Slashdot Mirror
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..."
Since this article is just a cut-n-paste of the original San Jose Mercury News article, isn't a proper citation required? Or does copyright law consider a hyperlink to be sufficient citation?
> I don't see how this person could offer up a tool for extortion without figuring out how to spoof IP addresses, anyway
Umm, unless I misunderstand you, IP spoofing programs have been around for YEARS (before 1995 at least).