Google targeted in click fraud lawsuit

**Larwee** · 06-30-2005, 12:51 PM

This could be a class action lawsuit. The company said Google was costing them 5 million dollars because they failed to protect them from click fraud.

The company that filed the lawsuit said the click fraud was at 38 percent.

More details are in this article http://news.com.com/Click+fraud+laws...l?tag=nefd.top

darnell · 06-30-2005, 01:39 PM

From the article:

Quote:

Click Defense filed its lawsuit, which also seeks class action status, Friday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif.
...
Click Defense, which advertises on Google.com, is among a new crop of companies that aim to help identify and stop click fraud. Its rivals include Alchemist Media and ClickDetective.

This lawsuit is the purest definition of a lame lawsuit being used by the filing company as a cheap publicity stunt!

For their lameness, I'd never use Click Defense if I ever needed such a service. I'd be sure to use one of their rivals!

Steve_S · 06-30-2005, 06:37 PM

Actually a distinction needs to made:

"Click fraud detection company Click Defense has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Google."

This is a little bit different I thinkie than saying that Click Defense was suing G for 5 mil. They probably just pulled the 5 mil out of thin air in the hopes that thousands of folks would join the class and based this way high nuimber on that hope.

This is actually the second such suit against G which seeks class status and it should be quite interesting to see what happens.

See:

http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3516951

Natch, they fail to mention impression spam and if a yuky competitor wants to "wack" you (LOL) you can't do a thing since only G can fix this. Thats also Fraud!

Defined for your reading pleasure in:

http://www.geekvillage.com/forums/sh...ssion+AND+spam

Natch, I'm not a member of the bar.

darnell · 06-30-2005, 07:46 PM

If Google has a problem with fraud then the market should address the issue by not using Google for advertising. But Google is not responsible for the fraudelent acts of a 3rd party, nor should Google be held liable to have some mandated form of fraud prevention in their service. There is no law that demands that Google try and fight fraud so Google is not responsible and this is not an issue to be handled in courts.

If people stop using services they feel are suffering a great deal of fraud then those services will work on fraud prevention just to maintain their customer base. Beyond that any need for regulation of fraud has to be established by the US Congress then followed by services like Google's.

Ted S · 07-02-2005, 03:06 AM

Removed by Ted

fireklown · 07-02-2005, 05:33 AM

I gotta jump on the bandwagon of people who think this is just a publicity stunt. I company that makes click fraud software suing because of click fraud?

Also, if they saw 38% of their clicks were fraudulant clicks then why in gods name did they keep using them till they racked up over $5 million?

Anyhow the 38% number comes from the "Department of useless statistics pulled out of their butt"

There is no possible way to even come up with a realistic number. I can't even count the number of times over the last year or so when I've been on a webpage, saw a adsense ad that peaked my interest clicked on it and got to a page that wasn't even close to what I was expecting to get, and then leave the site after a 2 second visit. To a log watcher that would look like a fraud click, but in reality is was just poor marketing on their part.

But it all comes down to a PR stunt. A few days ago myself and probably a vast majority of people had never heard of them. Now with all the posts on message boards, and links on blogs and webmaster type websites they have become a house hold name to advertisers and publishers. So all in all, I guess it worked

darnell · 07-02-2005, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by fireklown

Also, if they saw 38% of their clicks were fraudulant clicks then why in gods name did they keep using them till they racked up over $5 million?

Yea, this indicates they must not be very good at detecting click fraud, which is supposed to be their core business

.

**Larwee** · 12-09-2005, 04:30 PM

Click Defense said they wanted to focus on its business which is suppose to detect click fraud. They said they could do this by withdrawing as lead plantiff in the suit against Google seeking class-action status, but they still plan to press their claims.

Internet service provider AIT will become the new lead plantiff. They said Click Defense got cold feet.

http://news.com.com/Google+click+fra...8732&subj=news

**Larwee** · 12-10-2005, 04:47 PM

AIT is taking a strong stand against Google as it replaces Click Defense in this suit.

AIT claims that Google ignores many fraudulent clicks because it is to their financial advantage to do so.

AIT says it lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because of fraudulent clicks and that Google has the technology to detect it.

