Who Owns YOU Online?

// Begin 06.03.2007 Update //
This video and audio were inserted on 6/3/2007 because they seem fitting in the context of this "mission-defining" post. Thank you to IDW for helping me to rightly represent. No ill will intended, but I do understand the initial observation. Thank you!

Identity Man: Charging to the Identity Big Bang

Identity Man, the Sibelius Music score by Philip Tsz Kin Yu (2005).
// End 6.3.2007 Update //

Opening a conversation, based upon the essay I wrote in 2001.

It's five years later, and search engines STILL spit out ineptly distorted, disinterested, and wholly undifferentiated displays of YOUR online identity. Perhaps an illustration will serve best to demonstrate.

At the very least, the following link is a more relevant way to Google Me, as are this google or that google and another google. Now compare those to a plain old stupid google which -- at the time of this posting -- even throws in random references to Canadian "Mike" Silverton. No offense, Mike, but I'm sure you don't like seeing all my Ethernet First Mile stuff potentially confused with you any more than I prefer your StereoTimes Reader Feedback, 1999 in my top ten hits.

I will refrain from writing more than a single paragraph reminding that the dot-US (.us) cc-TLD was suppose to be free to everyone and also help in this disambiguation, and as many understood it, pretty much intended to stay that way. Theoretically, the guidelines ensured a free and unique fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for virtually any city, school, library, local organization or individual who desired one. After all, the "cost" of a domain name is nothing more than a line of text in a zone file.

By way of further illustration, if a search for my name needs to be mistaken, this common top 20 result from the combination of Michael + Silverton belongs near the top of the stack. (Note: I have no relation to AnneMarie whatsoever, although she obviously does the surname brand proud!)

In contrast to other search engines, Ask.com almost gets it right (but for over-weighting Wikipedia and the erroneous www in the second listed URL). At least Wikipedia's approach disambiguates from other instances of a name and helps create a more credible portrayal of people; and all are open to public review, critique, and correction to keep things real.

The point in all this: if the site or sites that YOU LIST FIRST (after all, it is YOUR online identity) are at the top of the search engine results, we learn a lot more about you, more quickly. In my case, I can share that I enjoy and value the work of people from Lanier to Kurzweil, that I'm a General Aviation enthusiast and volunteer of various community and innovator-enabling organizations. This is a dramatic departure from a plain "google me" and find some random post about PCMCIA drivers for Linux laptops, a Usenet post circa 1995, or a Fidonet post, circa 1992.

Who owns YOU Online? No question about it, YOU DO ... and since more and more of your content -- the online YOU -- is creating the VALUE of their networks and services, the accidental designers of your inadvertent dossier owe you simple and secure tools for Online Identity Management (OIM).