals across the Internet. The past few years have seen the growth of the “people search” industry, with companies appearing like Spokeo, Spock, Wink, Rapleaf, Intelius, etc.. The amount of information Spokeo and other companies like this find is interesting to some, surprising to others, and can even be alarming to some people.

Reputation.com was founded with the mission to help individuals have a choice and to enable individuals to remove themselves from such databases if they’d like to do so. Our relationship with the data aggregation companies is straightforward: we find and remove our customers from their databases!

In the case of Reputation.com, we are proud to be able to remove individuals not only from Spokeo’s database but from many others through our MyPrivacy product.

We are also very proud to offer a subscription to our MyPrivacy product free to law enforcement officers and judicial officers. We have done so for a long time, and a large number of officers have availed themselves of these benefits. To learn more about this free offer, please contact Reputation.com today at 877-720-6488.

We are hopeful that breaking news about the reach of “people search” data aggregation companies will help confirm to the public what we at Reputation.com have been saying for years: for better or worse, instantaneous access to deep information about individuals (meaning YOU!) is accelerating and proliferating through the advent of social media and search technologies. Reputation.com was founded with the belief that you should have a right to control what people can find about you. To our knowledge, our solution is the only one in the world that reaches into so many databases and removes your data, giving you the choice and control that you should have.

[Update: read why we do not provide data to people finder sites]

Facebook Happiness Index Extends Outside of the United States

Last year, Facebook researchers started the “Gross National Happiness Index,” an index for measuring the happiness of English speakers in the United States based on Facebook status updates. Recently, Facebook began studying the happiness of English speakers in the UK, Australia, and Canada as well. Unsurprisingly, the results were more or less the same. People are happier on Sundays than on Mondays, and we all seem to like holidays.

Facebook Linked to Rise in Syphilis?

Could the rise of Facebook be linked to a rise in syphilis? Well that’s what a recent article in the Telegraph has posited, citing a study that shows a connection between the popular social networking website and an increase in casual sex in the UK. While the connection sounds spurious at best, in an analysis from ReadWriteWeb, Mike Melanson argues that it might not be that far-fetched. I suppose for a company with as dominant a cultural force as Facebook (over 400 million users and counting), any social phenomena could be linked to it.

If a Facebook “Friend” Robs You, Are They Really Your Friend?

Proving that sharing your whereabouts online isn’t always a good thing, a married couple in New Albany, Indiana is wondering whether one of their Facebook “friends” robbed their house while they were at a concert.

From the CBS News report:

“Keri McMullen and Kurt Pendleton left a status update on Facebook Saturday night that said they wouldn’t be home because they were going to a concert in nearby Louisville at 8 p.m.

At 8:42 p.m., two burglars entered their house, using a screwdriver to force open a back door. However, luckily for McMullen and Pendleton, they had recently installed a surveillance system in their home. The cameras caught the entire episode on tape.

The video shows the two men going through McMullen’s purse, stealing electronics — more than $10,000 worth — including a plasma television right off the wall. The burglars are then seen driving away with a laundry basket filled with the stolen goods.

After posting images of the suspects on Facebook, McMullen realized one of them had “friended” her about six months ago. She says he grew up across the street from her and hasn’t seen him in more than 20 years.”

Justin Bieber’s Manager Arrested for Not Tweeting

Back in November, 28-year-old Scooter Braun, the manager of popular teen singer Justin Bieber, was arrested for, get this, NOT TWEETING. When a Bieber concert at a mall got unruly, law enforcement officials decided to charge Braun for reckless endangerment because he didn’t turn to his Twitter account to tell the fans that the concert was canceled until an hour and a half after police requested him to. Braun’s lawyers claim he sent a tweet seven minutes after the police request. Does anyone else think it will be weird to see #FreeScooter become a trending topic on Twitter when it’s not referring to former White House advisor Scooter Libby.

