October 11, 2008
Pay-Per-Click Fraud Exposed
Has anyone else noticed a disturbing pattern in your pay-per- click advertising campaign, of the same IP addresses clicking on your ad, spending one or two seconds on your website and then leaving?
That's called click fraud and it's a major problem among all of the pay-per-click search engines.
Click fraud is a scheme that takes advantage of online advertising programs like those offered by Google, Yahoo/Overture, Findwhat and others. A fraudulent website is set up and participates in programs like Google's AdSense program. Unlike legitimate websites that attract human visitors to the site, fraudsters use software "hitbots" or employ boiler-rooms of low-wage employees from other countries to generate clicks on ads, and then collect commission from pay-per-click programs
Read More...
Posted by dj at 8:20 PM
January 5, 2008
Google Investigates AdSense Trojan Horse
A new Type of Pay-Per-Click Fraud.
Now Hackers are trying to exploit Google's ads. By planting a Trojan on the surfers computer they hijack the ads so they take 100% of all revenue.
Will a future GoogleAntiSpyware offer to protect advertisers and users?
Will Google do something before getting on the frontpage of Wired or Wall Street Journal?
Google Investigates AdSense Trojan Horse
Posted by dj at 11:25 PM
November 17, 2005
Suspected Click Fraud Bot Master busted
"Over nearly a year, Ancheta allegedly used automated software to infect Windows systems, advertised and sold access to the compromised PCs, and used the software to perpetrate click fraud, garnering tens of thousands of dollars in affiliate fees, according to a 58-page indictment released on Thursday."
This is why the Content Networks and the 2-3rd tier search engines have sooo much Click Fraud. He could have been focusing on clicking his competitors, but most likely he is just trying to make a quick buck.
Suspected bot master busted
Robert Lemos, SecurityFocus 2005-11-03
Federal authorities arrested a 20-year-old California man on Thursday, accusing him of creating bot software to compromise nearly 400,000 Windows computers and using his control of the systems to garner more than $60,000 in profits.
In what prosecutors have labeled the first case of its kind in the nation, a federal grand jury charged Jeanson James Ancheta with 17 counts of conspiracy and computer crime stemming from his alleged profitable use of bot nets. Over nearly a year, Ancheta allegedly used automated software to infect Windows systems, advertised and sold access to the compromised PCs, and used the software to perpetrate click fraud, garnering tens of thousands of dollars in affiliate fees, according to a 58-page indictment released on Thursday.
"This is the first case to charge someone for using bots for generating profits," said James Aquilina, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California and the prosecutor on the case."On the one hand, he is selling bots to other people so that they can (perform) denial-of-service attacks and spam to make money. And on the other hand, he is using bots to make affiliate income."
The arrest comes as authorities are turning up the heat on bot herders, the name for people that control millions of compromised computers worldwide. In October, Dutch authorities arrested three men in the Netherlands who allegedly controlled a network of more than 1.5 million compromised computers. In August, the FBI and Microsoft helped authorities in Turkey and Morocco track down two men suspected of creating and spreading the Zotob worm--a program that consisted of bot software modified to exploit a flaw in Windows 2000.
The arrests have driven some developers of bot software underground, but many security researchers are doubtful that convictions in the cases will significantly reduce the threat. One reason: Bot software increasingly forms the core of the newest worms, such as Zotob, because the programs only need the exploit for the latest vulnerability to start spreading among computer systems.
However, previous cases have focused on other aspects of the crimes, not the actual underground trade in compromised computers, Aquilina said.
The latest case stems from two separate investigations into bot software. During the summer 2004, investigators started looking into an advertisement posted in the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel #botz4sale that linked to a price list for buying compromised computers. And in late 2004 and early 2005, computers at the Defense Information Security Agency (DISA) and the Weapons Division of the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California, became infected with bot software.
Prosecutors soon determined that a single person was behind both events and quickly focused on Ancheta. In raids executed in December 2004 and in May 2005 on Ancheta's Downey, California residence, prosecutors seized three computers and discovered chat logs that described numerous sales of small numbers of bots and the success of an alleged collaboration with a Florida man to garner affiliate fees through click fraud.
According to the indictment, Ancheta created a customized version of a publicly available bot software package known as "rxbot". He allegedly used the software to infect nearly 400,000 systems. While he made nearly $3,000 selling hundreds or thousands of compromised machines to would-be bot herders, the vast majority of his profit was from installing adware on the compromised systems and using them to generate pay-for-click affiliate fees, according to the indictment.
Ancheta allegedly received checks from GammaCash, an affiliate program run by Gamma Entertainment, and from LOUDcash, a program run by CDT, which was acquired by advertising firm 180solutions. In March 2005, at the height of his affiliate sales, Ancheta made almost $8,000 from Gammacash, according to the indictment.
180solutions' CDT subsidiary, renamed Zango in April, had already canceled Ancheta's account by that time, according to company spokesman Sean Sundwall. The Bellevue, Washington-based company, whose past advertising tactics gained the ire of many Internet users, has aggressively pursued click fraudsters over the past year, Sundwall said.
On Thursday, the company announced that it had cooperated with the FBI in a separate investigation against the three Dutch men arrested in October on charges of controlling 1.5 million compromised PCs. While the company had not worked with the FBI and Department of Justice on the latest case, executives extended the offer to help, he said.
The company has also created a more secure version of its advertising software that should prevent the program from being installed without a computer users' knowledge, Sundwall said. The software will be released before the end of the year.
"We are aiming to remove any financial incentive (for fraudsters) to do this sort of thing," he said.
Ancheta appeared briefly in court on Thursday and is being held pending post-indictment arraignment on Monday and a bail hearing set for Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Aquilina said.
If found guilty of all charges, Ancheta could be sentenced to a maximum of 50 years in prison and would have his assets seized, including a 1993 BMW bought in October 2004, allegedly with proceeds from affiliate sales.
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11353/2
Robert Lemos, SecurityFocus 2005-11-03
Comments
NathanE
Just a comment on the quote in this article:
"This is the first case to charge someone for using bots for generating profits."
In fact - it's not. The W32.Leave.Worm author, a british man convicted for a number of things, was using his worm and the bots created by it to generate a significant profit through click-through advertisements of the time.
Just a little side note of interest.
