Google quietly dropped the charges for the 2004 click-fraudster case

petrosc · Dec 5, 2006

It began on Mar. 10, 2004, when a computer programmer from Oak Park, Calif., named Michael Anthony Bradley arrived at Google's (GOOG) offices for a prearranged meeting with the company's engineers, according to a criminal indictment filed two years ago in the U.S. District Court in San Jose. Bradley, then 32, proceeded to demonstrate new software, dubbed "Google Clique," designed to generate false clicks on Google ads. Bradley claimed his program could force Google to pay millions of dollars on false clicks and threatened to release it to others unless Google paid him approximately $150,000, according to the indictment. ..................................

....But on Nov. 22, the U.S. Attorney's Office quietly dismissed charges against Bradley. The prosecutors, who had announced the arrest and indictment of Bradley in press releases, refused to discuss why they dropped the case..................

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