Paid search results often not worth the click

Microsoft Corp. does not think much of Secure Computer LLC. It says the company and its partners have “exploited computer users,” and that the company’s antispyware product is of “questionable effectiveness.” Last week, it went so far as to join forces with the Washington state attorney general and sue the White Plains, New York, company over its business practices.

And yet, more than a week after the lawsuits, Microsoft is still running ads for the company’s Spyware Cleaner software on its MSN Web site. Why? Welcome to the murky world of paid search, where the ads that pop up can lead to big money for the search companies, and big headaches for unsuspecting users.

Richard Smith found out about the dangers of sponsored search links last December after his wife, Faina, did a Google search for the term “Stowe Weather,” looking to find the latest weather conditions in Vermont. A sponsored link took her to a page that appeared to provide weather reports, but was in fact “a drive-by download page in disguise,” according to Smith, an Internet security consultant based in Boston.

After Faina complained that her Internet Explorer links toolbar had vanished, Smith examined the computer and found that she had unwittingly installed an invasive piece of software called WeatherStudio, which is produced by Miva Inc., a Fort Myers, Florida, online marketing company.

“It looked pretty deceptive to me,” Smith said. “My wife was looking for weather up in Stowe, Vermont, and it kept seeming to imply that you would get weather information by just clicking a couple of things. But when you read the details what it was really saying was you were getting some software.”

The software came from a weather search, but three other search terms are also especially attractive to dodgy search marketers: “spyware,” “smileys” and “screen savers.”

A Google search for “spyware,” turns up more than 100 paid results. Searching for “spyware cleaner” on MSN’s search engine turns up a paid link that takes the user to Secure Computer’s site, where Web users are told that the product is “not available for download or sale until further notice.” Secure Computer has admitted that there are problems with Spyware Cleaner, and pulled the product from the market shortly after being sued last week.

The practice of unsavory spyware advertising is particularly troubling, because it often catches consumers at a vulnerable time, as they desperately look for a way to fix their infected computers.

“They’re confused and in some cases frightened,” said Eric Howes, director of malware research at antispyware vendor Sunbelt Software Inc., and a contributor to the Spyware Warrior (http://www.spywarewarrior.com/) Web site. “They’re desperate. And that makes them rife for exploitation.”

A case in point is the discussion forums for the Google Inc.-sponsored Stopbadware.org. Formed just last week, Stopbadware.org is intended to be a “Neighborhood Watch” program where consumers can fight malicious software. But participants in the organization’s forums, hosted by Google Groups, have already raised questions about the legitimacy of the paid search ads on the site. (http://groups.google.com/group/stopbadware/browse_frm/thread/3b400aef0bc1a9fc/3605f4a13b21b26f?tvc=1&q=villa#3605f4a13b21b26f)

“Will the average user realize not to click on the links,” wrote one participant. “Would they not think, ‘Well, this is a site about getting rid of spyware, so these links should be legitimate?'”

This is a serious concern, according to Ben Edelman, a Harvard University Ph.D. student who has studied how paid search companies inadvertently push spyware through sponsored links. According to Edelman, six of the top 10 Google ads that pop up on a search for the term “screensavers” are for products that involve “spyware, spam or similar unwanted materials.” His Web site is http://www.benedelman.org/news/012606-1.html.

Edelman thinks that Google, in particular, should do a better job of policing these ads by enforcing additional checks on advertisers that buy ads for terms that attract a lot of dubious advertising.

Google could do a lot to quash the problem given its market clout, Edelman said. But he believes that the company also has an obligation to do more because it has already gone on the record against the spyware problem. In a May 2004 Software Principles document, the company took a stand against dishonest software and called on others not to do business with disreputable companies.

The statement calls on companies to “turn down business and make less money” when spyware is involved, Edelman said. “That’s what they’re telling other people to do, but when push comes to shove, they don’t actually do it themselves.”

Google declined to discuss details of how it polices its paid-search services, but the company said that it requires that advertisers live up to the Software Principles statement. “If we find that ads in our network are leading users directly to Web sites or products that use tactics inconsistent with our Software Principles, we reject these ads,” a Google spokesman said.

Search engine companies are clearly aware of the problem, but some others, like Google, are vague about what they are doing to address it. Yahoo Inc.’s Search Marketing uses a combination of software and a “human editorial team that actually takes a look at questionable listings,” a company spokeswoman said.

A spokeswoman for Microsoft’s public relations agency confirmed that the company does use some filters to control how sponsored ads appear, but declined to comment further. (An MSN search for “Microsoft spyware,” yields links to only two Web sites, far fewer than searches for “spyware” or even “Linux spyware”)

Microsoft was also unable to explain why ads for Secure Computer’s products were still being advertised via its adCenter paid search service, saying the MSN’s product is still being tested and that Microsoft has not yet documented its usage policies.

One day after IDG News informed Google about Richard Smith’s experiences with WeatherStudio, the software was no longer advertised in a search for “Stowe Weather.”

Smith said that, while he was upset and concerned by the experience, he does not expect Google to solve the problem on its own.”I’m not sure that Google should be out policing advertisers,” he said. “There are just too many advertisers; I don’t think it’s practical for them.”

However, he did have one word of advice for the search giant: add a complaint mechanism for sponsored ads. Smith complained several times to WeatherStudio’s manufacturer about the software, but he had a hard time figuring out how to let Google know about his problem. “I didn’t know where to complain,” he said.