Brent Marks Legal Thriller Series: Box Set Two

by Kenneth Eade

  The perpetrators of these crimes go unpunished. Since they are not committing the crimes face to face, the distance and removal from the victim is like an air force pilot who drops a “smart bomb.”

  It becomes impersonal, the victim is dehumanized, and morality is altered. It’s easier to pull the trigger when you can’t see the person you are aiming at or witness the blood and gore as the bullet connects with its target. The Google algorithm doesn’t care if the search results it returns are true. It is designed to rank the most popular sites higher.

  Your cyber-bully doesn’t have to make up some of the information he chooses to spout about you on the Internet. He has help: you. Posting personal information and photographs on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn, or any number of other sites is fodder for cyber-gangs to manipulate and repost that information and photographs in ways that you may not consider to be very flattering. Just remember: everything you put into cyberspace stays there, so make sure it’s something you want people looking at 10 years from now, before you do it. It will be there online, easily accessible to all, long after you are dead and gone. My wife tells me not to talk to people about my personal life, which is good advice. It’s even better advice, in this virtual world, not to post something personal about yourself on the Internet, no matter where you post it or whom you intend to see it. It is a little slice of your privacy that you may be giving up forever.

  Because rumors can be posted on the Internet and published to millions instantaneously, they have more powerful effects than in the past, where they were spread from mouth to mouth. Rumors of stock splits, acquisitions, and the like have caused great swings in the stock prices of huge international companies. When Steve Jobs was alive, false news that he had suffered from a heart attack sent Apple stock down $10 per share. Zynga stock rose 10% in 2013 on rumors of a possible Yahoo buyout.

  Nobody checks the accuracy of anything on the Internet. Even Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, while often a wonderful place to start research, has user-generated content. It can be contributed by anyone, as long as you follow their guidelines. Wikipedia is probably a bad example, because at least it has some degree of respectability as far as accuracy goes. But 90% of what is on the Internet is absolutely unverified and, therefore, unreliable. Anybody can post to a free Blogger or WordPress blog anything they want. And because the matter appears in printed form, it is automatically given a degree of respectability.

  One of the most fascinating books I ever read was The Believing Brain, by Michael Shermer. In The Believing Brain, Shermer explains how the brain forms beliefs and then will seek out seemingly-random patterns to reinforce that belief. The same is true of what people will read about you on the Internet.

  The old saying “Throw enough shit on the wall and it will stick” is the principle behind these online beliefs. Simply put, if they see it in print enough times, they will believe it is true. That’s quite frightening when statistics show that people doing an Internet search will seldom go beyond the first page of search results. If the first impression that someone gets of you is what they read on the Internet, that bias is not likely to change after they meet you in person. That is why it is important to take control over what people are seeing on the first page of Google.

  Since the best way to advertise a product or service is word of mouth, and today’s word of mouth has metamorphosed to cyber word of mouth, it makes sense that whatever is being said about you, your business, or your product on the Internet can have a huge impact on your business or job prospects. For further information, see this article that I contributed to as an expert about the impact of reviews on such sites as “Yelp” and “Trip Advisor”: http://www.kentucky.com/welcome_page/?shf=/2014/09/29/3453093_review-website-such-as-yelp-and.html.

  It may sound ridiculous, but in the online world you have no right to your name - unless, of course, you buy it. It reminds me of an old case I learned in law school called Sullivan v. Sullivan. In the early days of television, Ed Sullivan had the most popular variety show on TV. I don’t know why. He talked funny, in a nasal tone (“It’s a really big shoe tonight”). But if you were anybody (or wanted to be anybody), your agent had to book you on his show. There was a local television store owned by a man whose name was also Ed Sullivan, and he used his name as the name of the store. He was sued by Ed Sullivan the TV show host and won, because the court held that Sullivan had the equivalent of a brand of the name “Ed Sullivan.” As a result, the “nobody” Ed Sullivan lost the right to use his own name in business.

  The same is true of the Internet, but in a different way. Google doesn’t care (the company – not the algorithm – because it doesn’t care about anything) if someone else takes out a Blogger account named after you, or even uses your name. In my opinion, if that is not identity theft, I would like to know what is; but Google is immune and will do nothing unless you can prove copyright infringement. It’s impossible for you to prove copyright infringement of your own name. Likewise, anyone can buy the Internet domain rights to your name. It may be the most valuable thing you have; but unless you buy it yourself, you don’t own it.

  Mr. Cyber-bully is probably busy not just trying to smear your good name, but he has a full schedule of others to bully as well, so he probably won’t shell out the $20 or $30 that it will take to secure your name - but you should. Secure as many domain names in as many variations of your name as you can. If your name is John Smith, get Johnsmith.com, johnsmith.net, and johnsmith.org. Buy domains with variations of your name using your middle name and initial and your nicknames. When you’re finished getting as many as you can with different combinations of your name, start using dashes in between your first and last name and middle initial. For example, get the name, John-smith.com and John-J-Smith.com. Go to a domain registration site that is inexpensive, like www.godaddy.com or www.1and1.com, on which you can also purchase user-friendly packages that can help you design and put your own website online with no extra cost.

