The Brett Kimberlin Saga:

Follow this link to my BLOCKBUSTER STORY of how Brett Kimberlin, a convicted terrorist and perjurer, attempted to frame me for a crime, and then got me arrested for blogging when I exposed that misconduct to the world. That sounds like an incredible claim, but I provide primary documents and video evidence proving that he did this. And if you are moved by this story to provide a little help to myself and other victims of Mr. Kimberlin’s intimidation, such as Robert Stacy McCain, you can donate at the PayPal buttons on the right. And I thank everyone who has done so, and will do so.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

What Does Zoominfo’s “User Verified” Tag Really Mean? (Answer: Not Much)

Update:  Zoominfo account terminated!  See here for details.

A few weeks ago Christine O’Donnell was accused of putting up a linkedin page with...  well, an inflated resume would seem like the kind way to put it.  She claimed it was fake and Lindedin took it down, without taking a stand on the authorship of the original.

Then another popped up using Zoominfo, and a lot was made of the fact it was “user verified.”  So I wondered, well, just how much went into user verification?

I can tell you the answer, now: pretty much nothing.  Take a look, for instance, at this profile for “Mr. Thomas Petty.”  Every word of it was written by me (leaving out web references that are automatically gathered).  I am not Tom Petty.  And it says “user verified.”  So the obviously fake profile was allowed to stay up there since September 30 and no one cares.

How did I do it?  Simple, I registered, using my AaronJW72@gmail.com address.  That's right, I used a name that very obviously was NOT Tom Petty.  That’s all the verification they required.

Does it exonerate Christine O’Donnell?  Nope.  Does it erase other problems?  Nope.  But it’s one more piece of the puzzle.

So Zoominfo, its time to step up.  Disclose the email address used to verify this account.  If not to us, at least to an appropriately skeptical reporter.  [Update: And giving us the IP address would be nice, too.]

Also screen cap after the break, in case Zoominfo decided to disappear this little embarrassment.


Thanks to Patterico for the screencap.  For some reason blogger is not letting me load pictures I create, but it is letting me copy from other sites.

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