Does Adsense prohibit the use of StumbleUpon?
January 10, 2007
Is the Firefox add-on StumbleUpon considered an autosurf program and, thus, prohibited for use by Google Adsense?
Last week, I received the following email warning from Google about supposed invalid clicks or impressions in the site:
It has come to our attention that invalid clicks or impressions have
been generated on the Google ads on your site(s) through users of
third-party programs paid or provided with other incentives to visit
your site. Such programs may include, but are not limited to auto-surf,
pay-to-surf, pay-to-read, or pay-to-click sites.
I am not into traffic exchanges and the last time I used an autosurf to promote PinoyMoneyTalk.com was in mid-2006 so I wonder whether my use of StumbleUpon was the culprit for such warning.
I know Google won't divulge anything about the exact violation but I still tried my luck by replying with a question of whether StumbleUpon is prohibited in Adsense's TOS.
Google's reply:
Thanks for your response. While we're unable to comment on the compliance
of any specific tool or service, please note that AdSense participants are
solely responsible for verifying that any tools or software used in
conjunction with AdSense do not violate the AdSense Terms and Conditions.
As a reminder, any method that artificially generates clicks or
impressions is strictly prohibited, including automated click and
impression generating tools.If, in the future, you're concerned about the activity on your site, feel
free to review your site's traffic logs for suspicious activity and notify
us of your findings at
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/request.py?contact=invalid_clicks_contact.
This information can help us in resolving any issues, although as we've
noted in our Terms and Conditions, Google will use its sole discretion
when determining instances of invalid clicks.
In PinoyMoneyTalk.com's case, although traffic did surge a bit, the number of ad clicks did not rise significantly. So for now, it looks like it's still a guessing game with Adsense whether StumbleUpon is allowed or not.
I tried searching for discussions about this issue but found nothing substantial. The closest I got was this August 2006 thread in WebmasterWorld. The general consensus there was although StumbleUpon does cause a spike in traffic, it is not a cause of concern yet for Adsense publishers — unless it is responsible for a similar spike in CTRs.
My question, however: if Adsense disallows the use of StumbleUpon, why did I get the warning only now when I have been using StumbleUpon since October of last year? And what about other sites that I "stumble upon" in SU that still contain Adsense ads? Are they not getting penalized for supposed invalid clicks and impressions?
Hmmm…
Yes, income from scams are also taxable
January 9, 2007
Whether it’s earnings from online scams, fraud Multi-Level Marketing programs, and shady HYIPs, as long as it’s considered income, it’s taxable.
Any monetary benefit received from an activity, illegal or otherwise, normally becomes part of one’s taxable income.
That’s from an article published in MSN Money Central which also summarizes how they are treated under US tax laws. Take note of the following, lest you want to run into trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Do I have to pay taxes on my online income?
January 8, 2007
Finally, after months of discussion in the Tax on Online Earnings thread in the PMT Forum, we now have an official reply regarding taxation of earnings from online sources outside the Philippines.
If you are wondering whether or not you have to pay taxes on income earned from Google Adsense, pro-blogging, freelance writing, or HYIPs, among others, read below the official reply from the PinoyTax Yahoo Group, a non-government e-Group that provides tax updates and explanation to members.
Scenario 1: A Filipino citizen works part-time as an offshore, outsourced writer for a US -based website. Are the earnings taxable?
A Filipino citizen is taxed based on his taxable income derived within and without the Philippines, which includes part-time works as an offshore, outsourced writer for a US-based website (see page 157 Annex A1 of Philippine Taxation Handbook: A Simplified Course September 2006 Edition).
Scenario 2: Filipino citizen works full-time as a freelance programmer for websites hosted abroad. The programmer bids on projects and receives payment once the project is completed. The income for each project does not meet the minimum taxable income but when aggregated, the income during the year for all projects does. Is this taxable?