  The two blog sites which offer free blogs with the most Internet “power” are http://wordpress.com and http://blogger.com (which is also blogspot.com.) Make sure you get every variation of your name in both of those free blogs.

  Deleting yourself from databases is a good idea for anyone to do. After all, if you want someone to find you or know something about you, you can tell them yourself, right? You can opt out of the information bases of “people search” sites such as https://pipl.com in the same manner as you did with the directories – just start at their privacy policy button and keep clicking through until you get to their opt-out procedure. Make sure you opt out of every such site, including: www.123people.com (look in “privacy policy” and “remove information”), http://wink.com, www.spokeo.com, http://zoominfo.com, www.intelius.com, www.llifehacker.com, Yahoo People Search: http://search.yahoo.com//people/email.html, www.ussearch.com, www.acxiom.com, www.zabsearch.com, and www.peoplefinder.com. For some removals, you will have to be very specific. Research the site ahead of time and note the identifying information, such as city and state. This will be useful when you go to remove your personal information. It is very time consuming, so take the time it takes to do a thorough removal job.

  Google will remove social security numbers, credit card numbers, and images of your signature from its search database. To request removal of this information use this link: https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/3111061. If your cyber-bully has abandoned his smear site, or you have succeeded in getting the webmaster of the site to agree to remove it, use this link to remove the cached page from Google’s search results: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/removals?pli=1. You should try this for any information appearing about you on the web.

  Google will also investigate malware, phishing (trying to obtain your personal information under false pretenses), sites engaging in “suspicious behavior” (whatever that is), inaccurate information, your name on adult content sites, a page violating your copyright or trademark rights, or other
legal issues. To start this process, click here: https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905?rd=1#ts=1115655.

  Everything that is on the Internet that you can’t get removed by the foregoing methods will most likely always remain on the Internet – forever. When I was in the Scouts, we used to love to go to summer camp. At summer camp, we would sing songs and learn useful crafts (like how to survive in the woods if you get lost) and all kinds of other “cool stuff.” One of the things that I learned that has application to this subject is about the camp latrine. In the camp latrine there was a tool that is just about as useful as the Google Removal Tool we discussed in Chapter 7. That tool was a stick. If the latrine got “clogged up,” we just used that stick to push “all the other shit down.” The same concept applies to Google searches.

  In online reputation management, the object is to put positive information about yourself on the Internet that will rate with the search engines, like Google, which will have the effect of pushing the negative information down. Since most people don’t go beyond the first page of search results of Google, and almost nobody goes past the third page, this sounds like a fairly simple task, right? Wrong! Remember back in Chapter 1 when I told you that Google puts the “most popular” results on Page One of its search page, and that the most scandalous will always be the most popular? Your positive information has to be compelling and constantly updated, because Google also rates information by its age (unless, of course, it’s scandalous enough).

  You can subscribe to all kinds of professional sites that will do this for you, at a very high cost. What they will do is create a generic bio about you to post as a profile on one web site (in your own name) and various profile websites on the Internet, such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many others, and link those sites to other sites so that Google will find the information to be important enough to feature on its web search results.

  Or, you can go to http://brandyourself.com, and for a small annual fee, they will guide you through what sites you need to have a presence on, help you create an online profile, link that profile to dozens of web sites for full exposure, and analyze an unlimited amount of links that you choose to submit. Brand Yourself will prompt you on how to “boost” your links to have them rate higher in search engine results, and will monitor and send you emails on what links are in the top ten of your Google search page. Brand Yourself is the stick in the latrine, and I highly recommend it.

  You can also put news services and trivia into your personal sites in order to give them more content. Make sure that they each contain information that is a little different, or you will simply be ignored by Google and the other search robots as potential “spam.”

  Being active on social media sites, such as Twitter, will move your Twitter profile to the top of the Google search results. If you go with Brandyourself.com, their system will prompt you to create social media sites, but unless you use them and supply them with fresh content, they will not do you any good; so be active on the social network sites to increase your positive online presence.

  Blogging is a great way to build positive search results on the Internet. I have found that a blog at http://wordpress.com is picked up relatively quickly by the Google search engine. It is easy to create a blog, and if you can’t think of anything to write on it, you can scan interesting news stories and repost them to your WordPress blog. Whenever you post, enter your tags and categories on your post and be sure to include all variations of your name.

  If you like to write, you can also build positive results by writing opinion columns or stories in places such as www.ezinearticles.com or www.storify.com. But if you really have something interesting to say, I have found that the website of www.opednews.com is treated very well by Google, as everything you post there comes out as news. If you become an author at Op-Ed News, you can also create a profile that receives pretty good treatment by Google.

