In an announcement that sent shockwaves throughout the Web, Edelman late yesterday took a surprise potshot at Yahoo, Inc., publicly accusing the company of fraud. According to our sources, this is the second time Edelman has pulled this stunt in the last year.

Harvard University researcher and spyware expert Ben Edelman released a report yesterday that showed Yahoo involved in an elaborate click-fraud scam. Click fraud is a plan to overcharge advertisers who pay for each time a Web site visitor clicks on their ads. As advertisers pay for each click, click fraud is usually committed by a nefarious rival who wants to squander its competitor's ad budget.

In the report titled "The Spyware - Click-Fraud Connection --and Yahoo's Role Revisited" Edelman traces a trail of click fraud that starts with an adware vendor and leads to Yahoo. According to Edelman, "Yahoo's media partnerships through their Overture ad network allows spyware vendors to purchase ads indirectly. Those spyware vendors can then send visitors through the Overture system without having clicked on anything, thus faking a click, and costing advertisers money."

A spokesperson for Yahoo yesterday said that they were in the process of investigating the matter.

EDITOR'S NOTE AND CLARIFICATION

Ben is in no way affiliated nor does he have any relationship with the company Edelman Public Relations. Edelman PR is the world's largest independent public relations firm, with about 2,000 employees so they say, in 45 offices worldwide, and revenues around $261,858,702 give or take.

Also in the spirit of full disclosure, Edelman PR Worldwide is the current unofficial home of the Strumpette International Fan Club. Of the 3,732 unique servers worldwide that have come to visit us so far this month, Edelman has 7 of the top 15.

# Hits Hostname Location
1 6887 host9.chi.edelman.com Chicago
2 6783 host9.nyc.edelman.com New York
4 1935 host2.wdc.edelman.com Washington, DC
5 1611 host130.atl.edelman.com Atlanta
6 1606 host194.aus.edelman.com Austin
8 1136 host2.sea.edelman.com Seattle
15 728 host82.lon2.edelman.com London

Yeah!! Kisses and love go out to our biggest fans.

Personal note: Richard, thank you especially for your support and inspiration. Quick question: Is this billable time? How are your people accounting for this? I guess you could chalk it up to client research indirectly but that'd surely be a stretch. Right?