As part of a class action suit, google is required to turn over all contact information for anyone who is eligible to participate in the settlement. I have no reason to believe the email isn't genuine - it looks similar to other settlements I have been solicited to participate in.
absolutely right accentnepal it will only become null and void if enough high worth advertisers with a sum of enough advertising dollars say opt-out. If enough small advertisers with a sum total of used advertising fund equating to a small fortune (i believe about 5% of the settlement) opt-out then the entire suite becomes null and void. Its a big ask from us small advertisers but it could happen! If people are more interested in the details of my statements i can try to find the articles, they were from news.yahoo a while back.. as for the whole "your automatically assumed in unless you opt out", gadood i agree the law system sometimes works backwards. However its in googles best interest that it automatically assumes opt-in. Because if this lawsuite settles google only need to pay 90 million. (as opposed to something bigger later on, you have to realize that Google defined these conditions, they came up with the 90 million amount and they admitted to the click freud, they want as many people to settle with this amount as soon as possible) However if enough people optout (which isnt the default hence people will have to go out of there way to do this) then google could potentially face a bigger fine from a future law suite. At the moment from a lawyers perspective, google is in the lucky seat! 90million versues what i believe should be a potential 1.8 billion. You don't need to be an einstein to figure out which is better! again im saying it, im opting out. All it takes is a simple letter mailed to that single address with your name and signature with the statement "op-out of this current law suite with lawyers ......" l8r
It is not really $90 million. It is $30 million for the lawyers and $60 million in half off adwords for the customers which is about Googles' cost. They could even profit from some of it as people buy adwords to get the discount and bid up the prices for keywords.
Heres a article about it http://search-engine-blog.seocase.net/2006/05/22/google-adwords-class-action-litigation-spam-followup/ in a nut shell: Adam Lasnik from Google posts comments to the post and confirms that adwords click lawsuit is real and settlement has been reached. Here is an excerpt from adwords blog. As you may have heard, Google has reached a settlement of a lawsuit regarding click fraud. Here’s Nicole Wong, Associate General Counsel, to discuss the latest developments: Now that the preliminary settlement has been approved by the Court, all members of the class are being notified about the settlement. On May 19 and 20, 2006 (PST), a settlement administration firm sent an email notification (from clicksettlement@xmr3.com and with the subject ‘Important Legal Notice Regarding Your Google AdWords Account’) to all advertisers who purchased online advertising from Google between January 1, 2002 and the present. I recommend that you carefully review the information in the email and visit the site provided by the administration firm: www.clicksettlement.com. On the site, you will find links to the official settlement notice and settlement FAQs, both of which are in .PDF format. To view these documents, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.â€
Google Settlement Opt Out c/o Gilardi & Co. LLC P.O. Box 808070 Petaluma, CA 94975-8070 Opt-out -------- I’ll opt-out of your peanuts-Hollywood-material settlement which only suits the lawyers. Meanwhile, I would also like to let you know your law-company, Gilardi & Co, are automatically opted-in for paying my company 1’000 $ for claiming to act on our behalf without my authorization, and for time and stamps I had to waste to write you this letter. If you do not reply to me in writing in the next 30 days following reception of this letter to opt-out of this, I will send you the bill.
I got a mail yesterday from clicksettlement with the title Important Legal Notice Regarding Your Google AdWords Account It says something about a lawsuit against Google Adsense, and that I have to join, but my legal English is not good enough to see what it is really all about. Did anyone else get this? It looked spammish, but not sure if it is. If anyone else got it and it is not spam: what is it all about?
This morning I received a strange email as follows: xxxxxxxx Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 23:33:02 -0400 From: Clicksettlement <clicksettlement@xmr3.com> Reply-To: Clicksettlement <clicksettlement@xmr3.com> Subject: Important Legal Notice Regarding Your Google AdWords Account To: xxx@xxx.xxx This court-ordered notice may affect your legal rights. Please read it carefully. If you purchased online advertising from Google between January 1, 2002 and the present, you are a class member in a class-action lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Miller County, Arkansas. This notice is to inform you of the Court’s certification of a class; the nature of the claims alleged; your right to participate in, or exclude yourself from, the class; a proposed settlement; and how you can claim an award of advertising credits under the settlement. Please read the attached notice. You can get more information at: http://pull.xmr3.com/p/32303-0D26/70126699/http-www.clicksettlement.com.html. Please do not reply to this message xxxxxxxx Anybody any ideas? I didn't open the attachment. Ainuddin BestWebsites.com.my AdsenseForDummies.com
Same here, I got five to different email addresses. Even to ones that have never had adsense on them. All went straight into the deleted folder!
Looks as if someone in the states is sueing google for illegal clicks. But when you read carefully it seems that the attorneys get most out of it(30% of 90 million)
Hi All, I did some digging after I got this email on Saturday and called my Google rep. It's definitely legitimate - I think someone already posted this link: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2006/05/lanes-gifts-v-google-settlement.html I also posted my Google rep's repsponse to my inquiry on my blog: http://www.internetmarketingadvice.net/clicksettlementcom-is-legit-per-google/2006/05/22/ I also posted a link to this thread. Sorry to swoop in as a newbie. Best, Jackie