The Trouble With The Web: MySpace.com, Sedo.com and Spock.com All Say I'm Gay.

My embarrassment with all of this, and I must apologize, is that the people who don't like me aren't smart or imaginative - and probably demonstrated their own issues in posting information falsely tied to my name. I apologize profusely for having dumb people as enemies; if I knew who they were I would chide them and perhaps even coach them to a higher level, I assure you.

When I got 2 messages today to go to Spock.com, I decided to check it out. There was no information on the front page of Spock.com, so I typed in my name for a search.

According to Spock.com, I'm gay and 47. Having thought that I was 36 and straight, I was quite confused. I was even slightly amused. Maybe there is a gay 47 year old 'Taran Rampersad' running around, but then the level of writing lends itself to something done as a prank. I mean, no self respecting Taran Rampersad would put this tripe in their Spock.com profile:

I AM GAY AND PROUD, WHEN YOU HEAR TARAN RAMPERSAD I WANT YOU TO THINK GAY GAY GAY. MOST PEOPLE WONDERED WHY I WAS SINGLE AND WELL HONESTLY, ALMOST DEAD IM SO OLD AND SINGLE AND GAY HOLY! WELL LETS SEE I LIKE BEING CALLEG TARAN RAMPERSAD THE FAGGOT I LIKE TAKING IT UP THE ASS TARAN RAMPERSAD STYLE IF YOU NEED ANY HELP AT ALL TAKING IT UP THE ASS LET ME KNOW BECAUSE ME TARAN RAMPERSAD IS A GAY LEADER WOO! TARANRAMPERSAD@GAY.COM.

.

Two tendrils here. First - the source was Taran Rampersad on MySpace.com. MySpace.com? Perish the thought. Even my most silly namesake wouldn't have an account there, where people could be misrepresented so slanderously. Especially, if you read that this person who is using my name likes 'GAY LITTLE BOYS'. I think the FBI should look into this pedophile. Who should I contact?

I contacted MySpace.com, and mentioned I would be writing about it. I wrote to Spock.com and metioned I would be writing about it. A dusty memory came to me, where someone had registered 'TaranRampersad.com' and who I had tracked down. The person claimed that they were a victim of identity theft, but they're in Canada - so maybe no FBI there. OK, fair enough. In the WHOIS information for TaranRampersad.com has 'Bullerman Taran' as the organization name.

'Bullerman' is a Trinidad and Tobago colloquialism for 'gay man'. That's why I pursued it in the first place - and why I was told, after some emails, that the domain would be transferred to my name. I forgot about it, because it really isn't much but someone pretending to be me to try to damage my reputation - and they are apparently within Trinidad and Tobago, limiting it to one of two people I know who are at this level of slander. Only one, though, is probably competent enough to pull it off. That said, having revisited this, I noticed that my email addresses were listed for the domain - maybe they had registered the email address in my name.

That would make sense.

So I tried Sedo.com. Since my email address is listed as an administrator, I should have an account there (although I never registered at Sedo.com). I sent them this through their contact form:

Apparently, I have an account here because my name is listed in the whois information for taranrampersad.com, as well as my email address.

However, I cannot get that information when I try to get a lost password - it says that my email address is not listed.

I am writing about this on my site, KnowProSE.com.

Well then. It should be interesting to see what comes of that.

So now, back to that tendril - 'TaranRampersad@gay.com'. I went to Gay.com and emailed their abuse email address for good measure.

Since you're probably wondering - no, I'm not gay. No, I'm not 47. No, I'm not a pedophile. What I am sexually is heterosexual. I don't post information about any relationships I am in because its really not your business. I'm 36. And I have dumb bigots for enemies. Sorry.

Beyond Me

MySpace.com, Spock.com, Sedo.com and Gay.com have demonstrated quite well how easy it is to attempt to smear someone's reputation. In fact, if someone had posted something more offensive, this could have actually been really nasty. I mean - calling me 11 years older and gay is rather awkward for a 36 year old heterosexual, but I'm not trying to find romance on the internet - so its no danger to who I really am. Would being 47 and gay affect how I am perceived when it comes to what I write? I guess, but then I don't really write things that bigots would appreciate - even if they have nothing to do with homosexuality or being 47.

What should scare you is that these sites - these companies - allow this level of childish attack. These childish attacks could well have been more damaging if the people behind them had any creativity or intelligence. As it is, they do look like sexually frustrated people, but hey - that is their affair, or lack of it.

When I reviewed 'The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet', I didn't really expect that I would have such a great example - indeed, that my own reputation would be an example. Amusing.

It will be interesting to see the responses from these sites. They should all seriously be looking at how they do things, how they were subverted here - and elsewhere - and wonder how much legal liability that they have when such things happen. I'll await their responses and see what shakes out of this.

As far as anyone who may have had interactions with people posing as me - quite simply, I'm sorry and you should be careful who you deal with on the Internet. I am not that person.