A Filipino citizen whether working on full-time or part time is required to file an income tax return, regardless of the amount of gross income (see page 50 of the same book). If the Filipino citizen is a self-employed individual then certain deductions and personal exemptions are allowed (see pages 30 to 47 of the same book) and for which the normal tax rates (see page 157 of the same book) shall be applied to taxable income after such deductions and exemptions.
Scenario 3: A Filipino citizen invests in an online MLM program, an HYIP, or autosurf program — programs not duly registered in any country and are deemed illegal because of their Ponzi structure — and receives 50% return on the "investment". The program does not require the "investor" to do anything, except to "invest" money and to wait for several months. At the maturity date, the "investor" gets 50% interest income on the principal. Although these earnings are deemed to have come from "illegal" sources, are they still taxable?
A Filipino citizen is taxable based on his income from whatever source (see page 24 of the same book) including the 50% interest income on the principal.
Scenario 4: Same scenario in #3 above but the investor uses an electronic currency (e-currency) such as e-Gold. The income has been received in e-Gold but has not been converted to cash yet. As of the tax reporting period, the money remains in the e-currency account. Is this taxable?
If the Filipino citizen has control in the conversion of the e-currency to cash, then such e-currency can already be treated as a form of a cash and other monetary asset. If he has no control in such conversion but such amount is due and demandable, then the e-currency shall be treated as a receivable item. In any case, it shall be treated as a taxable income in accordance with the method of accounting (example: cash basis or accrual basis) regularly employed in keeping the books of such taxpayer.
Have more questions or clarifications? Post them in the Tax on Online Earnings thread in the PMT Forum to know the answers.
How to declare online earnings for tax purposes is mentioned here: Gross and taxable income from sources without the Philippines
If you are a US citizen/resident wondering whether you have to pay taxes on HYIP and autosurf earnings, read this article.
January 2007 Member of the Month: Mike QC
January 5, 2007
Mike QC.
When it comes to serious topics such as mutual fund investing or United Nations-related work or just plain sports buff or "coolest place in New York" talk, Mike QC is definitely the man. Know Mike QC more as we recognize him as our January 2007 Member of the Month.
7. Tell us something we don't know about you.
I love pets and I feel bad when people are so cruel to animals. I also can’t stand to see animals suffering and being slaughtered. It really breaks my heart that this is a sad reality and nature of life that it is actually taking place everyday in farms and slaughterhouses and can never be avoided unless we stop eating our favorite steaks and pork chops.
Read the interview or ask your own questions in the January 2007 Member of the Month thread.
Get to know other PMT Members of the Month here.
Where to report scammers in the Philippines
January 4, 2007
Don't be duped by scammers who reside or operate in the Philippines! Report them to the authorities and send them to jail!
The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has repeatedly warned the public against falling for "get-rich-quick" scams. In its site (www.sec.gov.ph), the SEC reported that more and more boiler-room operations have recently emerged, targeting potential investors who want to earn high return on their money.
Fight the phishing sites!
January 2, 2007
Here’s one more reason why you should install or update protection softwares in your PC.
Today I received an email supposedly from PayPal regarding my unauthorized activity claim (full copy of the email at the end of this article). Now, I did file an unauthorized activity claim in PayPal several weeks ago so I thought this was a valid response from PayPal.
Of course, I am aware what phishing is and how to protect oneself from phishing sites so before clicking the link in the email, I tried this basic test to check if it was a spoof mail: I hovered my cursor above the link and, true enough, it was not a valid PayPal link.
Nevertheless, I still went to the phishing site (WARNING - This is a Phishing site: http://diaresch.sites.netavous.net/) just to check how it looks like. Voila! both browsers I was using — Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer — warned me against accessing the site.
Here’s a screenshot of what I saw upon accessing the phishing site via Mozilla Firefox.
The entire site faded to black and a very conspicuous warning appeared at the top of the page. It read:
Web Forgery
This page is very likely to have been designed to trick users into sharing personal or financial information. Entering any personal information on this page may result in identity theft or other fraud.
It gave me options to “get out” of the site or “ignore the warning” to continue and also to “report the site to Google”. Of course, that was not a tough choice for me, I opted to get out of the site.