Re: Not the first one... 2005-11-07
Matthew Murphy
I'm not familiar in-depth with the circumstances surrounding that particular worm. However, most or all bot herders up to this point have been charged with crimes relating to the *compromise* of their victim PCs. The indirect motive (profit) in these cases is the same, but the basis for criminal charges is different.
I know that it certainly is a first for a U.S. court to try a case of fraud related to a computer botnet. Given the serious penalties that fraud carries, this seems to me to be a more effective strategy.
Posted by dj at 2:57 PM
August 26, 2005
Beware of Google AdSense
If you're counting on your income stream from AdSense, beware. On August 5, 2005 I woke up to find a message in my inbox from Google saying my AdSense account had been disabled. The reason they gave was 'invalid clicks have been generated on the Google ads on your site(s)."
It went on to say "Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further participation in AdSense and do not receive any further payment." That's right, they also decided they were going to keep the earnings in my account at the time they disabled it.
I knew this had to be a mistake. I never clicked on ads on my own site or asked anyone else to click on them. I don't even know how to use automated click tools which are mentioned in the AdSense Terms of Service. I checked my server logs for any unusual activity, and found nothing.
I replied to the email saying it must be some sort of mistake, and requested an explanation with further details so this issue could be resolved and my account could be re-instated. After two days passed and no response to my reply, I sent another email to adsense-adclicks@google.com. More time passed and no reply. I then sent an email to Adsense-support@google.com, once again explaining the situation, and asking for a reply so this misunderstanding could be worked out and my account re-instated. Again, no reply. I even made a phone call to Google's home office in Mountain View, CA. You can't actually speak with a real person, but the recording asks for your email address so they can respond to you. I left my email address and my phone number, and again explained my situation. Still no reply. It is now August 26, 2005, a full three weeks of trying to get some sort of explanation from Google, with no replies.
The bottom line here is Google can close your account at any time for any reason, justified or unjustified, steal the money you have earned, accuse you of fraud, and then just send you a form letter saying they closed your account. They should add a sentence at the end of the letter saying:
"By the way, don't try to contact us requesting an explanation of why we have falsely accused you of this crime, stole your money and closed your account because we will not give you an answer. In fact, we will not even acknowledge your existence."
Jeff
contractors4u.com
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 2:55 PM
August 23, 2005
How the Affiliate Marketing Industry Is Dealing With Fraud
With so much legislation and buzz about other Internet marketing issues such as spyware, adware, spam and click fraud making daily news, it is simply a matter of time before an effort towards some solution solidifies into real standards. Information on sharing is still an essential element in stemming the tide of fraud.
Approximately 10 years old, the affiliate marketing industry is one of the newest in performance marketing. Legalities, best practices and associations are in their infancy stages. That said, affiliate fraud is rampant.
Every morning I tackle the previous night's Filinet affiliate signups to run through our anti-fraud checklist. Out of 50 applications, there may be 5 to 15 of which are actual, legitimate affiliates. The others are added to a very large database of red flag URLs, names, e-mails, IPs and so forth. The ones who continue to try and breach our network with applications, or use another person's contact information, are shared across our partner networks and on the affiliate message boards, minus the wrong contact information.
In the world of e-commerce Learn how the leader in Internet services can help you start and grow your business online. Network Solutions. Go Farther., Affiliate Fraud is defined as "Bogus or unlawful activity generated by an affiliate in an attempt to make money." While spam generally angers consumers and click fraud is more geared toward the merchant, affiliate fraud causes casualties on both sides of the industry, affecting both affiliates and merchants. Frauds steal from merchants by generating false leads or sales. They also cripple affiliates by stealing their traffic via replacing their affiliate IDs in links, so that when a buyer completes a transaction, the credit for that transaction goes to the thief and not the actual affiliate who worked so hard to acquire that buyer. These traffic stealers are also known as parasites.
There are, however, various strategies in place to deal with the issue of cowboy affiliates willing to lie, cheat and steal their way into making easy money.
Combating the Cheaters
The best strategy for fighting fraudulent affiliates is one of prevention, monitoring and communication. Preventing frauds from entering and exploiting an affiliate program is the clear first step in avoiding the affiliate fraud spiral, but that does not make for a complete solution. Aside from stringent applicant screening to catch the obvious perpetrators -- such as those creative folks who sign up with a highly recognizable domain name Latest News about domain name only to use a hotmail e-mail address and a disconnected telephone number -- there are other steps merchants and networks can take.
Once an affiliate is allowed into our network, they are constantly monitored. We receive their e-mail newsletters, we visit their Web sites and our traffic department constantly reviews patterns for any suspicious activity coming from affiliate links. While some may not like the constant review, affiliates who generate legitimate traffic have nothing to be worried about. All of these extra measures allow us to offer legitimate affiliates the tools and resources they need to successfully generate revenue for our merchant partners.
While this is still an internal part of our business Sprint has the infrastructure in place to meet all your business communications needs. From one company. Today. Click here and see how Sprint helps business. model, there are already several efforts within the industry to deal with rampant frauds. Here are some of the ways affiliate managers and career affiliates are tackling the issues of frauds and parasites by applying self-regulation.
ABestWeb Parasiteware Forum:
It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that ABestweb, being the largest affiliate community on the net has a forum dedicated to outing parasiteware -- any technology that steals traffic from legitimate affiliates by replacing their links with new ones. The forum lists over a dozen of the best-known parasitic companies including Claria, eBates, Kazaa among many others. Affiliates and merchants share war stories about being the victims of parasites as well as tips and strategies to remove parasiteware from computers.
While we still research every advertiser we allow into our network, this forum makes it easy to keep abreast of known parasites so that we can proudly be parasite-free. After all, the affiliate industry is the tightest knit in all of Internet marketing, since you really get to know your affiliates and other affiliate managers quite personally. Having known parasites in your network is a big faux pas, and sure to cement you a bad reputation.
AffiliateManager.net Fraud Fighters Forum:
Another available forum is AffiliateManager.net, which can be used to check on known fraudulent affiliates that try to penetrate other networks and merchants' programs. According to Shawn Collins, the forum's owner and author of Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants, "There are dozens of affiliate managers that communicate often about the latest fraud trends and we share information on affiliates that pose threats."
