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The Vanishing Click-Fraud Case

Posted by Hemos on from the where-have-we-gone dept.

PreacherTom writes "In March of 2004, a computer programmer arrived at Google's offices with one goal in mind: blackmail. He had invented a program called "Google Clique", which could generate millions of fake clicks to Google's ads. The price to avoid disaster: $150,000. At the time, it didn't end well for the programmer; Google had the police in the next room. However, a few days ago the U.S. Attorney quietly dropped the case. The reason: apparently Google was unwilling to cooperate with prosecutors. Why the odd behavior?"

2 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Umm.. by OneSmartFellow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    First question: What did they have to gain by persuing it ? not much me thinks

    Next question: What did they have to lose by persuing it ? trade secrets, embarassment, other

    Analysis: Very predictable.

  2. only 150K? by elcid73 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm curious... if he could generate 30K per month with his program, why only extort for 150K?

    Why not just run it for 5 months and call it good?