Wimpy
Google and Michael Jackson: Birds Of A Feather
Wimpy Google and Michael Jackson: Birds Of A Feather
Google Inc. is suing a Houston-based company for allegedly clicking
on sponsored links to fraudulently boost advertising revenues.
Google filed a lawsuit two weeks ago in Santa Clara County Superior
Court in California against Auctions Expert International LLC. Google
is accusing Auctions Expert of abusing the Google AdSense program,
in which web publishers display Google's pay-per-click ads and receive
a share of the revenues.
Auctions Expert joined AdSense in August 2003, according to the
lawsuit. Google later discovered the alleged misconduct, terminating
the contract between the companies and refunding advertisers, Google's
complaint states.
"These clicks were worthless to advertisers but generated
significant and unjust revenue for Defendants who were paid by Google
as if the clicks were legitimate," the lawsuit states.
Google is seeking an unspecified amount of damages and restitution
for the revenue-share payments it had made to Auctions Expert, according
to the lawsuit.
Google spokesman Steve Langdon said that the Mountain View, Calif.,
company uses fraud detection technology to combat click fraud and
protect advertisers.
"This lawsuit against Auctions Expert demonstrates the success
of our anti-fraud system and that we will take legal action when
appropriate," he said in a statement.
Talk about your all-time wimpy statements. I'm not impressed. All
Google did was exercise its right to file a lawsuit. The same right
any of us have. Somebody shoot off the fireworks. Woo hoo! That's
some scary stuff right there!
I'm still waiting for Google to flex its considerable muscle. I
want to hear a powerful statement from a powerful company. Something
to the effect:
"Nothing is more important to us than our customers. They
helped make us who we are today, and we will not let them down.
We are determined to meet and defeat click fraud head on--no matter
how how long it takes or how much it ultimately costs!"
But it will never happen. Why? Because despite its considerable
power, Google is a lot like Michael Jackson in some ways. Let me
explain:
At one time Michael Jackson was the biggest, most powerful star
on the planet. However, as we soon discovered, he was also a wimp
who was out of touch with reality.
I view Google the same way. Google is the biggest, most powerful
search engine on the planet. But the way its handling click fraud
is wimpish and shows it's out of touch with reality also. These
are criminals we're talking about here. They're not afraid of a
silly lawsuit.
Google needs to get with the program and develop a "gangsta"
attitude. Hold a worldwide press conference and tell these punk
click fraud thieves in no uncertain hip hop terms:
"Yo, dog, let me holla at you for a second. We are Google,
yo. We are the biggest, baddest, most powerful search engine on
the planet, yo. Peep this: Do NOT steal from us or our homey's,
fool. Me and my posse have the means, the resources and the resolve
to hunt you down like the punks you are 24, 7 and bust a cap in
your ass! Peace...we out!"
About the Author Dean Phillips is an
Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions?
Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net
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