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Google makes, quite literally, billions of dollars off the bottom of the barrel. There is a dark iceberg under the consumer Internet. Online pharmacies. Rebi

by patio11 12y ago

Google makes, quite literally, billions of dollars off the bottom of the barrel. There is a dark iceberg under the consumer Internet. Online pharmacies. Rebill scams. "Government grant" applications. High interest loans. Educational institutions of dubious utility (disclaimer: took one's shilling once, indirectly, and regret it a bit). Spam, scams, and the like, on a massive scale. There is a UI for AdSense publishers where some Google PM made the decision "If we give them options to tart up their website less, let's tell them how much money it costs." http://www.seobook.com/how-make-easy-money-google http://www.seobook.com/how-make-easy-money-google

threejay 12y ago
At least re: online pharmacy, that's patently false. Coming from someone who currently runs a legitimate online pharmacy, there is a 9-12 month accreditation process (VIPPS) that adwords, etc requires before letting you advertise.
- ktsmith 12y ago
  Sure, after years of essentially no regulation and Google paying a massive fine.
- patio11 12y ago
  That's presumably because Google doesn't want to be fined another $500 million for having their AdWords sales reps give their pharmacy customers advice on how to avoid Google's pharmacy compliance rules. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/google-reaches-500-million-settlement-with-government/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/google-reaches-500-...
  - otakucode 12y ago
    That would depend on whether Google is ever actually expected to PAY $500 million and whether they earned more than $500 million by breaking the law to begin with. If they made $501 million off of it, all the government has done is guarantee that is the new standard for business conduct. And usually companies that get hit with $500 million fines get that reduced to $100k or so on appeal.

by patio11 12y ago

threejay 12y ago

At least re: online pharmacy, that's patently false. Coming from someone who currently runs a legitimate online pharmacy, there is a 9-12 month accreditation process (VIPPS) that adwords, etc requires before letting you advertise.

ktsmith 12y ago
Sure, after years of essentially no regulation and Google paying a massive fine.
patio11 12y ago
That's presumably because Google doesn't want to be fined another $500 million for having their AdWords sales reps give their pharmacy customers advice on how to avoid Google's pharmacy compliance rules. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/google-reaches-500-million-settlement-with-government/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/google-reaches-500-...
- otakucode 12y ago
  That would depend on whether Google is ever actually expected to PAY $500 million and whether they earned more than $500 million by breaking the law to begin with. If they made $501 million off of it, all the government has done is guarantee that is the new standard for business conduct. And usually companies that get hit with $500 million fines get that reduced to $100k or so on appeal.