Google Thyself

I Googled myself today.

It wasn't the first time, by far. Curiosity had led me to that practice many times in the past.

But I hadn't be so motivated for some time. Until today.

It wasn't an exercise of vanity. Instead, it was a form of self-preservation.

Washington Post writer Kathleen Parker prompted my search. Her column today details legal activity surrounding a Vogue model and an anonymous blogger who plainly did not find said model to be her flava. The blogger posted frequently and voluminously about model Liskula Cohen, describing her as a "skank," along with other derogatory names.

Cohen worried that these missives could negatively impact her marketability. After all, how many businesses want their products to be identified with a "skank?" So she sued Google, which hosted the offending blog (as well as this one, if you haven't noticed), and demanded to know the true identity of the poster. A New York Supreme Court judge ruled in Cohen's favor and ordered Google to reveal the blogger's name.

That's not the end of it; not yet, at least. The outed blogger, Rosemary Port, is now suing Google for $15 million because it disclosed her identity. Cohen has dropped her previous lawsuit.

Now apart from my frequent despair over the growing lack of civility in anonymous discourse over the Internet, my interest in this dispute was minimal. After all, why would I have reason to worry about my online profile?

Then I stopped. Because it only takes one determined person to turn your electronic world upside down. Even if you believe yourself to be a straight shooter and fair broker.

So I Googled myself for the first time in several months. There were a lot more entries than I expected. Only a couple of surprises. And thankfully, nothing that bad.

But I will be keeping a closer watch in the days to come.

A word to the wise: Do you know who you are in cyberspace?