My cell phone rings at 6:30 on a Friday evening. It’s the CEO of a client company and she is panicked. Hysterical. It turns out she was doing some "old-fashioned" investigating by performing Google searches on herself and the company. The results are bad. Very bad. And the client is asking for my immediate assistance with damage control.
A number of Internet websites today host user-generated content where users might have the opportunity to expose negative information about third-party individuals or businesses. In some cases, this might be helpful. For example, websites that allow users to post restaurant or product reviews (or complaints) provide valuable information to consumers and potential consumers (for example, Yelp and Wired). They might also benefit the subject restaurant or product manufacturer by identifying areas of weakness.