AffiliateFairPlay.com:
AffiliateFairPlay.com is committed to establishing fair trade practices within the affiliate marketing industry. The site's owner, Kellie B. Stevens states, "There are no universal standards in place for the industry as a whole for defining what is even fraudulent [or] bad behavior. Each individual network or merchant is currently defining these. While individual entities certainly have the right (and need to have the right) to establish what is allowed within their own business relationships, if you look at most other industries, there is still a core set of guidelines for the entire industry." At this time, affiliate marketing does not have such core guidelines. So Stevens, who consults with merchants and networks, has dedicated herself toward creating such an entity in AffilaiteFairPlay.com, although it is an on-going process.
What Happens Next?
With so much legislation and buzz about other Internet marketing issues such as spyware, adware, spam and click fraud making daily news, it is simply a matter of time before an effort towards some solution solidifies into real standards. Information on sharing is still an essential element in stemming the tide of fraud. Then, either a third-party verification system for affiliates, merchants and networks will be created, or some type of software or list that may be subscribed to will arise. Here is one affiliate manager who is waiting with bated breath and ready to assist.
By Danay Escanaverin
www.EcommerceTimes.com
Part of the ECT News Network
08/23/05 5:00 AM PT
Danay Escanaverino is the Marketing Manager for Filinet.com, a division of Global Resource Systems.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/45487.html
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 5:00 AM
August 8, 2005
Google AdSense Fraud - How To Protect Your PPC Account
It's worthwhile to examine Google's definition of Google
AdSense and Click Fraud , before delving deeper into "AdSense Fraud" .
Google AdSense fraud is one of the diseases that plague the Ad
Words advertisers.
The AdSense program essentially allows website
publishers/owners to sign up with Google, enabling them to display
Google Ads on their sites. These publishers essentially act as "Google
Partners". The ads chosen by the Google bot for display are contextual
and the ads are related to the contents of the publisher's website,
more specifically that particular web page. The intent for Google is to
capitalize on the traffic to these (in practice) niche sites and
provide highly direct targeted traffic to the advertiser. A subset of
the users of the Google Partner website, click on those ads and Google
charges the advertiser per click. Google shares the booty with the
website publisher but the revenue sharing ratio falls under Google's
"undisclosed "criteria. While the exact amount can be reverse
engineered, the take home lesson is that the final amount is
proportional to Google's income from that click.
In theory it's a match made in heaven. The advertiser gets
good ROI through targeted traffic, the publisher gets to monetize the
traffic on their website and the web browser gets to buy that classic
CD that he couldn't live without. Not to mention that Google gets a wad
of cash. The gods of lucre smile beneficently on all.
Unfortunately, this happy façade hides blemishes. Severe
ones. For all Google AdSense Publishers are not created equal. While
(we daresay) many advertisers have a genuine website, providing a
valuable or interesting service to the world wide community, there is a
significant number of unscrupulous operators who are out there to prey
on the advertisers. These creatures of the night (and we will explain
later why we use that term), make websites for the express purpose of
milking AdSense revenue.
This category of fraudsters deserves a taxonomy of its own,
which we have developed (the other categories, click fraud and
impression fraud are even bigger problems in some industries). In the
interest of not being gender biased, we have alternated between
genders. We hope that our lighthearted tone does not mask the revulsion
that we feel towards these cheats.
Regressive Fraudster ( aka ClickMonkey ):
This guy is at the bottom of the food chain. Inspired by the
riches of his neighbor Ms. Jones, who has been making more than ten
grand a month in AdSense revenue, he plans a course of action. He
"invests" in a clickbot software( a simple google search reveals many)
and gets a list of anonymous proxy addresses. He then goes to register
a few domains and hires someone off of elance to create a "network of
sites"and " click bot " . He hopes that the interlinked sites will
provide each some "link popularity" and increase his page rank. If only
it were that simple! He then proceeds to use the $30 clickbot to start
clicking on the sites. Or he could click on them himself manually using
the proxies. We don't call him click monkey for nothing. He clicks and
clicks all the way to see his account getting banned. No banana for
this monkey! His calls of despair to google fall on deaf ears. This
person is likely to quit, but sometimes retries to get up the food
chain, the Wanna -Be-Fraudster.
Wanna -Be Fraudster ( aka BOZO):
This girl searches for high paying keywords like "home loan
equity" (current ad words rate: $45), or "web hosting" (ad words
costing $20). She correctly guesses that the AdSense payout is
proportional to what Google earns and therefore homes in on such words.
Her strategy is to make a page with contents that are appropriate for
the targeted high payout keyword. She moves ahead by clicking on the
link multiple times and recruits friends and family to give them a
click. Or ten!
Little does she know that Google has a 45 day inspection
period before she get her nubby little fingers on that cash. With
little to no knowledge of Click through Ratio , her greed couples with
her ignorance. Seeing her ill-gotten paper wealth multiplying in her
AdSense interface, she increases the clicks. Google however inspects
the CTR and throws a fit when they see a CTR exceeding 20%.
Furthermore, Google notices clicks mostly originating from a few IP
addresses and that essentially seals her fate (or rather docks her
earnings). That virtual cash is now just some deleted bytes on a hard
disk on Google's servers. She moans, nay she rail against the cruelty
of Google's policy. Some of these people wisely cease and desist such
activities, perhaps philosophizing about the NFL (no free lunch)
theorem. Others however see it as ground school for the next stage of
nefarious behavior. The Almost-There Fraudster.
Almost-There Fraudster ( aka SmartAlec ):
The archetypical ATF is supremely confident in his ability to
fool Google. Like the BOZO, he looks for high paying keywords and makes
appropriate website(s). Let's assume that he is in a third world
country, just to make the case more interesting. The case described
here is 1 year old news. He has read this article and taken the learnt
the subsequent lesson . He knows that that the clicks from the IP
Addresses of USA, UK & Canada are worth much more than the clicks
from the IP Addresses from the third world countries. He therefore
seeks to befriend people from such IP addresses by logging onto
messenger services.
This way, he gets the unique, unrelated IP clicks and (he
hopes) that Google is fooled. Remember "creature of the night". Well,
these people typically are more than a few time zone removed from the
US or Canada and therefore are up at odd hours whenever they feel that
their targets are most likely to be active. Plus they sometimes have to
deal with "inconveniences" like a day job.
AT fraud thinks that the clicks he obtained by trolling on
these sites is a job well done. He has got clicks from the IP address
of his choice .. An interesting factoid is that for AdSense, state also
matters. Clicks from Washington and New York State have the highest
payout for AdSense Fraud.
