This article is excerpted from “Safeguarding Your Reputation: What High Net Worth Families Need to Know”, by Frank Rodman, President of TorchStone, a leading risk management firm.
The ever-expanding use of digital and social media, and the lack of U.S. laws governing Internet speech have made reputational risk a real concern for many Americans. While Europe now has the “Right to be Forgotten,” which separates individuals from negative search results about them upon request, we have no such protection here in the United States.
No one is immune to becoming a target of inappropriate, invasive and unwanted Internet commentary, but high net worth individuals and their families are particularly attractive targets for anonymous “trolls,” criminals, and private citizens online who may target them. Such risks have made reputation management of interest to many of TorchStone’s clients.
High net worth individuals are increasingly conducting deep-search intelligence on the Internet to learn just how exposed their reputations, their capital, and their personal data are online.
Google’s goal is to publish the most accurate, the most informative, and the most useful information on the Internet. To achieve that, online “bots” scour the Internet to pull up every piece of relevant information every time someone conducts a search. If you do not intentionally place content online about you, you have no control over what Google and other search engines unearth about you and place on the first page of your search results. When such information dominates the first page or two of a Google search about you, it can detract from your professional image, affect your business dealings, and even impact your personal life. That includes your personal security.
Read the complete article here.
Frank Rodman is a security executive with over twenty-five years of qualitative experience building pragmatic security solutions. He has worked with diplomats, business leaders, and ultra-high net worth families to develop sophisticated strategies to avoid risk.