The Real Site

http://blog.iphone-dev.org is the real website for Quickpwn and Yellowsn0w.  These developers have worked hard to free our iPhones from the clutches of ATT so we could not only choose alternate carriers like T-mobile but also we could install iPhone apps that didn’t make it through the slow, complex and highly suspect process of getting into the App Store.  I’m personally still waiting to get my hands in ikeepass.

The Problem

I was googling for, “jailbreak iphone 3G S” since I won a new iPhone 3G S at the BlogggingWhileBrown conference Friday night (Thanks ATT for sponsoring the event!)  and need to stay in the know for when I can use my new phone with T-mobile. I saw QuickPwn.com in the search results and was a bit confused. I knew it was a piece of software but not that there was a site for it as well. I went on to investigate.

My search results for "jailbreak iphone 3g S"

A cybersquatter came in and registered the domain http://quickpwn.com and the entire site is plastered with Google Adsense.   The person who created the site is “encouraging clicks” by plastering 85% of the site with advertising.  There is almost no content on the site.  One post has less than 40 words and the rest is all Google Adsense.

He also registered the Twitter name: Quickpwn. He does not work with the development team at all so it appears he is doing this to get paid off the work of others. The real Dev-team has contacted him and he assures them he is “helping them”.

This site needs to be stopped because it’s misleading website visitors, Google Adwords people paying for placement and most importantly, not providing credit to the actual developers of the jailbreaking software.

Based on Google’s AdSense Program Policies,  I feel the site is violating the following guidelines:

Encouraging Clicks

Publishers may not ask others to click their ads or use deceptive implementation methods to obtain clicks. This includes, but is not limited to, offering compensation to users for viewing ads or performing searches, promising to raise money for third parties for such behavior or placing images next to individual ads.

In order to ensure a good experience for users and advertisers, publishers participating in the AdSense program may not:

• Encourage users to click the Google ads using phrases such as “click the ads”, “support us”, “visit these links” or other similar language.
• Direct user attention to the ads using arrows or other graphical gimmicks.
• Place misleading images alongside individual ads.
• Format ads so that they become indistinguishable from other content on that page.
• Format site content so that it is difficult to distinguish it from ads.
• Place misleading labels above Google ad units. For instance, ads may be labelled “Sponsored Links” or “Advertisements”, but not “Favourite Sites” or “Today’s Top Offers”.

Webmaster Guidelines

AdSense publishers are required to adhere to the webmaster quality guidelines.

• Do not place excessive, repetitive or irrelevant keywords in the content or code of webpages.
• Avoid hidden text or hidden links.
• Avoid “doorway” pages created just for search engines or other “cookie cutter” approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.
• Do not include deceptive or manipulative content or construction to improve your site’s search engine ranking (e.g. your site’s PageRank).

Site Behavior

Sites showing Google ads should be easy for users to navigate. Sites may not change user preferences, redirect users to unwanted websites, initiate downloads, include malware or contain pop-ups or pop-unders that interfere with site navigation.

How You Can Help

1. Review the site Quickpwn.com and determine if you think it violates the guidelines
2. Visit the Google Adsense Support page to review the guidelines
3. Submit a violation report to Google Adsense

This hurts businesses who are paying for the advertising as they don’t know it’s showing up on his website in what I deem to be an unprofessional way. 

It hurts the developers who could be benefitting from the Google Adsense revenue but are not.  The Dev Team does not accept donations directly although I saw some of the developers are asking for a few iPhone 3G S’  so they can work better to create new jailbreak software.

And most importantly, it hurts website visitors who are looking for accurate and helpful information.

You can also give a shout out to the real development team at http://blog.iphone-dev.org and on Twitter @iphone_dev and let them know you appreciate their hard work on the iPhone!

My Submitted Violation Form

Updates

I’m going to research the advertising policies for MSN/Microsoft as @MahFooBoof pointed out that QuickPwn.com is on more than one ad network     QuickPwn.com Profits on iPhone Jailbreak With Microsoft Ads

Thanks to George Brown for putting this on Digg – Quick Pwn making money from iphone dev team’s hard work

Screenshot of QuickPwn.com

We’re Taking Action!

This screenshot shows 137 but by midnight, nearly 200 people had clicked to report QuickPwn.com by following the link to submit a Google Adsense violation report! Folks are leaving comments as well saying, “reported” so I hope you’ll send one too and show your support for the iPhone Dev Team who has worked so hard to free our iPhones!

Just Got My First “Newsletter” from QuickPwn.com

10:06pm – When initially exploring the website, I signed up for the newsletter, not knowing any better. Looking at the first “newsletter” here, I wonder how much of this information is plagerized? All the business owners paying for Google Adwords…do they know that these email newsletters are pulling up their ads for Gmail and Google Apps folks?

Photo Slideshow Highlights

You can view all screenshot photos on Flickr