He has just one problem. His tragic flaw. While he worked so
hard to get the unique IP and high earnings, he is not able to maintain
a good CTR. He is likely to cross the limit of 30-40% of daily CTR and
10-20% of overall CTR. He ends up in the same purgatory as the BOZO.
The account is banned, and he gets the abominated email. Yes, the
"AdSense account closure". Almost-There is never good enough in this
nether world of AdSense gaming. Although it is possible that he would
have made a few thousand dollars before the punishment catches up to
his crime. Crime doesn't quite pay, now does it? Well, gentle reader,
unfortunately crime _is_ paying to the next category. Fraudster Maestro
( aka Satan's Spawn).
Fraudster Maestro ( aka Satan's Spawn):
This category of fraudsters is the most sophisticated and
rarely gets caught by google . She has researched the high paying
keywords as well as the CTR issues well. She has the smoothest lines in
the business of soliciting clicks. She can flirt online, and ask to
click the "link" for her picture. Or she may claim that clicking the
link causes the hungry child to be fed in Ethiopia . Let's follow a
typical "simple" chat session:
US User : hello
FM Fraud: what are your coordinates, handsome?
US User : NY , NY
FM Fraud: Oh! Wish I could be there. Can you help out a damsel in distress?
US User : sure
AT Fraud: I have made a site and want to see if all the links
on this page are working or not. Can you please click on the links and
see if the other page loads?
US User: Sure. Link?
FM Fraud:www.fraudstersite.com/high-value-keyword-page.html
US User : wait! Yes I checked all the links and they are working fine.
FM Fraud:
Thanks
US User : so can we talk about you now? ( Message Not Delivered
as the fraudster has blocked the User and is busy looking for a new
victim)
And she has lots of tricks up her repertoire besides chatting
up strangers. She knows about opt in lists, usenet and blogs where she
can snare the victims. Technically savvy and able to empathize with her
victims she doesn't let arrogance get in her way to success. Since she
is very mindful of the CTR issues she has a secret weapon. She has
optimized her site for some low paying keywords which are really not
competitive. She organically gets lots of traffic (but for things
unrelated to those competitive high paying keywords). In her website,
she may be giving away free greeting cards Or free screensavers. End
result is a fabulous impression count. The second step for her is to
makes unrelated pages on the same site and these pages pertain to the
high paying keywords. These keywords are used to attract the victims of
chat sessions. The process of getting the clicks is different but the
results due to CTR are very lucrative.
So, how does all this geek talk affect the PPC advertiser?
It's a $5 billion+ dollar market(for exact projections onto the future,
please check out our FAQ, and with a 20% + fraud rate, we are talking
about a 1 BILLION dollars fraud per year. Even Dr. Evil may be
impressed by such a number. It's greater than the cumulative GNP of a
few banana republics. And a fair chunk is ending up in the coffers of
these fraudsters. We know from anecdotal evidence, how people are
clearing up to 20 grand a month. All, courtesy of the hapless PPC
advertiser.
We want to emphasize that there are lots of authentic sites
serving genuine content. But unfortunately the existence of these
people (as discussed above) reduces the ROI of many advertisers to the
extent that they rethink their interest in PPC. In the word of one of
our organic SEO customers, with PPC "you always get a little less back
than you put in". It needn't be that way, if you watch carefully where
your ad words traffic is coming from and take some steps (such as
traffic analysis or at the very least a log file analysis) to protect
arm yourself. Look for patterns, some of which are obvious(such as
large traffic spikes from India). Unfortunately other patterns may
require a doctorate in artificial intelligence. Still the keyword is to
stay nimble. Convincing search engines to refund money is a lot tougher
and a lot more work than proactively watching for problem visitors and
taking steps that you deem appropriate. Before the situation goes out
of hand. Remember, an ounce of prevention…
Have we started a revolution?
We have been getting a lot of email from adsense publishers,
not all of it complimentary regarding our piece above. We will be
writing a piece from the point of view of the publisher and the issues
that they face. Meanwhile, send your comments to:
no-fraud-zone@sofizar.com
About the Author:
Aamir Farrukh is an experienced SEO professional working with a US Based company sofizar that is currently developing a click fraud solution applying Computer Science, Statistics, Economics and Behavioral Sciences.
Aamir Farrukh | Contributing Writer | 2005-08-08
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 10:19 AM
August 3, 2005
Should Keyword Arbitrage Be Called "Click Pimping"?
I have a friend who calls keyword arbitrage - the practice of buying cheap clicks on one PPC engine and then collecting a higher CPC based on ads served (and clicked often enough) on a content-oriented site - "click pimping."
I take it this term is at the level of oral folklore only at this stage, and hasn't found its way into general usage (only two instances of it in the Google index, so if I've actually mentioned it here before, well sorry... I need Google's index to act as my memory bank...).
Well, good. I'm glad this silly term never caught on. (Sorry, Mike... really just needed something keyword-rich to post about today... and keyword arbitrage was it... hope you understand.)
Some points:
1. It's nothing new to buy advertising ultimately to sell advertising. There is nothing inherently wrong with a publication using search marketing for customer acquisition. That's not arbitrage, it's targeting.
2. In the case of sites that don't add much genuine value, the question becomes one of traffic quality. Specifically, how can these sites turn a profit if they are buying clicks and only a small percentage of visitors actually click on something? Unless their conversion rate of click to click is really high, they'd need to be getting $1 per click in revenue for every dime spent on clicks, you would think. Not really. Some of these publishers do have totally legit conversion rates of click to click of 50% or higher, because some of their readers might click on five or six different paid links, bringing up the average. However, a small minority of these sites are committing systematic click fraud. It will take more than sticks and stones namecalling or a slap on the wrist to stop these bad apples. They need to be prosecuted.
Click pimping? No. Call it what it is. It's either a perfectly legitimate targeting strategy, or in some rare cases, it's a cover for out-and-out click fraud. Calling it click pimping gives it a dangerous, nebulous middle-ground cachet that would serve to needlessly attract certain louts, and needlessly dissuade quality publications from buying ads low, to sell them high.
Pimp on!
