The Blog of P.U.R.E. and Sue Scheff

When safety trumps privacy - is when invasion of privacy is thrown out the window. As a parent keeping our children safe, especially our new young teen drivers is a priority. Many teens believe they are invincible and accidents only happen to other people.  Sort of like those other people are the only ones that get STD's or have bad things happen. Newsflash - bad things can happen to good people. NBC's Kevin Tibbles had an interesting segment today on TODAY about how parents are taking back technology, that their kids are so far advanced in, and using it to protect their teens and children.  The question is, how much parental monitoring is too much? ( Watch segment on sidebar .) The three resources of advanced technology that were discussed are as follows: ZPass | Ridership Tracking :   For Student TrackingZPass was designed specifically for pupil transportation to monitor student ridership in a safe and non-intrusive way.  Knowing if and when...

Keeping our kids safe in cyberspace has become one of the top priorities for parents. Net Cetera was launched by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) for parents. Net Cetera: Chatting With Kids About Being Online, OnGuard Online gives adults practical tips to help kids navigate the online world. Recently YouAreHere: Where Kids Learn to be Smarter Consumers was created for kids as a compliment to Net Cetera in continuing to help you keep your kids safe online. This FTC website teaches your kids about privacy and fraud. The site takes visitors to a virtual mall, where they can play games, watch short animated films, and interact with customers and store owners. As they explore areas of the mall, visitors learn how advertising affects them, how to protect their privacy and avoid identity theft, how to spot and avoid frauds and scams, and how they benefit when businesses compete. For parents and teachers , the site has detailed fact sheets with ideas for related activities. The act...

California attorney, Adrianos Facchetti , recently reviewed Google Bomb and his comments are amazing. I am always grateful that others are finally hearing and understanding what is happening in cyberspace. It is a growing and expanding problem as small businesses are suffering, reputations tainted, and lives being ruined by a some vicious keystrokes and clicks of a mouse.Read the outstanding reviews click here .

By Connect with Kids After chat rooms, instant messaging, and social forums became popular, a new word entered our vocabulary: cyber-bullying. It's been a problem almost since the Internet was invented but studies now show that online harassment and bullying has increased over 50 percent since 2000. Read entire article here: http://www.connectwithkids.com/tipsheet/2008/388_jun4/thisweek/080604_gossip.shtml

By John W. Dozier (Super Lawyer in the Law of the Internet) The federal prosecutors in California obviously did their legal research before asking the grand jury to indict under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the myspace.com suicide case. I don't like the statute's seemingly over-broad reach. I've criticized the statute in the past for the very same reasons some of the free speech liberal commentators object all over the airwaves today. The difference, however, is that I don't pretend to make the law mean what I would like for it to mean. It is what it is. And, as it is written, the prosecutors believe they are right, I think they are right, and the 9th Circuit does too! Wonder if the prosecutors read my blog entry from last June about Dozier Internet Law and our view on the law of hacking ? And I wonder how many of these law professors and talking heads on TV have ever tried a hacking or unauthorized access case? Maybe the prosecutors are new to this, maybe they ...

Vengeance websites are giving angry women the chance to expose their ex-partners as love rats. David Smith on the rising tide of ‘e-venge’ Click here for entire article. As a victim of E-Venge ( Sue Scheff ) I know firsthand how deadly a few keystrokes can be to a person, a business and a life. I fought back - and won an uprecedented jury verdict for damages of over $ 11M for malicious and defamatory online comments. Free speech will not condone defamation - this is not about the first amendment. I will continue to be a voice in promoting Internet Safety without infringing on free speech. My meetings with my Senator and my Congresswoman are the beginning of a long journey towards positive change.

Daily I received phone calls and emails from parents with concerns about their kids Internet Usage as well as what they are reading on their Social Networking pages such as MySpace . Many of the kids today are not aware of the lasting effect a humorous picture today can cause for the future. Our children today are the same kids that will be applying for colleges and jobs several years from now. However, to a child/teen, that seems like a lifetime away. As a parent, we can help monitor their activity by always keeping your lines of communication open. Another option for parents is Reputation Defender MyChild . This service will send you monthly reports on your child's name and what is being said about them. Many parents have signed up for this service, and personally - I think it is a priceless in today's unregulated cyberspace. Protecting our children comes natural to most parents - now we have to expand our protection to the expanding world of the web. As a Parent Advocate , I...

Check out the archived podcasts page! Sue Scheff's Podcasts Updates soon!

Another example of how parents need to take charge on what their kids are doing online - Cyberspace is becoming more and more risky - and Cyberbullying is climbing and harming more and more kids. Bullying Goes High Tech in Cyber World by Isabelle Mascarenas

More and more news articles, media and others are finally taking Cyberbullying seriously. As both a victim and survivor of being abused in Cyberspace - I know first hand how important this subject is. Kids today need to be aware of what lingers online as well as take precautions not to feed into Cyberbullys and their tactics of invading a child's privacy. As a parent, you can take steps to protect your kids online. Know what they are doing and where they are going in Cyberspace. It is almost as important as knowing where they are going when they leave your house! Take Cyberspace seriously! A recent news article by the Associated Press is one of many that are bringing this awareness to parents. I always encourage parents to consider Reputation Defender MyChild to help protect your children online, especially in the social networking sites such as MySpace and others.

