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Have you ever wondered which online marketing streams have the worst reputation among consumers? Of course adult has to be way up there with the worst of them because over the years so many people have been ripped off by this part of the industry.

Online pharmacy would be another part of the online marketing industry that has a very very bad reputation and it's certainly one that has been earned. And then of course there are those who sell ringtones and other mobile content services and in Florida there seems to be a smell about them that has finally attracted Florida's Attorney General.

I guess it was only a matter of time before the Law became interested and not something that's all that interesting ... except for one slight wrinkle.

Those who actually sell those ringtones and other mobile services aren't the only ones in the Attorney General's sites. The owners of the websites that the ads appear on are also being targeted as are the mobile phone carriers, billing aggregators, ad networks, affiliate networks and the affiliates themselves.

While it may be difficult for some of those on that list to know whether the ringtone suppliers are legitimate or not that's doesn't appear to be any form of excuse as far as the Attorney General is concerned. And if prosecutions against the ringtone people are successful do you really think that Florida's Attorney General is going to stop there?

Think about what would happen if the same attention was paid to the adult industry. Not only would sponsors be pursued but so would companies like CCBill and everyone right down the chain to the humble affiliate.

Of course CCBill and every affiliate might claim that they had no real way of knowing whether or not a particular sponsor actually provided the content and services advertised on a site's tour but that's just not going to cut it. According to the Attorney General's office “... any entity that is profiting from illegal practices is responsible” ... end of story!

Now you might think that actually cutting through all the layers of online advertising is going to be way too difficult for anyone to do let alone end up with enough evidence to prosecute people but that may not be as difficult as you might hope. The Attorney General's office is really talking the talk about just that and they've already scored against AzoogleAds so perhaps there's more to their words than empty rhetoric.

Only time will tell but I think that all of our billing aggregators here in adult are going to be watching what happens very carefully. You may also soon see some of the bigger sponsors beginning to tone down their advertising so that the more exaggerated promises currently being made by some of them are hopefully forgotten by the time lawmakers begin to look in our direction.

And on the other side of the country
I wandered into Matt Cutt's blog last night - I'm sure you remember Matt, he's Google's version of Baghdad Bob - and was surprised to see that one or two of the better-known solo SEOs were actually taking Matt to task over paid links. Of course Matt was doing his best to defend the indefensible - Google doesn't sell links ... Wikipedia provides solid information for surfers ... yadda yadda yadda - and of course he was vocally supported by several of his little sycophants. Sad little people they must be.

I guess that it's a sign of the times that some of those who formerly supported Matt and thought that he was such a great guy are now turning against him. Before too long even smalltime webmasters will begin to understand that Google is not their friend; sure Google owns the game and we've all got to play it but we don't have to like it and we don't have to go on telling Matt what a stand-up guy he is.

Perhaps one day the Florida Attorney General might turn his attention to Google and look at whether or not what Google does is any less deceptive than what some ringtone providers do. Maybe it's a faint hope but one day there is a good chance that it will happen and then we will really find that we're living in interesting times.

What would you do if Google suddenly became something less than the flavor of the month? Where would your traffic come from? If you're not already building up your own sources of traffic ... whether it's adult or mainstream ... then you've got all your eggs in one basket and we all know how dangerous that can be.