Posted by Andrew Goodman
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
http://www.traffick.com/2005/08/should-keyword-arbitrage-be-called.asp
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 4:42 PM
August 1, 2005
Google's Ad Network Spreads the Wealth
Google's Ad Network Spreads the Wealth
PC Magazine, August, 2005 by David Murphy
Keeping Kuro5hin members happy is easy. As a collaborative discussion site on technology and culture, with members numbering in the tens of thousands, Kuro5hin has a community that moderates itself. When a user submits an article to the site, it eventually has to run the gauntlet: All Kuro5hin's members have the opportunity to vote yea or nay on whether and where the article will appear on the site. But try to advertise to Kuro5hin members and the response may be less structured. "Our community is one of those where if there was going to be any opposition to an ad format, they would let you know about it," says Rusty Foster, Kuro5hin's founder. "A lot of them are rabidly opposed to advertisements."
Still, Foster turned to Google's AdSense program in late 2003 as a way to increase revenue for the site, and the text-based advertisements—still running today—have paid off in more ways than one. In general, members have accepted the ads, which are now an important facet of Kuro5hin operations alongside the site's in-house text advertising and blog ads.
Kuro5hin is just one of thousands of Web sites that participate in Google's AdSense, an advertising program that helps even the smallest sites bring in revenue through clicks on site-placed advertisements from Google's massive ad network. "It's good. It's definitely an essential piece of the overall strategy. I know a lot of people rely on it entirely for their revenue, but I'm wary of that," says Foster.
After you set up an AdSense account, you just copy and paste a block of Google HTML and targeted ads start showing up on your Web site. You can elect to run ads based on content or to establish an advertisement-filled Google search on your site. If your Web site is about cars, for example, the AdSense software is smart enough to display advertisements about cars. Or, if you set up a Google search box on your site, the results of visitors' searches will also feature advertisements matched for relevance. When a user clicks on an ad, you get paid. Google is mum about exactly how much money per click it pays sites.
The money comes from the dollars advertisers spend in Google's AdWords program, which is designed for Web advertisers. AdWords members' advertising campaigns are based on keywords; members decide on the amount they're willing to pay Google every time their keyword advertisements get clicked. They can increase the advertisements' potential by increasing the amount they're willing to fork over. For example, if you pay Google $50 a click, your advertisement will be more likely to appear than if you pay $0.05 a click. But the ad's success will still depend on its keywords and overall click-through ratio.
"By showing relevant ads, Google ensures that users continue to find them useful, continue to pay attention to the ads, and continue to click when they are interested in products and services," says company spokesperson Barry Schnitt.
Though Web sites are adopting AdSense in increasing numbers, "click fraud" is a growing cause for concern with the AdWords system. Users can fraudulently click on a competitor's advertisements to jack up its advertising costs—and possibly force the ad off-line, if the cost of the day's clicks hits a set limit.
"Competitor A wants to stick it to competitor B just out of spite, and that can be in a small mom-and-pop type competitive landscape, or that can be some of the biggest Fortune 500 companies out there," says Jessie Stricchiola, president of the search-engine marketing firm Alchemist Media. "Every time they visit Google, they just want to search and click once or twice on a competitor's ads, just to stick it to them."
It's estimated that at least 10 to 20 percent of all clicks are fraud-based. Google detects and refunds money lost from fraudulent clicks, but advertisers who independently monitor AdWords' performance have found additional activity that costs them money.
As Google works toward increasing the competitiveness of its advertising programs, it plans to intensify its efforts at combating click fraud. Advertisers and aspiring moneymakers end up choosing AdWords and AdSense for the strength of the programs, says Schnitt; in the Google model, he adds, click fraud will eventually correct itself.
See Making Cents with AdSense.
Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in PC Magazine.
http://goo-gle.blogspot.com/2005/09/googles-ad-network-spreads-wealth.html
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 4:40 PM
July 4, 2005
Reporting publisher click fraud to Google just got easier
A JenSense exclusive! The AdSense team has asked me to announce a new reporting feature, similar to the "spamreport" that Matt Cutts announced at the WebmasterWorld conference last month, but this time, the purpose of the reporting feature is for reporting publishers engaging in click fraud.
If you know of a publisher engaging in click fraud, you can now report them anonymously by clicking the "Ads by Google" on that publisher's site, and then including the term "invalid clicks" in the comment field. And if you do not wish to stay anonymous, you can include your email address as well.
So what exactly is an invalid click? Google includes an "invalid click" definition on their AdSense support site.
Invalid clicks are clicks generated through prohibited methods. These prohibited methods include but are not limited to: repeated manual clicks, or the use of robots, automated clicking tools, or other deceptive software.
It seems that AdSense is taking a significant step up in catching as much publisher click fraud as possible. Click fraud has once again hit the news, with the recent lawsuit Click Defense (who, ironically, continue to advertise via Adwords) filed against Google.
And it also serves as a reminder of something David Kramer, a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati who represents Google said in February following the lawsuit Google filed (and subsequently won a default judgment on) against former AdSense publisher Auction Experts International.
The suit won't be Google's last to combat click fraud, said Palo Alto attorney David Kramer, who represents the company.
So what kinds of things should be reported with the new "invalid clicks" tag instead of the "spamreport" tag? Click bot activity (programs that automatically click AdSense ads), click rings (where a group of publishers band together for the sole purpose of clicking each others ads, usually on a rotation basis), explicitly inciting clicks (often by sending emails asking for clicks, requesting clicks before another action - such as a download - can be done, or requesting clicks in a private area of the site that the mediabot cannot access), and hiring people to click.
Things such as "Please click our ads" listed above an AdSense ad unit would still fall under "spamreport" for being an AdSense terms/policies violation.
It could also work for advertisers who notice a high number of suspected fraudulent clicks coming from one AdSense site. They could then go to the site and report suspected fraudulent clicks, including details from their own data of why they suspect the publisher may be committing click fraud.
It is also a public move to show Google is serious about combatting this type of click fraud, and as a result, possibly increase the number of advertisers who currently opt into the content network. And it will be interesting to see if there is an increased number of publishers complaining at the WebmasterWorld AdSense forum about being suspended over the next while.
Posted by Jenstar at July 4, 2005 09:11 PM
http://www.jensense.com/archives/2005/07/reporting_publi.html
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 9:11 AM
June 23, 2005
VBW Targeted! - Banned from Ad Sense
Yes, we were maliciously targeted. Someone nearly caused my Google Adsense Account to be permanently banned.
We were in fact banned by adsense. But I'll get to that a little later.
On Saturday, June 11th, I saw my adsense clicks more then double. As I looked further, all of the increase was here on VBW, but the traffic hadn't increased substantially. This trend continued and on Sunday I emailed the Ad Sense Support Team alerting them to what I was seeing.
