This link is to page 3 of a long New York Times Magazine article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25privacy-t2.html?pagewanted=3
That page, part of a larger article about nasty information on the internet, deals with our problem with subjects whose only verifiable information is some negative incident and the problem of undue weight.
It also discusses ReputationDefender which might be interesting should its operatives show up.
http://www.reputationdefender.com/
Fred Bauder