  One more thing…

  I hope you have enjoyed this book and I am thankful that you have spent the time to get to this point, which means that you must have received something from reading it. If you turn to the last page, Kindle will give you the opportunity to rate the book and share your thoughts through an automatic feed to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. If you believe your friends would enjoy this book, I would be honored if you would post your thoughts and also leave a review on Amazon. Click here for the book link for your review.

  Best regards,

  Kenneth Eade

  info@kennetheade.com

  BONUS OFFER

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  Best regards,

  Kenneth Eade

  info@kennetheade.com

  BONUS OFFER

  Sign up for paperback discounts, advance sale notifications of this and other books and free stuff by clicking here: http://bit.do/mailing-list. I will never spam you.

  ABSOLUTE INTOLERANCE

  KENNETH EADE

  For Valentina, the love of my life, my partner, and my muse

  ”In order to have faith in his own path, he does not need to prove that someone else’s path is wrong.”

  -Paolo Cohelo

  PROLOGUE

  Susan Fredericks parked her car in the driveway at 12600 Foothill Road and popped the trunk. When she opened the driver’s side door, she was engulfed immediately by the sweet jasmine of her brother’s herb garden. It was so quiet, she could hear the buzzing of the bees as they foraged from flower to flower, and the occasional car on Foothill, which was less busy than usual on this early Sunday afternoon.

  The property was isolated. It’s what Jim, her brother, and her brother in law, Ron, liked about it the most. Too isolated. I must have told him that a thousand times. The driveway ended at the separate garage a good 150 yards from the road, and their little cottage was set back even further.

  Among her three siblings, Jim was the closest. He had always been different, but Susan had never had a problem with his differences, unlike her other two brothers. Mom had adapted to it easily. She knew he was not the same as other boys. But, sadly, Dad was a little slow in accepting Jim as he was. They would have been proud of what he had become: a successful Internet entrepreneur.

  Susan threaded the handle of her purse up her arm so she could use both hands to haul the three plastic bags of gifts from the trunk. Unfortunately, she had not been able to attend the wedding itself, but Jim and Ron had planned a big reception for the weekend. She had flown in from Kansas City specifically for the occasion, and had spent time collecting presents that she thought would make their cottage very homey.

  As she walked down the path to the front door through the canes of pink, white and red violet, and the aroma changed to the sweet smell of roses, she felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Something was just not right. Do I have everything? Did I lock the car? She fumbled in her purse for the keys, turned toward her car, and clicked the “lock” button on the remote. The blinking of the lights and honk of the horn reassured her that it was, in fact, locked.

  At the front door, Susan extended her right index finger through the handles on two of the bags to push the doorbell, but she didn’t hear it ring. She knocked on the door and, as she did, it creaked forward. It was open. Jim’s always leaving his door open. Doesn’t he care about security? Well, maybe they’ve already had breakfast and they’re outside puttering around.

  She peered down the rows of the garden to ascertain if her suspicions were correct. They’re probably out back. I’ll just go in.

  The interior was even more silent than the quiet surroundings outside. Susan stepped into the foyer.

  “Hello?” she called out. No answer.

  “Hello?” she said again, a little louder, as she ventured to the entrance of the living room, a little afraid of the silence - especially since the front door had been left open.

  Suddenly
she noticed the writing in what appeared to be red paint, dripping letters across the ivory wall in between Jim and Ron’s Chagall oil and Picasso sketch. It read: “GOD HATES FAGS.”

  Susan began to shake. “Jim? Ron? Are you here?”

  In a panic, she ran into the living room, inhaled to call out their names one more time, and exhaled a shriek as she dropped her bags. In front of her were two bodies. At first, they looked like mannequins dipped in oil and then wet red paint. They were unclothed and arranged in a Yin Yang position on the floor, surrounded by a large pool of blood, and had been placed in front of the panoramic window from which you could see out across the back garden and pool, through the city of Santa Barbara nestled in the valley, and all the way out to the sea. Out there the hustle and bustle, the dreams and disappointments of life, continued. In here, it had stopped.

  Susan strained to make out their faces and she tried to come closer, but she couldn’t. There were bloody gashes in the bodies. She couldn’t tell which was Ron or which was Jim. Oh, dear God! It has to be them! Her eyes blurred from the tears, cascading mascara down her cheeks. The two bodies had to be those of Jim and Ron and they were also obviously dead.

  Susan’s knees went weak and her legs shook. She felt like falling, but had the urge to run at the same time – just get out of there. The shock and grief were overwhelming; but more powerful than that was her urge to flee. Is the killer still in the house? She didn’t wait to find out. Instead, she turned and ran, leaving the bags where she had dropped them and taking only her purse, which was still hanging on her elbow. She would call 9-1-1 as soon as she was as far away from the cottage as possible.