Thought I would pass on a good article on defending your personal online reputation. It appeared in Portfolio this month -- you know, the one with Bernie Madoff on the cover. Hard to get that picture out of your mind once you have seen it. The article, Slimed Online, by David Margolick provides an arresting story on cyber-bullying by anonymous assassins who went after two Yale law students. The frightening tale is about an online site called AutoAdmit, a web site visited by law students who in addition to real conversations also has visitors who seem to get their kicks out of tormenting (a mild word) women peers through no-name posting. There are many of these web sites and backstabbers out there so this is just one story about the harm it can do and how reputation-damagers can find themselves in the spotlight too if they don't watch out. Several online reputation defense companies are mentioned to help you if you are in trouble and being smeared: Reputation Hawk, ReputationDefender and several others that work to bump up the good and bury the bad search or site mentions (eVisibility, Converseon, 360i). The two women are suing AutoAdmit to "unmask" the reputation bandits who have done so much personal harm. Ultimately what you learn is that the law does not provide much protection. Kudos toReputationDefender for taking this on for free.