Saturday, December 19, 2009
Google Bomb Book - Blog of Christopher Burgess
Here is the first part:
Online Safety: Reputation and Personal Brand (A review of the book - Google Bomb)
We all have a reputation. When you were young, you may have been known as the "ultra-smart" student or the one who wore "keds" or perhaps the "bratty one" or the "swimmer" - all labels. And as we matured the labels and nicknames associated with us adjusted. When we entered the working world we all were rated and graded on our clothes, performances, and achievements. Perhaps those judging were our customers, clients or supervisors and throughout the engagement our personal and professional reputations were formed and perhaps you had your professional dossier in hard copy and you also had the "hall file" or personal reputation. Today, the reputation is dynamic and while the hall file certainly remains, each of us as individuals has what is affectionately known as our personal brand.
Click here to read complete article >>>>>>
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Sue Scheff: Traverse Legal Radio Talks about Google Bomb Book
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!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Sue Scheff: Give the gift of holiday virtual presence

* Out of work? Learn to promote your skills online.
* Professional or small business owner? Learn to own and manage your virtual image.
•53% of Americans Google each other. Pew Internet & American Life
The how:
Tip 1: Check out your social networking sites. If there is information or photo’s on there you wouldn’t share with your grandparents, chances are they shouldn’t be on the Internet. Keep it clean!
Tip 2: Sign up for personal branding services. This is free. Services such as Naymz, Ziggs, LinkedIn and LookUpPage offer free online profile set-ups. Take the time to create your cyber resume. It is important to own your own name and your own background.
Tip 3: Create your own Blog. There are many free Blog sites such as Blogspot and WordPress. Take the time to let your potential college or employer see that you are enthusiastic about your interests and motivated to be all you can be. If you are a professional or business owner, let your future and current clientele see that you are up-to-date and knowledgeable about your products and services. [For example http://www.suescheff.blogspot.com/ and http://www.suescheff.wordpress.com/]
Tip 4: Create Google Alerts for your name, business name and nicknames. This is free. Find out when, how and why your name is being use online. This vital for small businesses especially. If there is a disgruntled client or customer, you want to know and hopefully can rectify the situation before it gets worse.
Here are three tips that have limited fees:
Tip 5: Buy your own URL with your name. For example mine is http://www.suescheff.com/ . This can be as little as $7.99 a year through GoDaddy. Build yourself a small website and share with people surfing and researching the web about yourself.
Tip 6: Place your name. Literally you can give the gift of PLACE YOUR NAME with a professional service for as little as $49.95 one time fee. Let them position your name in the search engines, write a press release for you and more. All for one low fee.
Tip 7: Hire an online management service. Although there are many to choose from today, my personal experience is with ReputationDefender. If you know someone that is struggling with online slime, or simply needs a virtual presence or “online make-over“ and doesn’t have the time or the computer savvy to create their cyber image, consider giving them a gift of relief with an online management service. PS: This is also a great gift to give yourself. In my opinion and experience, Reputation Defender is the pioneer of online reputation management services and number one in my book. (I am not a paid sponsor for them and I don’t receive any referral fees from them) I am simply a satisfied client. Costs vary according to your needs. Visit http://www.reputationdefender.com/ for their many services, as well as NameGrab, their latest addition.
Do you want more tips and practical guidance to help maintain your cyber profile? Don’t forget to purchase Google Bomb, The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict That Changed the Way We Use the Internet (Health Communications, Inc. August 2009). This book makes the perfect gift for everyone and anyone that uses the Internet, owns a business, has a reputation to protect, applying to schools, looking for jobs and more.
Remember it can take 20 years to build up a solid reputation and today it can take 20 minutes of a few vicious keystrokes and a click of the mouse, and those 20 years are history.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Sue Scheff: Wall Street Journal Shares My Story

Click here to read her article dated 12/01/09.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sue Scheff: Reputation Defender – Protect yourself and your family’s online reputation

