WebProNews

Bulletproof hosting usually refers to ISPs that give spammers a safe haven where other ISPs would likely shut down their activities.

F-Secure Tweaks Google Over Hosting Ads

Advertising of bulk marketing products is not permitted if the stated or implied use of the following products is unsolicited spam: •  Email lists that are not opt-in •  Bulk email software •  Bulk messaging -- from the Google AdWords terms of service

Google presents what appear to be straightforward rules on what they don't want to see in their cash cow AdWords product. Security firm F-Secure found the reality a little different than what Google suggests.

Mikko Hypponen of F-Secure found ads for bulletproof hosting appearing in the One Box, a prime ad placement location atop a Google search results page.

"No, this can't be true… there must be some misunderstanding. Google wouldn't license their sponsored links for such businesses," he wrote before clicking on the first listed link. That led directly to a site advertising its bulk email server and bulletproof hosting.

"Promote your website all that you wish, without ever having to worry about being shut down," that site said in the first line of its landing page copy.

My subsequent search for bulletproof hosting did not turn up the same links, likely because Hypponen probably searched from his home country of Finland while I'm in the US. The ads I found were for different companies.

Two of the three One Box advertisers had links leading to doorway pages that were just lists of affiliate links to other companies. Such pages usually run afoul of Google's webmaster guidelines, and in doing so are supposed to be prohibited in AdWords.

The term 'bulletproof hosting' has a number of advertisers vying for top placement. Google easily filled the top three slots in its One Box with ads, while listing eight more down the right side of the search results.