It's an asshat thing to do. How about just plain ol boycotting? And if you have to, boycott those who work with them. It's how things work in a civil society.
Click fraud is a type of Internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad's link. Click fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud.
Use of a computer to commit this type of Internet fraud is a felony in many jurisdictions, for example, as covered by Penal code 502 in California, USA, and the Computer Misuse Act 1990 in the United Kingdom. There have been arrests relating to click fraud with regard to malicious clicking in order to deplete a competitor's advertising budget[citation needed].
While not being done 'for a profit' it's still an asshat move to make.
Then protest by not using their services.
If you have ethical concerns about what they're doing, make damn sure your ethics are on target too (and Adblocks is/not/ being ethical - they're being childish).
What's wrong with people these days? A company decides to make money, and people get pissed off and try to find way to screw with them? How about the good old fashioned "make a big stink" (protests in the 70s, blogs in 00s) and boycotting?
To make a comparison, this is like Rosa Park bus boycott instead being the bus tire slashing. Same idiotic, thug type thinking.
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how can you fraudulently click something?
It's an asshat thing to do. How about just plain ol boycotting? And if you have to, boycott those who work with them. It's how things work in a civil society.
That's easy. Use Adblock. If this affects the sites bottom line, they'll find another advertiser. Back to boycott basics.
There's this tool... it's called Adblock...
You're being obtuse. The intent of the statement was clear. In case it wasn't to you, allow me to help clarify.
From wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_fraud:
Click fraud is a type of Internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad's link. Click fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud.
Use of a computer to commit this type of Internet fraud is a felony in many jurisdictions, for example, as covered by Penal code 502 in California, USA, and the Computer Misuse Act 1990 in the United Kingdom. There have been arrests relating to click fraud with regard to malicious clicking in order to deplete a competitor's advertising budget[citation needed].
While not being done 'for a profit' it's still an asshat move to make.
Then protest by not using their services. If you have ethical concerns about what they're doing, make damn sure your ethics are on target too (and Adblocks is /not/ being ethical - they're being childish).
What's wrong with people these days? A company decides to make money, and people get pissed off and try to find way to screw with them? How about the good old fashioned "make a big stink" (protests in the 70s, blogs in 00s) and boycotting?
To make a comparison, this is like Rosa Park bus boycott instead being the bus tire slashing. Same idiotic, thug type thinking.