By Pierre Zarokian from ReputationStars.com
Everyone has shared private photos with someone they care about. It might be of a child, it might be of yourself or an event you went to. Those moments are meant to be between the two of you, but sometimes people have differences and drift apart. If those explicit pictures end up online they can damage your reputation and create a narrative of your life without any context. Public scrutiny and judgment on sites like TheDirty.com, myex.com or reportyourex.com can be embarrassing and stick with you, unless you take proactive steps to deal with the issue.
Takedown Notices
The DMCA takedown notice is an individual’s first line of defense in protecting themselves, and it works well for smaller publishers and those who follow the law, but most often DMCA only works for removing a copyrighted picture and any text content posted on the page would remain. Some sites like Ripoff Report and TheDirty may not even comply with DMCA picture removals. Sites like this also often get away with posting content that is often untrue or unfounded due to the Communications Decency Act.
Contacting the Poster
If you know who posted the content, sometimes, a kindly or strongly worded email can help remove postings. However, some sites may not even allow the posted to remove the content. Some websites have built their entire business models on destroying the reputation of others by hosting such content and they refuse to remove anything as they rather have more content to make money from banner ads. TheDirty is notorious for being non-responsive to removal requests. In these situations, legal action may be one of your only options. If you need help with removing posts from thedirty, my company can help.
Reputation Management
The practice of reputation management helps you reestablish your brand after a PR crisis. You don’t have to be a big brand to utilize a reputation management service. Some people use one to help hunt for a job, making sure their own name is free from negative postings and their image is positive. Reputation management can prove valuable if you’re concerned about the potential damage a leaked photo could do to your life.