europeforvisitors - 5:08 pm on Feb 10, 2006 (gmt 0)

This is one reason why I've been proposing that Google expand the sitemaps schema to add a <webmaster> </webmaster> structure so that automated warning messages can be sent to whoever is responsiblel for the site. 60 days until we drop you unless you ...

Maybe I'm naive, but I don't see how users and Google will benefit from letting spammers know exactly how much time they have to profit from their spam before the ax comes down.

As for the argument that Google was legally obligated to give BMW notice that it was violating its rules, that seems pretty farfetched to me, but that's a matter for the courts to decide in the unlikely event that BMW is foolish enough to drag out an episode that the company's top management would almost certainly like the public to forget.