Google To Nix All Tech Support Provider Ads (itnews.com.au)

Google will restrict advertisements placed by third-party technical support providers, in an effort to stem a rising tide of abuse and fraud by scammers who offer to fix non-existent problems on consumers' computers. Report says: The restriction for tech support ads comes after Google collaborated with law enforcement and government agencies to address abuse in the area, the company's director of public policy David Graff wrote. All ads for technical support will be restricted worldwide, even for legitimate providers, Graff said. Google's banned such ads because the company finds it increasingly difficult to tell scammers from legitimate providers, as the fraudulent activity happens away from the company's platform.

Comments

So they're blocking...

[b0s0z0ku]

So they're blocking Windows and Mac support ads while keeping the "run to the cloud" cloud-migration partner ads? Seems like good business sense...

Re:About Time

[Anonymous Coward]

They also need to block the PDF readers, antivirus, unzip and a bunch of other spyware out there. Google should be held responsible for the ads they serve.....

Re:Babys and Bathwater

[rossz]

The problem is there's only a couple of good apples at the bottom of a barrel filled with rotten ones. And good luck teaching your 80 year old grandmother how to avoid scams. The elderly are targeted because they are easy.

Re:Now, if they could just do something about

[Opportunist]

C'mon, is it really asking too much to set up a VM with a Windows box for the guy? I mean, he's just doing his job and it's hellish funny to hear him explode after messing 30 minutes with a VM that you rollback in a second for him to start over if he so pleases.