Google Sues Dodgy Advertisers 71
angry tapir writes "Google is at its wit's end dealing with illegal sellers of prescription drugs that market medicines on its ad network, so it has decided to take some of these allegedly rogue advertisers to court. Rogue prescription drug sellers have increased in number and become more sophisticated in their dealings, and 'a small percentage' of them have been able to dodge Google's efforts to block them from running ads on its network, according to the company."
Wait... (Score:3, Interesting)
Wrong way to do it? (Score:3, Interesting)
From reading the article, it seems that they are suing for breach of the AdWords contract. This seems unlikely to me to shut down the illegal pharmacies, unless Google is paying investigators to actually do business with the pharmacies and track them down "in real life" --- in which case, why not just give the evidence they obtain to the applicable LEOs?
I suppose one doesn't prevent the other, but the article doesn't at all address this possibility, in fact, it spins the story like Google might be doing this for CYA in case law enforcement catches these guys all by themselves.
Re:Wrong way to do it? (Score:4, Interesting)
However, it is pretty amazing that the response is a lawsuit. I would think that Google, of all people, would be able to filter them out.
Re:google ads (Score:2, Interesting)
My boss will regularly click the "Sponsored Link" in his google search result thinking that it's a legitimate search result.
It's not out of the question that people click that Sponsored Link thinking it's a real result, finds that it is the solution to whatever problem they were having (albeit not the best or most cost-effective solution), and make the purchase.
Re:google ads (Score:3, Interesting)
Do you have Google's tracking disabled some how?
I get very good targeted adds from NewEgg, Amazon, Stables, and other well known places via Google. And usually the the adds are targeted to what I'm searching and does a pretty good job at it.
Spam and scams? I didn't know Newegg was in the business of scamming.
Their text format is bad? The ads I see are extremely easy to read, stands out just enough to notice but not enough to annoy and a quick glance is all I need to see what the ads is for.
You rarely click on ads but the ones you do are non-flash banners? I haven't seen a Google flash banner in forever.
I can't understand how Google ads are sending you crap unless they're unable to correctly track you. I let Google track me and I don't get crap ads. Most ads are actually stuff that I want and limited deals that I didn't not now about something that I did want.
Will Weight-Loss Ads Be Next? (Score:1, Interesting)
Whenever I turn-off my ad-blocker, I get those annoying ads with cartoony images of before-and-after fatties, it aggravates me so much that I don't feel sorry for blocking these sites' revenues... I hope they get banned next.
Friend of mine buys this way. (Score:3, Interesting)
The price is 1/10th retail.
The drugs are effective and actually appear to be the real thing in real packaging.
So how can these guys sell this way at such low prices when my pills legitimately through mail order discount places run $2 to $3 each?
Have to be gross amounts of profit somewhere in the chain.
Re:google ads (Score:3, Interesting)
I do occasionally see ads I'm interested in, but sometimes they get a bit creepy.
For example, I'm looking for a house near where I live. I used a particular website to look for properties. The next day I go to youtube to listen to some music, and on the right it's got a flash ad from the property website, showing houses for sale exactly where I was looking and in the price range. I was actually interested in a few of the properties that it showed and click on a few. But the whole thing was a bit unnerving!