Soon after my review, I was contacted and asked if I wanted to speak with Michael Fertik, CEO of Reputation Defender. Of course I was intrigued and open to finding out more ways of how we can protect ourselves online.
I think my biggest concern online is keeping my children safe. I hear more and more about cyber-bullying and the damaging effects it has on the children being targeted. Kids can be cruel and the internet has become a weapon in spreading that cruelty. I like the way Michael described it best.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Sue Scheff: Another Great Book Review by Conversations with Moms
Google Bomb Review – The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict
When I first started being active on the internet, I was very naive to the Internet World. I’ve learned a lot in the past year and thought that I truly understood the power of the internet. Until I read, “Google™ Bomb”.
Lets just say that I now feel as though I lived in a cave. I was totally unaware of the true power and damage that the internet can do. I don’t know where I was in 2006 to not have heard of the landmark internet case that won Sue Scheff $11.3 million for defamation of character. The only thing I can think of is that I wasn’t active online and didn’t really pay attention to what happened in the internet world.
When I was asked to review this book, I was curious as to find out what could have happened to Sue to make her have won such a large lawsuit. I had never heard of the term Google™ Bomb and thought it would be an informative read. I HAD NO IDEA JUST HOW MUCH I WOULD LEARN.
I was happy to provide this review if only to spread the word of how vicious the internet could be and in hopes of getting the word out that there are simple things you can do to protect yourself.
Read the entire review here: http://conversationswithmoms.com/2009/10/20/google-bomb-review-untold-story-113m-verdict/?sms_ss=twitter
Part 2 will be tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Sue Scheff: Dr. Michele Borba Blogs about Google Bomb book
Since my victory over Internet Defamation, I have discovered I am not alone. Most victims of Internet Slime are private, fearful and feel powerless and alone. My book is giving these people hope again. Don’t forget to order Google Bomb today, not only for my story, but to learn from my ignorance of the power of the Internet and how to protect your online image.
Google Bomb: The Untold Story of Sue Scheff and Her $11.3M Verdict That Changed the Way We Use the Internet
Are you ready to be google bombed? Why you must read Sue Scheff’s story
By Dr. Michele Borba (Parenting Expert and Today Show Contributor)
First off, a little disclosure: a few weeks ago I admit to being absolutely clueless about Sue Scheff’s infamous defamation case. (I know, I know, my head must have been buried in the sand to miss all the news coverage). When I finally did read her story I realized my ignorance was somewhat of an advantage. You see the only Sue Scheff I had known was a parent advocate, a caring friend, and a woman of impeccable integrity. Once I read the cyber nightmare she endured I knew that if this happened to a person such as Sue with such heart and strong character it could happen anyone. It’s also exactly why you must read Google Bomb. So allow me to introduce you to my friend, Sue Scheff and describe what happened to her with hopes it will never happen to you.
Allow Me to Introduce You To My Friend, Sue Scheff
It all started a few months ago when I began using twitter. I loved the ease of connecting and meeting new colleagues, one of whom was a woman named Sue Scheff. It didn’t take much to recognize from her posts that she cared deeply about kids, had a solid pulse on parental concerns and was always willing to offer help to those who asked. She had that “real” quality that you just couldn’t miss. I learned she had authored, Wit’s End: Advice and Resources for Saving Your Out-of-Control Teen, and founded a well-acclaimed organization, Parents’ Universal Resource Experts (P.U.R.E.) which helped parents find ways to protect their children from destructive influences by educating them about the issues their family faces.
Over time our online relationship became an offline friendship. We talked frequently and in one chat Sue told me her next book, Google Bomb: The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict That Changed the Way We Use the Internet (with John Dozier), was about to be released. I started reading it the moment it arrived and literally couldn’t put it down. I honestly can’t recall the last time I was so intensely moved by a story. It was also the first time I knew Sue had endured what you might call a cyber-nightmare: she had been google bombed.
Google Bomb: Internet slang for a certain kind of attempt to raise the ranking of a given page in results from a Google search. (Wikipedia)
August 2003: Sue Scheff Is Google Bombed
Sue Scheff’s story began on August 2003 when her integrity was first attacked ironically on the very website she created for at-risk teens. The slam was one vicious post from a parent who Sue had tried to help. But within no time that post turned into a full-blown character assassination that went viral. Educational articles and parent resources she wrote to help parents were suddenly laced with unspeakable descriptions defaming Sue’s character. Slanderous posts were now everywhere on the information highway and were impossible to stop, take down or erase. What’s more, if you googled Sue’s name you were detoured from her website and to dozens of porn sites. And the cyber attacks proved deadly offline as well: Sponsors pulled away from her, clients stopped calling, and friends stepped back.
Sue’s reputation as a parent advocate was smeared, her business ruined and her work for children’s destroyed. One woman’s vicious intent to destroy Sue’s credibility and character succeeded with a mere click of a computer key.
Sue’s Fight for Character and Redemption
Sue fought back to defend herself and restore her damaged reputation but at a huge cost—both physically and emotionally. In the next three years I learned she had racked up over $150,000 in legal fees, watched her organization nearly disintegrate, and developed classical symptoms of agoraphobia where Sue could barely leave her home let alone answer her phone. And then hired an attorney and endured a tough legal battle to try and reclaim her reputation.
On September 19, 2006 a Florida jury declared their own outrage and awarded Sue a landmark $11.3 million verdict. That verdict sent a strong warning that destroying lives online would not be tolerated. And right they were.
Cyber attacks have become a growing trend among adults as well as youth and those attacks are destroying lives. The first step to change is knowledge and that’s exactly why I urge you to read Google Bomb. Please read it carefully and then pass it on to others. If this could happen to Sue it could happen just as easily to anyone—including you or your family.
I was on my own person emotional roller coaster reading this book. From complete disbelief: “Is this really the same Sue Scheff?”; to rage: “How could anyone do something like this to another human being!!!?”; to tears: “How did she live through this?” And when I read the final page I actually stood up and cheered. I cheered Sue’s character, grit, and unwavering determination to right a terrible wrong.
Thank you, Sue for having the courage to fight back to defend your reputation and tell your tale. It’s an example to us all.
Aristotle said years ago that the true measure of a person’s character rests in their actions. Your actions speak volumes, my friend.
Michele Borba is the author of 22 books including Big Book of Parenting Solutions which is now available. Follow her on Twitter @MicheleBorba
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Sue Scheff: Sneak Peak of Google Bomb - The Foreword

