The City of Windsor is rapidly buying up domains that end in .xxx. Why would they do this? Because they are engaging in a simple form of Internet online reputation reputation management.

To avoid any indecent Internet exposure, some of the city’s biggest institutions are snapping up corresponding domain names ending in “.xxx” to make sure they are never bought by or associated with adult entertainment websites.Mary Rodgers, who works in marketing and communications at the city, said the IT department had just purchased www.citywindsor.xxx on Tuesday.

“It’s to protect our reputation,” Rodgers said. “We’re not going to use it, but we own it.”

This is actually quite intelligent. If they didn’t do this, some entrepreneur or hobbyist with no scruples could use those websites however he wanted.

This article does a really good job of emphasizing how the sphere of privacy has shrunk thanks to the Internet. Cyberspace has definitely left our lives open to criticism, investigation, and a total lack of privacy.

The phrase “my life is an open book” has never been truer than it is today. The Internet, coupled with the growing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, have exposed many personal histories to anyone with access to cyberspace.

Often, this can result in embarrassing revelations or in online defamation. The answer is likely to turn to online reputation management–it saves time, effort, and frustration in this regard.