I didn't have the opportunity to make the click fraud session at SES but I did find this nugget of information. I reflect back on the old Dunkin Donuts commercial and the donut maker getting out of bed and disliking every second of it. Do you think that's what the engine makers like Google and Yahoo are doing? Waking up every morning and saying, "time to monitor the click fraud?" NAH - they are so happy seeing the cash registers ring that Google’s paying out a $90,000,000 settlement is a drop in the bucket.

So I applaud Jeffrey Rohrs "Sausage Manifesto”. The whole logistical problems the engines will wrangler with are having to hire additional help for all of the charge backs businesses will demand. If click fraud represents 25%-30% of actual clicks http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060309-001743, then how many billions of dollars would come out of Google's coffers annually?

In the media world TV stations are still in an archaic situation where media buyers post back on a rating point if the television station doesn't hit that targeted rating point as promised in the previous rating book. Do you think that same media buyer will ever pay extra for higher ratings achieved and improved performance - Hell No! Televisions have complete control of this nonsense and they still allow this to happen….Why? – BECAUSE THEY STILL ARE GETTING THE LION’S SHARE and the media buyers feel they have control!!

As the Internet grows and if click fraud is not reigned in the Engines have the final say and that is to their and their stockholders advantage. They probably have witness what traditional media has done and they aren't allowing this to happen to their model.

The difference is we have the technology to see the clicks and results and it would be in the best interest of the Engines to provide this data back to the buyer. It will take years for the Internet to catch up to the Media spend on television, but with the video portals coming into play this might give the Internet a leg up. Except for the fact of CLICK FRAUD yet again. Traditional advertisers will see the advantage of paying for the reach and knowing they get a guaranteed rating.

1. Invest in Proportion to the Problem
"Warranted or not, a lot of us have a sneaking suspicion that you pocket more money from invalid clicks (including third-party click fraud) than you invest in its prevention. ... If your data shows that click fraud is actually in the single digits, then please invest at least that much in its prevention."
2. Acknowledge that Tracking Alone Is Not the Answer
"We understand that conversion tracking is our responsibility to implement and monitor. However, even if we’re watching our conversion rates, please understand that we may not be able to identify fraudulent clicks due to market realities."

Give the added control back to the buying community. The engines could just build in the best click monitoring software and integrate it with their do it yourself platform. It’s seems so easy to spend money on the engines, but not so easy to save. In the short term they’ll generate more ad dollars than Outdoor and Radio but if they want to reach TV and Newspaper Spend they need to wake up every morning and say – TIME TO MAKE THE SAUSAGE AND FIGURE OUT WHAT'S IN IT!!!