Police Investigate Cyberbullying in Suicide of 17-Year-Old

Suffolk County police are investigating insensitive and disturbing messages sent to a Facebook page for 17-year-old Alexis Pilkington, who killed herself this past Sunday. The police are seeking to learn when the messages were first sent to Pilkington’s account, and if they had any connection to her suicide.

Alexis’ suicide, and the subsequent defacement of a memorial page in her honor, are but one more example that cyberbullying online is a serious problem among teens that needs to be addressed by parents and school administrators. Pilkington’s suicide comes after a number of other high-profile cases including the suicides of 13-year-old Megan Meier, 15-year-old Phoebe Prince, and 13-year-old Hope Witsell.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari Gets Social Media

This article from the New York Times discusses how University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari uses social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, and a personal website to engage with Kentucky fans and raise money for charity. While regular social media users might not be as popular as Coach Calipari, the Times article still gives a compelling example for the benefits of proactive online reputation management.

Facebook Faces Problems in Europe

GigaOm details Facebook’s most recent skirmish with European regulators over privacy-related issues. According to the post, “Swiss and German privacy authorities have told the Associated Press that they are looking at how Facebook — and possibly Google and other sites as well — allows its users to upload email addresses, photos and other content that either belongs to or includes people who haven’t given their consent to appear on the service. According to the AP story, this would likely include uploading pictures without getting the permission of everyone who appears in the photo, and could also affect the automated importing of email addresses that Facebook, Google and other social networks provide as a way of finding your friends when you join a new service.”

Harry McCracken Offers Cybersafety Tips

In a guest post for Fox News, Harry McCracken, the owner of Technologizer and the former editor-in-chief of PCWorld, offers a handful of tips for social media users to protect themselves from online scams and phishing schemes. In addition to offering specific examples, McCracken’s primary advice is for users to use “common sense and healthy skepticism” when they’re online.

Kevin Smith Gets Angry on Twitter…Again

Never one to shy from confrontation, film director Kevin Smith has lashed out at film critics from his Twitter feed using language profane enough to prevent me from rewriting it here. One would think Smith might have learned the error of oversharing on Twitter after his last angry rant about Southwest Airlines wound up hurting his public image more than helping it.

States Reconsider Criminal Punishment for Teen Sexting

If a teen takes a nude picture of him or herself and then sends it to a friend, would he or she be guilty of distribution of child pornography? If you asked a parent, the answer would likely be no. If you asked a judge or prosecutor, however and the answer might be yes. The reason for this discrepancy isn’t because the prosecutors are unfair, however, but rather because few laws exist to narrow the scope of child pornography offenses.

That may be changing however as, according to this article from Ars Technica, many states are now looking at ways to limit penalties for minors who engage in “sexting,” opting for misdemeanor punishments and mandatory counseling.

Twitter Spam Reduced to Less than 1% of Tweets

According to this article from ReadWriteWeb, Twitter is slowly but surely winning the fight against spammers. Since ratcheting up its anti-spam efforts in recent months, Twitter has reportedly reduced the percentage of spam tweets per day to less than 1%. Despite this progress, however, Twitter still relies heavily on user reporting, so if you see a spammer, tell Twitter.

Do You Channel Surf and Surf the Web at the Same Time?

According to a new Nielsen report, “59 percent of Americans – an estimated 134 million people, surfed the Internet simultaneously while watching television at least once a month in 2009.” While this is only a slight increase from 2008, it is still an increase, and it stands to reason that the number of media multitaskers is only going to continue growing.

Given that we are spending more and more time online, you would think that there would be an increased awareness of the importance of proactive online reputation management. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case, as many people continue to ignore reputation management and Internet privacy issues until they are victimized in some way.

Cyber Security Act of 2010 Limits President’s Power

In September of last year, Reputation.com CEO Michael talked about some of the problems with the Cyber Security Act of 2009, in particular, the fact that the legislation gave the president the power to essentially shut down the web in the face of a cyber-emergency. Now, according to Ars Technica, the bill has been amended to limit the president’s scope of power.

