Ads in your frame if you're framing another site?

Let's forget the morality for a second...

[HughMungus]

About.com frames other sites pretty consistiently. I don't know how they get away with it, legally, but having been there today it made me wonder if I could run adsense in a top frame if I'm framing another site. Like I said, not a moral discussion, just a TOS/technical question.

[PatrickDeese]

I think that it would violate TOS as you would be showing ads for content / sites that you don't own or control.

[europeforvisitors]

About.com frames other sites pretty consistiently. I don't know how they get away with it, legally

Their former CEO once told me, "AskJeeves does it, and they haven't been sued." Certainly About.com isn't alone in displaying ads in frames above third-party Web sites, although About is probably the biggest offender. It's interesting to note, BTW, that AskJeeves no longer displays ads in frames (at least, it didn't when I just checked) and TripAdvisor now opens third-party sites in separate windows instead of displaying them beneath ad frames.

As far as I know, the legality of ads in frames (or of framing third-party sites, period) has never been decided in a U.S. court. (One big case, Washington Post v. TotalNews, was settled out of court). Nowadays most sites probably figure that it's easier and cheaper to use framebusting code than to hire a lawyer.

but having been there today it made me wonder if I could run adsense in a top frame if I'm framing another site. Like I said, not a moral discussion, just a TOS/technical question.

I agree with PatrickDeese: It would clearly violate the TOS for the reason that he pointed out.