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Man Accused of Attempting to Extort Google
sandalwood writes "A programmer has been arrested on charges of attempting to "threaten Google with a software program he devised that creates phony clicks on pop-up advertisements delivered by Google. Google pays Web site publishers companies a certain amount for legitimate hits on those ads, but Bradley created a method that generates false clicks that appeared to be real Internet traffic, which would have repeatedly defrauded Google... Bradley contacted Google in early March, informing company officials that he had created the program and wanted $100,000 to keep him from selling it to spammers, according to an affidavit by a U.S. Secret Service agent." A harbinger of organized crime to come? That's a real nice website you have here... a shame if anything were to happen to it..."
Next time don't go to those you are trying to extort. Just go straight to the competition. I'm sure the spammers would have paid him much more than $100,000 collectively and not turned him in.
Imagine, he could have licensed his software to the spammers and charged them an annual fee to use it. He could have been the "Microsoft" of the spamming industry.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
um... guys,
maybe I'm out of line here, but this is not a good topic to brain storm. Why do we want to devises more deviant ways to spam?
And why hurt our precious Google!
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The problem is that this guy's (alleged) program's sole purpose was to commit fraud.
To continue your gasoline example, it'd be like developing a method to fool the 'pay-at-the-pump' system into giving you gas without actually charging your credit card, and then telling the gas station that if they don't give you $100,000, you'll publish the program in the USA Today(tm).
maybe I'm out of line here, but this is not a good topic to brain storm. Why do we want to devises more deviant ways to spam?
And why hurt our precious Google!
1) Because it's our intrinsic human right to think about whatever we want.
2) Because some of us, as server administrators, must deal with spam in all its vile forms, and we therefore must know our enemy.
Pretending no one thought of it is not an effective way to prevent others from thinking of it. We want all possible exploits to be exposed, so they can be dealt with. You're advocating security through obscurity.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
1) Because it's our intrinsic human right to think about whatever we want.
FYI, thinking is something you do inside your head. Talking, on the other hand, is an action that can have consequences in the world. It's unfortunate that the urge to accept responsibility for the consequences of one's actions is not quite as intrinsic as the urge to run one's mouth.