Part 1
Sue Scheff didn’t expect she’d make enemies when she founded the child and parenting advocacy organization PURE. But someone began attacking her on the Internet, posting enough defamatory statements to compel her to bring a lawsuit. She won $11.3 million in 2006.
In this exclusive preview of the book “Google Bomb,” Brand X brings you the story of what the lawsuit means, Sue’s own perspective and 10 tips to protect yourself online. The series begins today and will continue through Tuesday, when the book goes on sale [on sale now].
But despite what may be Google’s best efforts and intentions, the machine gets it wrong at least as often as it gets it right. The errors and omissions of the world’s search engines visit punishing consequences on the victims of erroneous, obsolete, incomplete, or false information. Nonetheless, despite this mixed (and possibly worsening) track record, the rising primacy of Google as the world’s most important data channel seems to hoodwink many of us into believing what we see when it comes up on the top of Google search results. The theory goes: if it shows up on Google, it must be true and it’s somehow the best information about the subject being searched.
It is clear that people make decisions based on what they find in the top positions on Google: multiple visual “heat maps” published on the Internet have shown that the vast majority of Google users look at the top few results and ignore everything below them.
This is important for all of us, as we have become as searchable as the subjects we crave information on. What shows up at the top of Google can make or break our professional lives, our chances at romance, and our ability to get into the school of our dreams. It is far easier to harm someone and destroy their reputation on the World Wide Web than it is to make that person look great or even plain vanilla neutral. Blogs and discussion forums often enjoy more prominence in search engines than newspapers and other edited professional journals. Under the rules of search engines as they exist today, odd blog and forum corners of the Web can be turned into powerful launch pads of interpersonal attack.
There are real-life consequences when someone aims to destroy someone else on the Internet. It’s all too easy to destroy another person on the Web. In cyber-slamming cases, victims are often intimidated into silence because they feel powerless and helpless, and their first instinct is to shut themselves up so that things don’t “get worse.” Sue, a victim herself, is a rare individual because she decided to stand up for herself on the Web, defend herself in the courts and online, and go about protecting herself and others in an assertive way. You may or may not agree with everything Sue and John have written, but we can all agree that the narrative they tell is an important one for the emerging discussion of Internet, speech, and the speech-shaping powers of Google.
Part 2 Do you know what Google is Saying about you?
Part 3 Ready to protect yourself online? OK, let’s get started
Part 4 The top 10 ways to protect yourself from e-venge
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Sue Scheff: Google Bomb Book featured in Washington Post by Kathleen Parker