This trend continued, with my overall clicks 3 times the normal rate during the next few days. I had not heard back from Google, so I sent another email on Thursday.
Then - It happened. I got this email on Sunday:
It has come to our attention that invalid clicks have been generated on the ads on your web pages. We have therefore disabled your Google Adsense account. Please understand that this step was taken in an effort to protect the interest of the Ad Words advertisers.A publisher's site may not have invalid clicks on any ad(s), including
but not limited to clicks generated by a publisher on his own web
pages, clicks generated through the use of robots, automated clicking
tools, or any other deceptive software.Practices such as these are in violation of the Google Adsense Terms
and Conditions and program polices, which can be viewed at:https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms?hl=en_US
https://www.google.com/adsense/policies?hl=en_USPublishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further
participation in Adsense and do not receive any further payment. The
earnings on your account will be properly returned to the affected
advertisers.Sincerely,
The Google Adsense Team
For the record, I have clicked my own ad once in all the time I have been running adsense ads. That was completely by accident, months ago. I emailed them right away with my confession. I have never asked anyone to click my ads either.
Naturally, I was quite upset. I wont reveal what I earn via adsense but its a big part of my income. Beside the loss, was the knowledge that someone had targeted this site and managed to get me banned from Ad Sense.
After I calmed down a bit, I wrote to Ad Sense. I first explained that I have never violate the TOS nor clicked any of my own ads. I further explained that I had reported the unusually high clicks twice. I also pointed out my IP address and told them they needed to check their records as they would find no clicks from that IP. I commented on how it was unfair to penalize publishers for click fraud when they have nothing to do with the attack, and have no way to control or stop such an attack. I also started searching and sent similar emails to everyone from Google I could find. I even wrote to the guy that writes the Google Blog. LOL I was desperate for someone to help.
Not expecting a positive response, since I had never heard of anyone ever being reinstated, I began searching for viable alternatives. What I found was quite disappointing. There are others out there who can deliver ads, but they have few advertisers, so it doesn't do much good when the same ad runs on every page. I chose one just to try and placed it on one of my sites that usually earns $xx.xx a day. I made less then $1 a day with the new program.
Then, I got this email a few days after I had been banned:
Thank you for your email regarding your Adsense account.As you know, Google treats instances of invalid click activity very seriously. We have reviewed your circumstances and determined that you are not responsible for the most recent activity. We have reinstated your account, effective immediately. However, there will be a delay before ads start running on your web site. It may take up to 48 hours before all of our servers are informed of the change.
Thank you for clarifying your situation. We appreciate your patience, and apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any questions, please feel free to respond to this email.
Sincerely,
The Google Adsense Team
WOW!!!
I was amazed and delighted. Kudos to Google for actually looking into the matter and making the right decision! It restored my faith in Google, which had been shaken with the events of the prior week or two. All I can hope now is that they have a way to catch whoever would do something like this.
Many times in the past I've read posts on other forums where people complained they had been banned unfairly. I have seen many posts regarding things of this nature, and never found one to indicate anyone was ever reinstated. To be honest and frank, I generally figured them to be BS. Kids trying to outsmart the system or something of the sort. I have a new appreciation now.
I was lucky. Somehow I caught the right ear at Google and was reinstated. People who do things like this threaten the whole contextual advertising system. It costs Ad Words advertisers money, and causes publishers a means of support. To me, this kind of click fraud is the worst of all. Its malicious and intended to cost someone their livelihood. I see sites all the time that say "Help us by clicking the ads" and that's wrong too. But I suspect its usually done by people who don't know better. What happened to me, was an attempt to cause me harm. Luckily, Google didn't ignore my pleas, and saw the right thing to do.
http://www.vbwebmaster.com/forums/showthread.php?t=862
Posted by: Joeychgo - vbwebmaster.com Administrator
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 7:57 AM
June 22, 2005
Click Fraud A threat to AdSense and other advertising services
This is additional material for readers of Make Easy Money with Google: Using the AdSense Advertising Program.
In Chapter 2 of Make Easy Money with Google I discuss what click fraud is and two common scenarios where it occurs. Advertising services are very concerned with click fraud, of course. Click fraud causes advertisers to lose faith in pay-per-click advertising.
How do we know they're concerned? Because they're talking about click fraud in public! The quote at the top of the page comes from the CNN/Money news report Google CFO: Click fraud a big threat. When the CFO talks like this, it means that the company is taking the threat of click fraud quite seriously.
Three Types of Click Fraud
Even though I only talked about two click fraud scenarios in the book, there are actually three basic types of click fraud. I use the following terminology to distinguish the different kinds of click fraud when discussing the topic with others:
* Enriching click fraud occurs when AdSense publishers click ads (or hire or otherwise entice others to do so) on their own sites to increase their AdSense earnings.
* Depleting click fraud occurs when a competitor actively targets another company's ads and click on them to deplete that company's ad budget.
* Disbarring click fraud occurs when someone uses fraudulent clicks to force a publisher out of the AdSense program.
Each type of click fraud is problematic, but the last one is particularly pernicious for AdSense publishers. If someone gets expelled from the AdSense program because they were engaging in enriching click fraud then they're getting what they deserve. An AdSense publisher expelled through no fault of their own — because they were specifically targeted by a competitor or someone with a beef against them — is truly unfortunate. While Google does not generally terminate publishers without first warning them, there have been publishers who've been banned and yet claim total innocence.
How to Handle Click Fraud
There is, unfortunately, not much you can do as an AdSense publisher to prevent click fraud by others, even when they're using your site to do it. Here are a few things you can do, however:
* Monitor your AdSense earnings regularly for suspicious activity. This is a no-brainer: every AdSense publisher I know checks their earnings on a regular basis. Once you've been in the program for a while, you should have a good feel for what's normal for your site. Increased traffic by itself is not an indication of click fraud, especially if you've been actively trying to promote the site, but watch out for high CTRs (clickthrough rates).
* Save your server logs. You should have the ability to see the raw Web server logs for your site to see who's accessing the site and which pages they're accessing. Suspicious activity warrants a good look through these logs for unusual behaviors. Again, this is something you're probably doing anyhow, to see where your traffic is coming from.
* Report your suspicions to the AdSense support team. If you think there's been click fraud, email adsense-support@google.com to let them know. They may not get back to you for a while, but they will investigate. Chances are they'll come calling on you anyhow, so it's best to be upfront about your suspicions.
