BusinessWeek: The Vanishing Click-Fraud Case

BusinessWeek.com has a nice follow up to the forgotten click-fraud case that pitted Google versus a click-fraud extortionist.

To make a long story short, back in 2004, a guy named Michael Anthony Bradley rolled up to Google, showcased his click-fraud program dubbed “Google Clique.” Showing off his program that could generate millions of false clicks without being detected by Google’s anti click-fraud system (if there is such a thing). Bradley attempted to extort $150,000 from Google but was quickly arrested by officers in the next room.

Two years later, no charges have been filed and for all we know Bradley’s system could be running wild on our accounts. Why have no charges been filed you ask? Simply put, if Google pressed charges it would have to divulge secrets about its advertising to prove anything to the courts. Secrets Google is not willing to share, even to the government.

Its worth a few minutes to read the article for yourself