Shock Waves From the Google Bombs
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
When Oscar Wilde observed that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about, he could not have imagined the Internet.
The wild frontier we now know and (mostly) love called the blogosphere is a not-always-okay corral where Free Speech is armed and often dangerous.
The latest showdown is between two women — a Vogue model and an anonymous blogger — at odds over what is permissible in the name of free expression. After the blogger called Liskula Cohen a “skank,” among other things, the model demanded her identity from the blog host, Google. A New York Supreme Court judge agreed that she was entitled to the information and ordered the company to reveal her name.
Outraged, the blogger, revealed as Rosemary Port, is launching a $15 million lawsuit against Google for disclosing her identity. Google’s Andrew Pederson said that while his company sympathizes with victims of cyber-bullying, “We also take great care to respect privacy concerns and will only provide information about a user in response to a subpoena or other court order.”
This all may seem like an inside-the-runway spat between two women who don’t like each other. As pioneering blogger and law professor Glenn Reynolds noted on Instapundit, “I never would have heard the words ‘Liskula Cohen’ and ’skank’ together if it hadn’t been for her blogger-outing litigation efforts.”
The model case isn’t insignificant, however, and raises weighty questions about privacy, anonymity and the future of e-free speech.
The problem of online defamation is hardly new, but several recent lawsuits have begun challenging the anything-goes modus operandi of the Internet. One of the most famous dates to 2006, when Sue Scheff won a staggering $11.3 million verdict against a woman who had posted hundreds of defamatory comments about Scheff and her company, which counsels the parents of troubled teens.
After years of torment that included stalkers and death wishes, Scheff was able to prove that her reputation and business suffered as a result of the defendant’s comments. In her new book, “Google Bomb,” due for release Sept. 1 and co-authored with attorney John W. Dozier Jr., Scheff tells the story of her lawsuit and offers advice to others similarly defamed online.
“Google bomb” is Internet slang for attempting to raise the ranking of a given page during a Google search. The popularity of a page may not reflect the page’s relationship to truth, but it may be popular for other reasons. Let’s just say, nasty sells.
Defusing Google bombs isn’t much fun unless you’re a computer geek or have no preferable ways of spending your time. To keep your online profile positive and prominent, you have to blog, tweet and maintain Web sites — or hire someone to do it for you. Scheff says she resents having to do these things, but, “if you don’t own your own name, someone else will.”
Scheff considers herself lucky because she was able to hire an attorney as well as an Internet monitoring company, ReputationDefender, that manages her online persona. Others, hundreds of whom write her each week, aren’t so fortunate. In one example, a wedding photographer lost his business when a single unhappy bride went ‘zilla and trashed him online.
“No one is immune,” says Scheff. And, just because you’re not personally active on the Internet doesn’t mean that your persona isn’t online — not necessarily in a good way. The Internet has unleashed that part of ourselves that we used to keep under wraps. Dark thoughts, like the trolls of Mordor, can now surface and thrive by the light of day.
The freedom granted by anonymity and a virtual audience may have been a boon to democracy, affording everyone a voice, but it has been a plague on decency. Inhibition, we lament, is an undervalued virtue.
Scheff’s case and the Cohen incident suggest that a new level of accountability, largely missing from personal blogs, may be in the offing. “What you type today can haunt you tomorrow,” says Scheff. “People need to know that if you use your mouse and keypad to harm others, there is a price tag.”
Harm is the operative word. Although Scheff was able to prove material losses, Cohen likely gained from her brief tenure as a victim. In fact, she has dropped her lawsuit and forgiven the blogger.
No one likes being bashed online or elsewhere — and public people are familiar with the experience. But even Scheff thinks that in the absence of quantifiable defamation, anonymity deserves protection. As Google and the courts slug it out, Cohen did manage to render an oft-ignored lesson in bold italics: Think before you type.
Or else someone may want more than a penny for your thoughts.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sue Scheff: What is a Google Bomb?

