Reputation Attack Site and Reputation Repair Site in Cahoots?
Now here’s something that’s caught my eye..and disturbed it.
Wired.com has pieced together evidence that suggests a reputation “attack” site is in cahoots with a reputation “repair” site. I almost didn’t finish the story–after all, it seemed like just another “guy gets a bad Google reputation, hires an ORM firm” piece.
Then I saw this:
Florida.arrests.org is the brainchild of a computer-savvy Florida ex-con named Rob Wiggen…
and…
“Philip Cabibi Mugshot,” read the title. The description was “Mug shot for Philip Cabibi booked into the Pinellas County jail.”
then…
Cabibi paid RemoveSlander $399 by credit card, and within a day, the site had come through. His mug shot was gone from florida.arrests.org, and his Google results were clean.
here’s the kicker…
Wiggen said he has provided RemoveSlander an URL for an automated takedown script on his site. A PayPal payment of just $9.95 will automatically purge a mug shot from the site. For an expedited removal from Google’s index, which Wiggen’s code performs through Google’s Webmaster tools interface, the fee is $19.90. Wiggen said other removal sites also make use of that same URL, but he declined to name them.
So, if I am reading this right, Florida.arrests.org get’s $20 each time an ORM firm uses its script–750 have been removed thus far. RemoveSlander nets about $380, and they both move on to the next “customer”–all without much effort.
Wow! What’s next, the same guy owning both the attack site and the removal site?
Is there a lesson here? Sure, don’t do the crime if you can’t do the Google facetime. Oh, and always contact the attack site first and see if they have a “program” that ensures your information is removed. Cut out the middleman! 😉
There has been a big debate in the arena of consumer reviews and complaints sites just like this. Some like ripoff report will not remove anything under any circumstances. Still others will do so, for a small fee of course. Interesting slope we are on here huh?
The scam-industry premise is: “on-going-torture-by-extortion” & is reprehensibly disgusting. Abysmal police/justice management of sensitive information. If pigs/justice are not taking kick-backs by allowing extortionists access to mug-shot information, they should be fired for their information mismanagement & being accessory to allowing criminal extortion. Innocence after arrest, paying a lawyer to “clear your name” now has no meaning. The idea of “innocent until proven guilty” has long been a joke of the US justice system. People awaiting trial can spend years in prison; Now allow those free on bail or declared innocent to suffer at the hands of public for being unfortunate enough to be introduced to a broken police arrest, booking process, and its information management. Now extortionists can make money by tormenting all involved in a police arrest information management process.
Extortionists (inclusive of *.arrests.org, *.mugshot.* & those in supposedly privileged positions to remove info at a cost are extortionist leaches and need to be imprisoned.
Getting arrest information off the internet is not a legal effort or a costly one. It REQUIRES the author to remove the information and ideally be prevented from getting it in the first place. It requires police/justice to take accountability for ensuring such information is restricted to “only those that need to know” within the justice & police systems. Any money made in allowing a ‘transparent legal process’ needs to be weighed against the cost of tormenting victims = EXTORTION.
Contact Robert Wiggen at Flagler Beach, FL, owner/author of *.arrests.org to teach him some respect.
why doesn’t someone take his script and post it so he and others don’t make money off of others mistakes. Its disgusting an has the offender guilty til proven innocent and by then its too late.