We keep hearing about more and more people searching online for background information on potential new employees, college applicants, or if someone is considering using your business for a service or trade. Parents need to take the time now with their kids to show them what they create on their MySpace profiles, Facebook, Friendster and other Social Networking sites could potentially effect their future. We, as parents, need to make them aware of what they put on there today - could effect them tomorrow. Of course, kids don’t quite understand that the future comes faster than they can imagine. After-all, in most cases college is years away! (In reality they are only 2-8 years away - which isn’t that far off, but feels like an eternity to a child). Take the time to offer examples and show how what they may deem as funny today, could potentially cause embarrassment later. Remember, what is posted on the net today - has the potential of staying there forever! Teaching your kids to make s...

In today's crazy world of Cyberspace - it can be a free-for-all to literally destroy longstanding reputable people and organizations with a stroke of a keypad. With this, priceless services like Reputation Defender have become in demand. As a client of Reputation Defender , I can personally attest to their remarkable services as well as their compassion to help people that are being harmed via the Internet. I was a victim of Internet Defamation and now a survivor of it - not only because I won an unprecedented $11.3 Million jury verdict for damages, but because I fought back! I am not a spokesperson for Reputation Defender, but I am certainly a very satisfied client and completely amazed at their dedication to keep the Internet a safe place for everyone. For those that believe that it is about hiding the ugly, think again - Reputation Defender is selective and does their due diligent. I am proud to be their client. When I went public about retaining this service, it was a diffic...

The law of Defamation has come under renewed scrutiny with the advent of the Internet. This is largely because it is the nature of the Internet to give the average, anonymous person an opportunity to express their opinion well-beyond any previously defined venue. Consider the fact that a person of modest means now has the ability to publish a statement, article, or news item across the world in an instant, without an editor checking the facts. Thereafter, the item will linger on the 'Net for months, or even years, impossible to recover and amend, if the "facts" are erroneous. Therefore, it is inevitable that problems are going to arise. The main issue to remember when dealing with the Internet is that people still have their basic legal rights intact on the Net, and - likewise - the Internet is not as completely anonymous as the typical person may presumes. What is Defamation? The law of defamation has been defined in the West for centuries, and the Internet variety holds...

As P.U.R.E . goes into an 8 th year of helping parents and families, I am very proud that I have been able to be touch so many lives. This past year has been the most incredible year but 2008 will be the best with the release of my first book - Wit's End! It is so exciting and already there are many requests. I have been interviewed with many prestigious and reputable journalists and the experiences have been so fantastic. Being able to be a voice against Internet Defamation as well as a Parent Advocate is where I am right now. Being slandered on the Internet is not fun, but helping parents that are desperate is very rewarding - so I am so fortunate to be where I am.

With this unprecedented jury verdict (not a default verdict) of $11.3M - comes more slander! If you are reading ugly and malicious information about me, you can understand why. The defendant - Carey Bock - who attempted to get the judgement set aside - was denied with a strong order set down by the Judge. She is being held liable for the defamation and invasion of privacy she created to myself and my family. I have also received a mass amount of media attention from prominent news outlets such as 20/20 ABC News i-Caught, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Forbes and more. All these reputable journalist did their due diligence on my case. Freedom of speech is here to stay - Defamation is not acceptable.

Whatever can hurt you the worst, has the equivalent power to help you the most. For all those that have written me of their stories of Internet Harassment and Abuse - I received this in my email today. It is worth passing on to everyone.

Tuesday, August 14 th , 2007 - Sue Scheff and Michael Fertik , CEO of Reputation Defender were featured on 20/20 ABC News new series - i-Caught . Sitting down with renown Journalist, Martin Bashir , Sue Scheff and Michael Fertik share the seriousness of maintaining your Online Profile and fighting malicious and online attacks.

On Friday, August 10 th - Michael Fertik , CEO of Reputation Defender was featured on The Today Show on NBC . His service to help people monitor their online profiles and reputations has become a priceless service for many people that are becoming victims of Internet ugliness. Reputation Defender is not about chilling your first amendment right, it is about bringing the truth to the top! Unfortunately there are people that want to hurt others and their new weapon is using Cyberspace to literally attempt to ruin others with a few keystrokes. Personally, I am a client of Reputation Defender and hold them in the highest regard. Recently I won an unprecedented case of $11.3M in a jury trial for damages for Internet Defamation and Invasion of Privacy. Since this victory - the campaign to discredit and destroy me as escalated since some extremist believe the First Amendment allows them to defame others. The First Amendment does not condone defamation. I was a victim " Caught in...

Sue Scheff and Michael Fertik , CEO of Reputation Defender , recently were on the BBC and NPR Talk Radio with Dan Damon. The National and International attention that ReputationDefender is attracting is due to the overwhelming use of slander and defamation on the Internet. With today's Cyberspace world - more people will Google others to get information about them. It is critical to monitor your online reputation. Like Identity Theft, this can be devastating and potentially ruin businesses and people's lives. As a victim of Internet Defamation, I have decided to share my success story after the horrors of slander, defamation and invasion of privacy I endured.

Calling In Pros to Refine Your Google Image By Susan Kinzie and Ellen Nakashima Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, July 2, 2007; A01 At the height of the cyber-abuse, Sue Scheff , a consultant to parents of troubled teens, would type her name in a Google search box and brace herself: Up would pop page after page of attack postings. Sue Scheff is destroying lives. She is a con. She takes kickbacks. She is the biggest fraud there ever was. The stream of negative comments began in 2002 after a woman who had sought advice from Scheff turned on her. The postings appeared on PTA Web sites in Florida , where Scheff lives. On bulletin boards and online forums. There were even YouTube videos threatening her. She sued for defamation and won an $11.3 million verdict , but the attacks only got worse. In December, Scheff turned to ReputationDefender , a year-old firm that promised to help her cleanse her virtual reputation. She no longer dreads a Google search on her name. Most of the links on t...