multum im parvo: Google's AdWords Policies - Great Ideas, If they Only Implemented Them

Google recently did a review of it's Ad Policy, progress in the current year, and purported improvements they're making to algorithms and policies to protect users from "spammy ads" and even worse, sites that trick users into installing malware, revealing personal information for "free" goods or getting locked into recurring charges outlined in small text . The article is really laughable. This is one area where Google shouldn't be patting itself on the back, but writing a letter of apology to its users for either doing such a horrible job at improving the quality of approved ads and their landing pages, or just flat out lying about their efforts; I'm not sure which is the truth. Take this line from their latest installment of braggadocio:

To make sure that the ads are safe, we've also increased our efforts to detect scam ads and remove them from our system. For example, we’ve recently implemented a new process for permanently disabling AdWords accounts that attempt to harm users by doing things like installing malware on your computer, or offering free services that bait you into accepting hidden fees.

Hrmm, let's see, "permanently disabling AdWords accounts" for companies "offering free services that bait you into accepting hidden fees." Let's take a high profile case such as freecreditreports.com which has been under FTC investigation for tricking customers into monthly recurring charges for their "free" credit report. Google, maybe you've been following the news on this? Let's do a search for "free credit report." Wow! Looky there. The top ad is none other than freecreditreports.com. Maybe they're too high-paying of customers to permanently ban from AdWords?

Google also makes reference to it's help topic on disabled AdWords accounts which lists the following amongst others as a violation of their landing page policy:

Arbitrage sites without relevant and original content that are designed for the purpose of showing ads

Let' see. I did a search for "free government loans" (another popular scam Google has supported through its AdWords network) and found an ad linking to a site called us.peeplo.com which alas was yet another meta search engine returning results for the said search terms and some AdSense placements to boot. These kind of crap results without original content are still fairly common in both organic and paid listings.

One wealthy man I truly respect is Warren Buffet who often speaks in frank and undecorated language even when his company fails to deliver results to its shareholders. As a

user of Google's services, I only wish they could speak with the same level of humility and admit fault in profiting off of scams and underachieving in its "efforts" to protect its users on the Internet.