What damage can it do? Major! As a victim and survivor of a Google Bomb, I will share with you that a few vicious keystrokes and clicks of a mouse - your good name can be trashed, slimed and literally ruined virtually. Your 20 year reputable business can be destroyed in a matter of 20 minutes from this type of activity.
Prior writing my book, I was clueless about Google Bombs, but very familiar with Internet Defamation. I never realized this monster had a name until we searched for a book title.
Whether you are a teacher or a principal, a lawyer or a landscaper, a truck driver or a doctor, a stay-at-home mom or career woman, teens to grandparents – no one is immune to Google Bombs. You may have an unsatisfied client, disgruntled customer, student that didn’t like their grade, a friend turned foe or went through a divorce and your once soul mate is now your adversary. The Internet doesn’t discriminate, learn to maintain and protect your name, business, kids, and family online.
The Internet has been considered an educational tool and an informational highway, now it is being used as a legal lethal weapon. I believe in free speech and the First Amendment; however it will not condone Internet Defamation and Invasion of Privacy. I have countless numbers of emails from victims of Cyber slander, it is a growing problem that needs to be addressed and awareness needs to be raised.
Years ago I went through a very trying time, when I realized I was being attacked online. I fought back legally and won an unprecedented jury verdict for damages over $11M for Internet Defamation and Invasion of Privacy. $5M of this verdict was awarded for punitive damages – meant to punish. The jury read through pages (literally tons of posts) and listened to testimony to determine that what happened to me needed to send a strong message.
In my latest book, Google Bomb, The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict That Changed the Way We Use the Internet, you will read many of the ugly posts (anti-semantic, sexual, death wishes, and more). You will also go behind the scenes of the legal road, as well as practical guidance prevent this from happening to you.
As a writer for the Examiner on parenting issues, please take note that more colleges are checking your child’s name when their applications are received. Furthermore, even more employers are surfing search engines prior employing applicants. It is critical we educate our children and teens that what they post today may end up haunting them tomorrow! Be an educated parent.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Sue Scheff: Google Bomb is Now Available! Early Release!
Online vs Offline - are they equal to who you are?
When Revenge turns to E-Venge? Do you know how to protect yourself?
Free Speech does not condone Internet Defamation!
Rise above Internet Defamation - learn how to take your online image back and how to maintain it!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Sue Scheff: Outstanding Endorsements for Google Bomb Book!
—Michael Fertik, CEO and Founder of Reputation Defender
“I haven't been this affected by a book in a long time. I went from a shaking rage to knots in my stomach to tears and finally to cheers. What happened to Sue could happen to any of us, and Google Bomb’s practical guidance, makes this a highly profound and useful book that the world needs to read.”
—Michele Borba, Ed.D., Author of The Big Book of Parenting Solutions, Parenting Expert and Today Show Contributor
“Google Bomb is a great book! The Constitution protects free speech, but slander is not free speech. We should be able to hold slanderers accountable, and Google Bomb helps readers do that.”
—Senator Walter G. “Skip” Campbell, Jr.
“Parents need to teach their kids to be safe online, and Google Bomb offers a game plan that even a technophobe can execute. A must read for anyone who has ever posted their name on the internet, but especially for those whose kids are doing so every day.”
—Danielle Wood, Editor-in-Chief, Education.com
“Google Bomb is an instructive and timely book that will only become increasingly relevant as our laws catch up to the realities of today’s evolving technology. Sue’s triumph over her attacker underscores the principle that there is no constitutionally protected right to defame others online.”
—Fatima R. Fahmy, Attorney at Law
“Google Bomb offers solutions to virtual threats and character assassinations and is a wakeup call as to why we need tough legislation to protect the innocent – albeit children, adults, or businesses. Bravo to Sue Scheff and John W. Dozier Jr. for writing this much-needed book.”
—Ross Ellis, Founder and CEO, Love Our Children USA
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Sue Scheff: Google Bomb Book get ready to Launch!
This is very exciting - if you with media and would like a preview - contact PR by the Book - Jordan Bucher. jordan@prbythebook.com
DO YOU KNOW WHAT GOOGLE IS SAYING ABOUT YOU?
Visit www.googlebombbook.com pre-order today!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Sue Scheff: Google Bomb Book
John Dozier will give you the legal landscape as well as insights on what is lurking in cyberspace. Michael Fertik, CEO and Founder of Reputation Defender, lends his expertise in Online Reputation Management with his foreword. Together we have assembled a dream team for Google Bomb – Meet the Authors! Visit http://googlebombbombook.com/ for more information on this very timely book!
Just recently the Dozier Internet Law Firm marketing team has put together some YouTube introductions – check them out!
Google Bomb: Online Impersonators http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXTSiq3b6fM
Google Bomb: Call to Action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGCrGqtG36g
Google Bomb: Land of a Million Dreams http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSSlariie2s
Google Bomb: What is Your Legacy to Be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtopTox7kxo
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Sue Scheff: Google Bomb Chapter One - We're Not in Kansas Anymore
The Untold Story of my $11M Jury Verdict for Internet Defamation - Landmark Case and growing problem in the World Wide Web. - No - we are not in Kansas anymore!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2byX1XG9qT8
Order today at http://googlebombbook.com
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Sue Scheff: Google Bomb Book Take 3
Check out this new animation describing some of the Scofflaws of the Web today….. You can read more abou tthem under Monsters of the Web on the recently launched website.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Sue Scheff: Google Bomb Book Has New Website

Friday, June 5, 2009
Sue Scheff: Google Bomb Book Take Two on YouTube
Watch YouTube Latest Google Bomb Video: http://johndozierjr.typepad.com/dozierinternetlaw/2009/06/defamation-lawyer-google-bomb-book-coming.html
Pre-Order today at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0757314155
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sue Scheff: Google Bomb Book Debut on YouTube

Check out the new animation review of our upcoming best-selling new book!
Click Here for YouTube Debut: http://bit.ly/14ma3I
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Sue Scheff: Google Bomb Book In Stores September 2009

Google Bomb, the book, will be in your favorite bookstores September 1, 2009. Google Bomb is the story of Sue Scheff and legal commentary from John W Dozier Jr.
Check out the new animation review of our upcoming best-selling new book!
Click Here: http://bit.ly/14ma3I

