Increased number of fakes trust seals

Also faking payment options

[smallcompany]

In software vertical I'm seeing an increased number of sites (one page only in some cases) with faked trust seals from VeriSign, TRUSTe, Trust Guard, and so on.
They also put images of credit cards as they're accepting multiple payment options, while the only payment option is PayPal.
It works so the activation key is emailed after purchase. They provide a link for download which is in some cases straight from the respective product developer's site.
In some cases there are links for chat which is always offline, or they have a contact us form - in other cases there is absolutely nothing.
They are not affiliates for sure.

Those sites are promoted through Google AdWords.

Their QS must be good as they hang on the top or around.

I have reported them to AdWords on multiple occasions, but nothing has really changed.

I also reported some to VeriSign and Trust Guard about seal misuse, no change either.

I reported some to a product manufacturer, and they said they were fighting software piracy, but again no change.

I post this here as Google AdWords plays a big role in the promotion of those.

What's happening?

[netmeg]

I don't see how it's Google's problem. They aren't the Internet Police. If the seals are faked, then it's up to the companies that issue the seals to take action. And if, in fact, Google *were* to ban the fake seal people from AdWords, that would also have to be instigated by the seal companies - not you.

[smallcompany]

I don't see how it's Google's problem. They aren't the Internet Police.

Well, it looks like it's nobody's problem.

Google even distanced itself with the refined policy about counterfeit products.
Pirated stuff is nowhere mentioned.

Super user experience, really.

[netmeg]

Again, Google is not the internet police. It's not in their (or our) best interest to have them get involved in things like this. If you can't manage to get the companies that issue seals to act on it, then you just have to live with it.

[luke175]

There are numerous terms where the first few results are OBVIOUS pirated software sites.

If Google cared about user experience these would be gone.

Google will punt me for not having a privacy policy...but selling black market photoshop downloads is OK?

As for the privacy seals...most of these sites are hosted out of Asia. DMCA notices are ignored. Really, the easiest way to stop them would be for Google to stop their flow of traffic. I understand why the seal companies can't get them shutdown as unfortunate as that is.

[netmeg]

Yea, that's just what we want. Google investigations.

I don't get you people. On the one hand, you complain about Google getting too involved in how you advertise / run your business, and then you complain that they're not policing *alleged* (by you) miscreants in your niche.

[wheel]

There are numerous terms where the first few results are OBVIOUS pirated software sites.

Pirated where you are (and where I am) isn't a universally understood concept. 'bad' results to you are likely perfectly acceptable to someone else.

Google's doing the right thing with a hands off policy. If you're software's being pirated, you go get them, not Google. The last thing anyone wants is Google making these kinds of decisions - too much can go wrong.

[smallcompany]

too much can go wrong

True.

This is really a tough call. I came across organizations that work against this, including governmental bodies, and those guys are still out there.

Still, it's a paradox to have low QS as a reason for termination of some accounts, yet have those guys in premium yellow area on some of the most famous software brands.

But yes, complicated call. Problem for the part of my business are those particular ads that kill the conversion, that's why I posted it here.

[Philosopher]

I for one definitely wouldn't want Google policing this. I understand the issue, but as mentioned above, there are too many problems that would arise from it.

Knowing that Google attempts to automate everything and that they *often* catch a lot of innocents (as shown in many recent threads), just imagine the problems that would come about from them trying to algorithmically determine authorized and/or pirate sites....ugh.