* Temporarily turn off the advertisements if necessary. If there are no ads on your pages, your site can't be used to commit click fraud. Not a great solution, but it may save you from disbarment.
Whatever you do, of course, don't engage in click fraud yourself.
This site has been the subject of click fraud, though I can't tell if it's for depleting or disbarring purposes. All I know is that every few days the home page gets accessed at regular intervals (about every 20 seconds) by machines across the Internet. I noticed this initially because my CTRs went through the roof. After reporting it to Google, my solution has been to turn ads off the home page when there is no referrer header telling me how the browser has made it to my site. This seems to work well. It is, however, annoying for an AdSense book site to be subjected to this — which makes me think it's disbarring click fraud.
Eric Giguere
June 22, 2005
http://www.makeeasymoneywithgoogle.com/click-fraud.html
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 9:40 AM
May 16, 2005
Publisher Propositions from AdSense Ad-Clickers Goes Mainstream
TimYang.com reports about an email exchange he had with Sanjay Das, who promised him 1000+ untraceable AdSense clicks on his ads, which could be upped to 5000+ clicks if he so desired
You can read the full account here, but this is perhaps the most amusing snippet:
My 1000+ visitors are such that each person would click all the Adsense ads on your site. Additionally I can give you IP addresses of each of my visitors to your site. This can be a way to differentiate. I don't know how is the log of the Adsense, but I can give you a helping hand to differentiate my visitors from your visitors. All you have to do is to give me a secondary access to your logs, by either sending me the saved log page (as MHTL) or by sending me snaps of the log pages.
I bet the AdSense team would love that list of IP addresses ;)
Ralph of Fantomasteralso comments:
Still – it may have been a pretty amateurish attempt but what it does indicate is that the concept has trickled down into the mainstream so we’ll probably see a lot more of it happening. Ironically enough, this fellow maintains an e-mail account with (you guessed it!) GMail.
Click fraud has definitely been going much more mainstream - it was unheard of only a few short years ago, even on the advertiser end of things. Now it is written everyone from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal.
How much longer until it becomes popular enough that email spammers begin mass emailing millions with similar "we will click your AdSense ads" email spam offers?
Posted by Jenstar at May 16, 2005 07:26 PM
http://www.jensense.com/archives/2005/05/publisher_propo.html
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 7:26 AM
April 21, 2005
How Click Fraud Impacts Honest Publishers
Click Fraud is a growing problem for Adsense and other Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising programs. The challenge that Google has with Adsense and click fraud is that they're at risk of it happening from a number of angles.
One of the potential fraudulent activities is obviously from publishers clicking on their own advertisements (a big no no). Many publishers have been banned from Adsense for this. However another emerging problem is coming from Advertisers themselves - some of whom are developing systematic program for clicking on other advertisers ads to drive up their bills. Google is currently taking legal action against at least one advertiser for this reason.
‘'The problem, according to a lawsuit filed last year by Google, is that Auctions Expert began clicking on the ads itself, artificially inflating the number of clicks and driving up the bills sent to advertisers.
Auctions Expert allegedly recruited as many as 50 people to click on online advertising, generating about $50,000 in ad revenue. The self-clicking was "worthless to advertisers, but generated significant and unjust revenue for defendants," the Google lawsuit said.'
The problem of Click Fraud will become a bigger and bigger problem despite PPC programs instituting more sophisticated methods to monitor it.
‘Jessie Stricchiola, a click fraud expert who frequently represents advertisers seeking refunds from Google and Yahoo, estimates that click fraud accounts for as much as 20 percent of the clicks in some industry sectors. The president of AlchemistMedia.com, Stricchiola said tens of thousands of advertisers, who pay Google and Yahoo by credit card, are being overcharged daily, adding that neither search engine has a large enough staff devoted to monitoring the problem or fielding complaints.'
How will Click Fraud impact us as honest publishers? It is really yet to be seen - however one could speculate that there will be a number of flow on effects including:
• less advertisers - one of the biggest worries for Google with click fraud is that advertisers will become more and more disillusioned with Adsense and will put less money into it. Less advertisers means less competition for the keywords you and I target - which in turn means small payments per click.
• smaller share of revenue - it is becoming more common for click fraud disputes to end up in court - either with Google taking legal action out against fraudulent publishers or advertisers or with them defending action taken by advertisers. Their legal bills must be on the increase for these types of cases and the money has to come from somewhere - lets hope its not from a decreasing percentage of revenue being shared with publishers.
• risk for publishers? - I have spoken with one or two Adsense publishers in the past few weeks who say that they have been innocent victims of click fraud occurring on their sites. While I have no way of verifying their stories - they claim that Google has banned them from Adsense for reasons of suspicious activity on their accounts (ie clicking on their own ads). They argue that they did not do this and that someone else (possibly advertisers like the one's mentioned in the article above) was responsible for the abnormalities in clicks on their ads. Once again I have no way of knowing if they are just making excuses for their own stupidity or if they are innocent victims of the fraudulent activities of others - however I see that this might become an increasing problem for publishers.
Only time will tell what the impact of click fraud will be upon PPC publishers - lets hope Google and other PPC providers keep on top of things and that the increased competition that Yahoo brings with their entering of the PPC market will keep things on the up and up for us all trying to make an honest living from PPC.
About the Author:
Darren Rowse is the founder of ProBlogger.net, a blog about the many ways of adding an income stream to blogs.
Darren owns and writes a variety of blogs including Digital Photography Blog and Camera Phone Zone. He is also a co-founder of the Breaking News Blog Collective.
Darren Rowse | Contributing Writer | 2005-04-21
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 5:01 PM
February 15, 2005
More lawsuits against publishers to come?
In the recent AP click fraud article, it refers to the recent lawsuit Google filed against Auction Experts International, over the estimated $50,000 in "illegitimate commissions by clicking on the ad links that Google delivered to its Web pages."
AP writer Mike Liedtke also has quotes from attorney David Kramer, who represents Google.
The suit won't be Google's last to combat click fraud, said Palo Alto attorney David Kramer, who represents the company.
So what does this mean to the average AdSense publisher or advertiser?
It means Google is going to be pursuing those who are committing click fraud. And lawsuits can be quite a deterrent for those committing large-scale click fraud, such as the case with Auction Experts International.
