Google introduced an advertising program a while back that’s actually useful for small sites; lots of folks jumped on the badwagon quickly, and a few started making real money.
Then the ugliness started. Contrary to Google founder Segey Brin’s “Don’t Be Evil” edict, it looks an awful lot like Google’s gone to the dark side on this one. The Terms and Conditions are absurdly draconian, and allow them to boot you from the program based on pretty much anything, without providing any sort of evidence of violation beyond their say-so. They explicitly refuse to provide evidence of, say, “inappropriate clicks,” hiding instead behind a proprietary algorithm. It’s also against their T&C to discuss the terms and conditions, or anything else Google decides is “proprietary” — which includes your clickthrough rates and what you’ve been paid.
And the best part? If they shut you down, they don’t have to pay you anything they owe you.
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