TheMadScientist - 11:38 pm on Feb 12, 2011 (gmt 0)

Here's a paranoid interpretation: Company A finds abandoned websites, sets up the worthless backlinks, gives Company B a nice boost, then Com-A reports Com-B to Google as abusing their Terms, and sits back with a smile as they drop like a stone.

Yeah, but if they simply discount the links then it's not a big deal and a complete waste of time and energy on the part of Com-A, which seems very fitting in a case where someone else intentionally tries to damage the rankings of a competitor...