sonjay - 12:07 pm on Oct 16, 2009 (gmt 0)

The IRS page on the topic specifically states that stock dividends are not passive income.

The IRS page doesn't specifically address AdSense-type income, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts you'd get slapped down if you tried to claim it as passive income. It really doesn't fit either of the definitions the IRS uses for passive income.