As a publisher, I think this is great since not only does it protect the integrity of the AdSense publisher program, but it also means that sites committing click fraud can easily be taking ad inventory and clicks away from true publishers, meaning that honest publishers may end up showing ads with lower EPC. Once these click fraud sites are suspended from the program, it opens up more ad inventory availability.
As an advertiser, this means that less of my advertising budget will be going to pad the pockets of click fraud artists, and more will be going to true visitor clicks with the potential for conversions.
If filing lawsuits against those committing click fraud is a successful deterent against click fraud, I am all for it. It would be interesting to know if the number of suspected click fraud cases has gone down since last November, when the first lawsuit was filed. Or if it has just brought the issue of click fraud more mainstream where others want to try it too. From both an advertiser and a publisher point of view, I hope it is the former.
Posted by Jenstar at February 15, 2005 12:15 PM
http://www.jensense.com/archives/2005/02/more_lawsuits_a.html
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 12:15 PM
November 24, 2004
Google Sues AdSense Publisher for Click Fraud
Google has filed its first click fraud lawsuit, charging a Texas-based Web site and its owners generated fraudulent clicks on ads in its AdSense program, causing Google to pay them for useless traffic to its advertisers.
Google has filed its first click fraud lawsuit, charging a Texas-based Web site and its owners generated fraudulent clicks on ads in its AdSense program, causing Google to pay them for useless traffic to its advertisers.
The lawsuit, filed last week in a California Superior Court, alleges that, beginning in August 2003, Auction Experts International and its founders Sergio Morfin and Alexei Leonov clicked on AdSense ads on the Auction Experts site and paid up to 50 unidentified individuals to do the same.
The move should serve as a warning shot across the bow of potential AdSense abusers, according to Kevin Lee, CEO of search marketing firm Did-It.com. The potential for click fraud is very large, but it doesn't seem to be a widespread problem, he said.
"I'm pleased to see them take action so it doesn't get out of control," he said. "You can never control it 100 percent, but they're doing a pretty good job."
Once the abuse was discovered, Google terminated Auction Experts' AdSense account, credited advertisers for every click generated from Auction Experts' site, and initiated legal action, according to the lawsuit. Generally a search engine will stop after booting the offending site out of its program and crediting the advertisers, Lee said, adding that this may be the first case where a search engine took legal action.
In the suit, Google charges Auction Experts with breach of contract and breach of good faith, for violating the AdSense terms and conditions. Another charge of interference with a contract was made, for the disruption of Google's contractual relationships with its advertisers. It also adds charges of fraudulent concealment and fraud.
Google is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, a return of all money paid to Auction Experts through its AdSense participation, and court costs.
"We are vigilant in protecting our advertisers and the integrity of our programs. We have sophisticated technology that detects and eliminates fraud. This lawsuit against Auctions Expert demonstrates the success of our anti-fraud system and that we will take legal action when appropriate," said Google spokesman Steve Langdon.
In March, a programmer was arrested after allegedly attempting to blackmail Google for $100,000 to prevent him from releasing software he had developed to produce fraudulent clicks to defraud AdSense.
By Kevin Newcomb
November 24, 2004
www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3440341
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 12:06 PM
March 26, 2004
Programmer Arrested in Alleged AdSense Extortion Plot
A 32-year-old California man has been charged with extortion for allegedly demanding Google pay him for software designed to defraud its AdSense program.
Special agents from the United States Secret Service arrested Michael Anthony Bradley of Oak Park, Calif. last week after Bradley allegedly met with Google engineers and demanded they pay him $100,000. Bradley allegedly threatened to release the software to spammers if he didn't receive payment, according to the criminal complaint. Bradley is charged with interfering with commerce by threats or violence and with mail fraud.
The software, which Bradley dubbed Google Clique, was designed to produce fraudulent clicks and impressions on the Web sites of participants in Google's AdSense program. AdSense allows publishers to receive a cut of what advertisers pay Google when consumers click on advertisements displayed on their sites. Fraudulent clicks would therefore allow AdSense publishers to rake in more dough.
Google officials said they couldn't comment on criminal proceedings but a spokesperson said, "Google does take fraud issues very seriously."
A site Bradley apparently set up to promote Google Clique, now taken down, said "we have been able to generate in excess of $30,000 per month using Google Clique across 10 Adsense account [sic]." The site also boasted that Clique employs a tunneling technology used by spammers to hide their IP addresses.
According to the complaint, Bradley contacted Google by e-mail on March 2, offering to sell the company auto-click software he had originally developed for a client who now refused to pay.
Google's Marty Lev, manager of safety and security, contacted the U.S. Secret Service after receiving the e-mail. The company set up a meeting with Bradley for March 10, but had audio and video equipment taping the conversation. A Secret Service agent monitored from the next room.
During that meeting, Bradley said that if Google didn't pay him $100,000, he would sell it to the "top 100 spammers," and Google would be "out $5 million in six months," according to the complaint.
Someone posting on Google Groups' alt.internet.search-engines group using Bradley's e-mail address offered to sell the auto-click software, claiming he'd met with Google and "they are scared and don't want this software to get out."
Upon being chastised by others, the poster explained that he was frustrated with Google because the company had cancelled a check made out to his friend, an AdSense publisher, due to suspicion of fraud.
"I really just want them to listen and learn how to track real fraudulent clicks (trust me they dont [sic]) Google is still on such an amatuer [sic] level when it comes to click tracking," wrote 'CountScubula'. "Thus my countless meetings with them, I am not going to educate the engineers for free on this, especial when my friend got screwed. Perhaps if they were to show proof of invalid clicks, that wouls [sic] be fine, but to just slam a door on the kid, thats [sic] not right.
"Its funny, because Google is a big company, every one assumes they know what they are doing. And my meetings with the engineers left me wondering who these people knew for thier [sic] jobs, becouse [sic] it wasn't knowledge or experience."
Bradley also had plans, according to the complaint, to release a program called "Reaper" which users could employ to generate automatic clicks on their competitors' Web sites. But with Reaper, all of the automatic clicks would be from one IP address, so it would presumably raise Google's suspicions and prompt the company to kick the site out of its AdSense program.
Bradley has been released on a $50,000 appearance bond and on the condition he refrain from using any computer or the Internet and avoid all contact with Google. His next court appearance is set for April 8.
By Pamela Parker
March 22, 2004
http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3329381
Posted by Hans A. Koch at 2:15 PM