With millions of people signing on and creating new pages each year, it's downright impossible to review all sites before they go online. But companies like Facebook and MySpace are at least working with celebrities to crack down on the glut of personality thieves working their way through cyberspace.

"A lot of celebrities like the fan sites, but if they don't, we delete them [as long as] they file a complaint," says a MySpace spokesperson.

Ditto for Facebook, which encourages users to alert them to fake postings. "Impersonating anyone or anything is prohibited," says a commpany spokesperson. "We remove any content that is in violation of our terms of use, including fake profiles."

A Cybersolution

And it's not just for good PRo There is actual law governing this new pheenomenon, according to attorney Jeffrey Neuburger, of the New York-based firm of Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner, which specializes in technology and media law. Neuburger says that celebrities may have recourse if someone is making money off their image and it isn't a free speech type of use. Thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, anyone can file a notice of copyright infringement, which requires sites like MySpace and Facebook to investigate and remove suspected materials.

Both sites are already working to provide users links to legitimate sites. In January; MySpace launched Celebrity MySpace, a directory of offiicial celebrity sites and related entertainment news, blogs, videos and events. Among the stars participating in the page is Ghost Whisperer's Jennifer Love Hewitt, who has been the subject of dozens of fake sites in the past.

"I have no problems with fan sites," Probst says. "What's great about them is they can be positive or negative, and the people [using them] are often very honest about what they think about you. Freedom of expression is something I believe strongly in, so I say more power to you. The only time a site becomes a bit of a concern is when people start representing that they are, in fact, you. The truth is, the Internet is completely unregulated and you have to accept that people can say or write whatever they want. And there's ultimately nothing you can really do about it."