Plaintiffs Object to Google Click Fraud Deal

By Ed Oswald | Published July 24, 2006, 2:26 PM

Over four dozen plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit argued in an Arkansas court Monday that Google's proposed $90 million "click fraud" settlement does not do enough to prevent the issue. However, an independent report submitted to the court Friday contradicts those claims, saying the search giant's efforts were "reasonable."

Fifty one members of the class action suit have objected to the settlement. Most say that the so called burden-of-proof falls too much on the advertiser, and many do not have the resources to spend on investigating possible occurrences of fraudulent clicks. Some say that the deal favors lawyers over the plaintiffs, and is a handout to the company.

A third of the settlement is comprised of legal fees, payable to the attorneys in the case.

To its defense, Google pointed out that 10 of the objectors lived outside of the country, and lacked familiarity with the U.S. court system. It also continued to question the merits of the case, saying the plaintiffs are creating a suspicion of click fraud where there is none.

"Google contends that class members could never prove such a claim, because Google aggressively roots out click fraud, using highly sophisticated techniques and processes, and minimizes any impact it has on advertisers," Google said in its filing.

Meanwhile, an independent expert commissioned by both sides in the case found that Google's efforts to stop click fraud were reasonable. While Alexander Tuzhilin, a professor of information systems at New York University, said a lack of evidence hampered his investigation, he was satisfied through interviews with Google's click fraud team that the company is adequately handling the issue.

Comments

View comments by with a score of at least

Google is the devil!

Score: 0

|

a class-action lawsuit

Some say that the deal favors lawyers over the plaintiffs,

Let me repeate that first quote for those a bit slow on the uptake. (the 51 objectioners?)

a class-action lawsuit

Class-action lawsuits *always* favor the lawyers.

lmao....

What a bunch of suckers.

Score: 0

|

Why do I get the feeling this will be a long series of lawsuits against Google in any attempt to get a chunk of their cash?

www.carboncopyprofits.com

Score: 0

|

EC's Kroes to US senators: Mind your own business on Oracle + Sun

If the AP is accurate, the EU's antitrust chief just told the United States Senate that any merger that takes place in the world is more her affair than theirs.

What does AT&T's 'Mark the Spot' app say about service quality?

That's a question for Betanews readers to answer in comments to this post.

Windows fix for TLS security bug still forthcoming, won't be Tuesday

Anyone looking for a fix for last month's discovery of a potentially serious security hole in TLS and SSL may have to wait until everyone is ready to act together.

Google rolls out real-time search, Near Me Now, extended personalization

Over time, searches from PCs and mobile phones will grow even "more personalized." But what about user privacy and search results that give you "the truth"?

Betanews Podcast: Rupert Murdoch and the buying stuff online problem

We'll have a more difficult time paying for online news if the underlying protocol for online payment has a big gaping hole in it.

Not the first, not the last, technology predictions for 2010

Carmi Levy | Wide Angle Zoom: The real truth is probably that what went around in 2009, will come around to haunt us next year.

Google Goggles: Hands on with the Shazam of the Real World

Google today unveiled Goggles, its visual search lab for Android devices that identifies objects by sight.

Microsoft: Windows 7 Family Pack wasn't 'pulled,' it just sold out

If you hurry, you may still be able to find the last Family Pack upgrade editions hanging around retail store shelves, but probably not so much online.

Clever iPhone game returns after being bumped over a name dispute

The game's simple concept and multitude of platforms and puzzles manage to pull off a retro, 8-bit style that's reminiscent of an old Atari game given a modern makeover.

Intel's marriage of CPU and GPU not ready for prime time

Although there will be an Intel component this month that can compute and plot in parallel, Betanews was told today, it won't be based on Project "Larrabee."

An alternative to Research in Motion's enterprise e-mail? There's an app for that

Good Technology today released an iPhone app compatible with its enterprise e-mail solution.