Claim your ID Follow-up
Already with a follow-up. I got an e-mail telling me something I did not know related to the ClaimID service. They have a Best Practices page on their website. Every web service should have a page like this.
http://claimid.com/bestpractices
Now while I did not know that the page existed, I was aware of some of these tips. I have had Google Alerts searches in place for over a year now. Not just searching for my own name, but also for my wife and two kids. I first learned that my wife set up a page at LinkedIn because of the Google Alert. And of course I quickly checked that it really was by her and about her. Whether or not you use ClaimID, running such searches on a regular basis are an important step in protecting your on-line identity.
And if you own a domain, don’t forget to check regularly to see what the search engines have that is pointing to your domain. Regrettably, when I search for SmallieFishing.com, I get hits on every page/article that discusses Smallmouth bass fishing. I guess that with my domain name, that’s not a bad thing. I do need to keep up on that topic. 
The ClaimID Best Practices also has a nice description of ways to improve a search by changing your search string. And while I rarely use search engines other than Google, they do give a good list that you can use.
One would think that a lot of these best practices would obvious just as good common sense. But even those of us who are interested in on-line identity protection can learn a new trick. You would think that as much as I depend on a spell checker, I would think of the value of searching for things by using common misspellings. While you may not get any interesting hits this way, I’d rather not miss something just because I assume everyone knows how to spell my 10 character last name.
If you have a suggestion for another best practice that could be applied here, please leave a comment. You might also consider e-mailing it to the ‘info’ at ‘claimid.com’ address. Their page does say that will keep this list of best practices updated. Pages like this are a very good thing. And let’s not forget that the internet is more valuable when we all share our best practices.
More later, Ken S.
Tags: Blogging, Identity, WebDev
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