Per the language of the new bill, named the Cyber Security Act of 2010, “the president will work with government agencies and the private sector to define a set of objective criteria for what constitutes a national cybersecurity emergency. The president will also work with those same parties to develop a coordinated plan of action that will kick in when such an emergency is formally declared.”

Google China Now Based in Hong Kong

The last thing we heard about Google in China was that while the company doesn’t want to censor search, they also don’t want to give up on the potentially lucrative Chinese market. It would appear that, at least temporarily, Google has resolved this problem by redirecting Google users in China to servers based in Hong Kong. Now, as this L.A. Times article discusses, Google is waiting to see what moves the Chinese government will make in response.

CNET Discusses Census-Related Privacy Concerns

Protecting your privacy is an important part of maintaining a strong online identity. Unfortunately, many people only seem to care about privacy issues when there is a perceived threat. In a CNET podcast, Declan McCullagh discusses the latest issue that is making people anxious about privacy, the 2010 U.S. Census.

Protecting Your Privacy Online From Your Kids

It is very important for parents to take time to discuss cybersecurity issues with their kids. As this article from HeraldNet explains, however, parents shouldn’t only focus on educating their children, but should also consider what steps they are taking to protect their own privacy from, interestingly enough, their own kids.

More than any generation before them, today’s children are growing up in a world where complex Internet technology is the norm. As such, they will be naturally curious about how their parents use technology. If you don’t have any barriers in place, a tech-savvy kid could easily read your e-mail, text messages, or other information that you may not want them to see.

How would you like it if you not only lost your job, but were notified of your termination publicly on Facebook? That’s the unfortunate scenario in which 16-year-old Chelsea Taylor found herself recently after losing a £10 note during her job as a part-time worker at a cafe.

According to News.com.au,

Chelsea Taylor, 16, was stunned when she logged on to the social networking site and found a letter of dismissal waiting for her.

Manageress Elaine Sutton informed the youngster she was being sacked for losing a £10 note ($15) during an errand to get some cookies for her colleagues.

But the note, littered with spelling mistakes and signed off with two kisses, left Chelsea heartbroken and her family furious.

It read: “hiya Chelsea its Elaine from work. Sorry to send u a message like this but bin tryin to ring u but gettin no joy.

“I had to tell the owner bout u losin that tenner coz obviously the till was down at the end of day. she wasn’t very pleased at all and despite me trying to persuade her otherwise she said I have to let u go. I’m really sorry.

“If u call in in the week with your uniform i’ll sort your wages out. Once again I’m really sorry but it’s out of my hands. Elaine xx.”

It is believed Chelsea now has the unwanted title of becoming the first worker to be axed in Britain via a social networking site.

If you can get served legal papers over Facebook, it stands to reason that you can get notified of a job termination as well, but does that make it right? Absolutely not, and I sympathize with Chelsea for having her misfortune aired publicly. Unfortunately, as we continue to live more and more of our lives online, embarrassing and awkward incidences like this will continue to happen. Our only hope to avoid Facebook faux pas like this in the future is to get to a point as a culture where people understand that the same social protocols that apply to regular life apply online as well.

Besides the embarrassment of being canned online, a new concern has popped up for Chelsea in light of her firing. Because of the publicity surrounding her dismissal, there is a good chance that her name will be tied to this story in Google searches, which could be an impediment to her finding a new job quickly. Because her name is somewhat common and she is only 16, there is a good chance that over time it will go away, but in the short term it’s an unnecessary distraction.

What we would recommend to Chelsea for dealing with her newfound online reputation management problem is a two-fold approach. Step one, proactively build your online presence to reflect the things that you want to promote. Our powerful MyEdge service is a perfect tool to get started. Step two, once you have established your reputation online, keep track of it by monitoring how your name appears in search results and throughout the web. For this task, our MyReputation services offer a robust solution combining technical tools and dedicated search specialists to find your name wherever it appears online.

To learn more about these Reputation.com services, as well as our other innovative products, contact us today.