This could drag on for a long time. Right now it sounds as if AIT plans to stick with it.

http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release...ease_id=103417

06-30-2005, 12:51 PM	#1
Larwee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: St. Louis, Missouri USA Posts: 3,016	Google targeted in click fraud lawsuit This could be a class action lawsuit. The company said Google was costing them 5 million dollars because they failed to protect them from click fraud. The company that filed the lawsuit said the click fraud was at 38 percent. More details are in this article http://news.com.com/Click+fraud+laws...l?tag=nefd.top

07-02-2005, 03:06 AM	#5
Ted S Registered User Join Date: Sep 1999 Location: Irvine, California Posts: 667	Removed by Ted Last edited by Ted S; 06-21-2006 at 12:49 AM.

12-09-2005, 04:30 PM	#8
Larwee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: St. Louis, Missouri USA Posts: 3,016	Update: Click Defense withdraws as lead plantiff Click Defense said they wanted to focus on its business which is suppose to detect click fraud. They said they could do this by withdrawing as lead plantiff in the suit against Google seeking class-action status, but they still plan to press their claims. Internet service provider AIT will become the new lead plantiff. They said Click Defense got cold feet. http://news.com.com/Google+click+fra...8732&subj=news Last edited by Larwee; 12-09-2005 at 04:36 PM.

12-10-2005, 04:47 PM	#9
Larwee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: St. Louis, Missouri USA Posts: 3,016	AIT takes strong stand against Google AIT is taking a strong stand against Google as it replaces Click Defense in this suit. AIT claims that Google ignores many fraudulent clicks because it is to their financial advantage to do so. AIT says it lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because of fraudulent clicks and that Google has the technology to detect it. This could drag on for a long time. Right now it sounds as if AIT plans to stick with it. http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release...ease_id=103417

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06-30-2005, 06:37 PM	#3
Steve_S Join Date: Aug 1998 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Posts: 5,223	Actually a distinction needs to made: "Click fraud detection company Click Defense has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Google." This is a little bit different I thinkie than saying that Click Defense was suing G for 5 mil. They probably just pulled the 5 mil out of thin air in the hopes that thousands of folks would join the class and based this way high nuimber on that hope. This is actually the second such suit against G which seeks class status and it should be quite interesting to see what happens. See: http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3516951 Natch, they fail to mention impression spam and if a yuky competitor wants to "wack" you (LOL) you can't do a thing since only G can fix this. Thats also Fraud! Defined for your reading pleasure in: http://www.geekvillage.com/forums/sh...ssion+AND+spam Natch, I'm not a member of the bar.

06-30-2005, 07:46 PM	#4
darnell Registered User Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Suwanee, GA, USA Posts: 709	If Google has a problem with fraud then the market should address the issue by not using Google for advertising. But Google is not responsible for the fraudelent acts of a 3rd party, nor should Google be held liable to have some mandated form of fraud prevention in their service. There is no law that demands that Google try and fight fraud so Google is not responsible and this is not an issue to be handled in courts. If people stop using services they feel are suffering a great deal of fraud then those services will work on fraud prevention just to maintain their customer base. Beyond that any need for regulation of fraud has to be established by the US Congress then followed by services like Google's.

07-02-2005, 05:33 AM	#6
fireklown Registered User Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 563	I gotta jump on the bandwagon of people who think this is just a publicity stunt. I company that makes click fraud software suing because of click fraud? Also, if they saw 38% of their clicks were fraudulant clicks then why in gods name did they keep using them till they racked up over $5 million? Anyhow the 38% number comes from the "Department of useless statistics pulled out of their butt" There is no possible way to even come up with a realistic number. I can't even count the number of times over the last year or so when I've been on a webpage, saw a adsense ad that peaked my interest clicked on it and got to a page that wasn't even close to what I was expecting to get, and then leave the site after a 2 second visit. To a log watcher that would look like a fraud click, but in reality is was just poor marketing on their part. But it all comes down to a PR stunt. A few days ago myself and probably a vast majority of people had never heard of them. Now with all the posts on message boards, and links on blogs and webmaster type websites they have become a house hold name to advertisers and publishers. So all in all, I guess it worked

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