Post: #1

A piece on Wired about busting Google for helping scam-artists:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/05...sting/all/

Quote:For a while he bottled sterile water in 1-milliliter vials, marketed it as a steroid called Dutchminnie, and sold it for $1,000 a pop. Not only did clients fall for the scam, they sent back photos showing how they’d bulked up after using the “drug.”

Quote:At one point during a meeting with Whitaker and his lawyer, the Feds asked him how he had grown his online enterprise. Whitaker’s answer was immediate: He had used Google AdWords. In fact, he claimed, Google employees had actively helped him advertise his business, even though he had made no attempt to hide its illegal nature. It was reasonable to assume, Whitaker said, that Google was helping other rogue Internet pharmacies too.

Another reason why I refuse to click on online ads, but given their ubiquitous nature it's not hard to believe how much money there is to be made.