StupidScript - 1:27 am on Apr 7, 2005 (gmt 0)

now jail or civil suits have replaced that (mostly :))

I agree.

Here's another (para)quote in support of your overall thrust:

Those that hold great power also hold great responsibility.

I do agree that the state-of-the-art isn't very artful.

I do agree that G and Y and the rest are the gatekeepers hired to protect the rest of us from this kind of thing.

I do agree with "live by the sword ..." et al.

However, in this class action lawsuit (wow ... I nearly had to look at the thread topic to remind myself!), the question which must be addressed by U.S. law is: Is G responsible for the claimed losses suffered by the plaintiff class?

This is where the analogies come in. And the case law.

And the realities of life in the PPC world.

The defense argues that "every advertiser who enrolls in AdWords has a 'reasonable expectation' of experiencing click fraud" due to the preponderance of coverage on this topic in the media (less than Michael Jackson but more than No Child Left Behind's details) and the reasonable expectation on the part of G that the advertiser has executed due diligence. That's reasonable to expect, isn't it?

The plaintiff class counters with "yeah, we knew it existed, but (a) we believe G has engaged in systematic fraud by colluding with the fraudsters in order to boost their bottom line or (b) they aren't properly motivated and have not done enough to stem the tide of click fraud" so ... they are responsible for advertiser click fraud losses. Is that reasonable? We'll see.

(a) Seriously? Without thought to the price they would pay if proved in court? And not necessarily that hard to prove (IP's, AdSense IDs, patterns, documentation, etc.) in civil court. I don't believe it. Sue me.

(b) Define "not enough". Now explain how this "enough" measurement applies to click fraud detection and reimbursement. They're working on it, it's making a huge difference to those of "us" (and you?) who have been in the game for a long time, and "we" expect more to be done ... the passage of time being what it is.

Now convince a jury that that's "enough" to win the lawsuit.

So I do NOT expect the suit to succeed, and I DO expect click fraud to remain one of the thorny problems of our time, and I DO say that filing class action suits against the PPC providers who give a darn is to the detriment of the progress of the Internet, because it detracts from the pressing issues of building solutions by forcing G and others to regurgitate the past instead of working toward the future.

PPC providers who do not give a darn? Burn 'em.

Google? Give 'em a break. They're actually contributing to the solution despite being part of the problem.

What can I say? I'm a dreamer! ;)