Politicians Turn to Internet Scrubbing
Friday, May 6, 2011 at 5:30PM
Internet scrubbing is becoming an even bigger business as politicians turn to online reputation managers to delete past indiscretions, from sexual affairs to embarrassing tweets.
One online reputation management company, Integrity Defenders, tells Politico that politicians now account for 15 percent of its business. And business is apparently booming for companies such as Reputation.com and Metal Rabbit Media.
"Political campaigns are getting used to the idea this is something they need to care about, and they're getting less ashamed about it," Michael Fertik, CEO of Reputation.com explains to Politco reporter Jennifer Martinez.
However, Martinez notes, "Rewriting the digital past can be a political minefield." She says, "Eagle-eyed bloggers and Web surfers have caught some candidates red-handed deleting content from Facebook, Twitter or Wikipedia in attempts to sanitize their online histories."