AdSense Litigant Accuses Google of E-Mail Tampering
The would-be AdSense customer who filed suit against Google for fraud and misrepresentation says the search company also entered her Gmail account and removed all communications regarding the dispute, Google Watch has learned. In an amended complaint, Theresa Bradley accuses Google of invasion of privacy and intentional destruction of evidence. The amended complaint has not been filed and Google has not received the ammendment. "In the dispute, Google ... entered into my separate e-mail account, removed all communications, including the contract, from my e-mail account," Bradley wrote in an e-mail. "The whole thing is very strange! I am sorry I even contacted Google AdSense." The original complaint, filed Aug. 28 in San Francisco federal district court, accuses Google of terminating Bradley's AdSense account after accusing her of making invalid clicks on the advertisements placed on her site. Google does not allow publishers to click on their own ads. Google provides a Preview Tool to users of Internet Explorer 6.x on Windows to help AdSense publishers determine the quality of ads. Google does not provide the preview tool for any other browsers or operating systems. When informed of the existence of the preview tool, Bradley first said she was unaware of its existence. In subsequent e-mails, Bradley said she used the preview tool but that it didn't work. She did not return subsequent e-mails requesting clarification. A Google spokesperson said the preview tool has been around for a number of years. Google publicizes the availability of AdSense features, such as the preview tool, in proactive e-mails and blog posts, according to the spokesperson, and the tool is easily found with a Google search. The preview tool is also covered in the Google AdSense help center. Google has no plans to make the preview tool available for other browsers or operating systems. When asked if she could refer a reporter to the AdSense contract to which she agreed, Bradley said she could not reference those documents because they were removed by Google or a third party from her Gmail account. The AdSense terms and conditions are available online. Bradley says she spent 50 hours placing the AdSense ads and another 50 hours testing them. She says she just recently began to learn HTML and how to use Adobe's WYSIWYG software Dreamweaver, hence the long placement time. Also Suing Yahoo Bradley has also filed suit against Yahoo in San Jose federal district court claiming $100,000 in damages, citing negligent conduct in deleting her Yahoo GeoCities account without reason. In a complaint filed August 1, Bradley claims that Yahoo deleted her GeoCities account without warning, and subsequently told her she had violated GeoCities policies. According to Bradley, she had been working with Yahoo to upgrade to a Yahoo Merchant Account, but the upgrade process was not working. Because of the deletion of her account, Bradley's Web site bravacorp.com became unavailable. Bradley claims her associated Yahoo e-mail accounts were also deleted. The lawsuit seeks $100,000 in damages to recoup 1,000 hours spent over 15 months designing bravacorp.com, which Bradley claims has 500 pages and graphics files in nine languages. History of Lawsuits Further inquiry into court records reveals that Bradley has a litigious history in multiple states. In June of this year she filed suit in Florida against a "long term alcoholic and cocaine addict attorney" whom she alleges destroyed her real estate business and financial records. Bradley filed a notice in that complaint titled "A Mockery of the Majesty of the Law or Tax Payer Subsidizied Sanctuary for Judicial/Attorney Crime" containing accusations of corruption amongst attorneys and judges in South Florida. Another lawsuit in June against Midas Auto Repair and Service in Bethesda, Md., alleges that Midas was negligent in leaving her 1989 Jaguar Vanden Plas in a parking lot adjacent to its garage bay, where it was crushed by another car that leapt a land embankment and landed on it. In February Bradley filed a suit, later terminated by the judge, which alleged fraud against several defendants in Georgia and Pennsylvania. |
Comments (18)
Looks like she's trying to get money from anyone.....maybe she ought to become a lawyer.
Posted by Bob | September 5, 2006 5:56 PM
the queen of litigations. This is one helluva of a profession.
Posted by steve | September 5, 2006 6:33 PM
I don't suppose anyone reading this will be surprised to fund that the wayback machine at web.archive.org has ni records for bravacorp.com or www.bravacorp.com
Posted by dave | September 5, 2006 8:21 PM
She never stops like crazy lunatic. She sues anybody in her path. It is so scary to mess up with her.
Posted by Michael | September 5, 2006 9:34 PM
I see you're hard up for a buzzworthy story again. The story goes from an eyebrow raiser to a brow furrower. Why waste time on some wack job just to get some Google interest traffic?
Posted by ybbob | September 6, 2006 3:45 AM
Heh, I can understand why you say that. I did consider not publishing this, since the litigant is obviously a sue-happy malcontent. But eventually I decided that it was worthwhile, if only to show that Google -- often portrayed by the niche press as abetting, if not condoning, click fraud -- is sometimes the victim of frivolous lawsuits.
Posted by Steve Bryant | September 6, 2006 9:03 AM
Hold it, why should anyone pay this woman a dime? Especially when she admits that she is an amateur? She readily admits that she is "just learning" HTML with DW. And now she wants to sue for 1000 hours of design time? After 1000 hours, she should be a pro! Unless she is just plain stupid. Which seems to be the case.
Posted by Net | September 6, 2006 10:19 AM
Looks like she has a JD...thus suing is free! Dr. T. B. Bradley, Psy.D./JD Info from her website that was knocked off yahoo. mmmm
Posted by ET | September 6, 2006 11:06 AM
There is a term for people like this... starts with a b ends with a itch.
Posted by chris | September 6, 2006 12:14 PM
It seems to me that all most of us knows is from the content of this article. Before I would condemn either party I would want more info from multiple sources. As far as being a litigious "sue-happy malcontent", I can conceive of a reality in which we are mostly sheeple and are exploited by all and sundry. Maybe these guys needed suing; so many do! In my mind the jury is still out on her.
Posted by Negrec Boshlinov | September 6, 2006 12:25 PM
Still does excuse Google (if true) to go in and erase your email.
Posted by Tom | September 6, 2006 1:03 PM
The question is did Bradley or Google remove the emails in question from her account, a timely question considering recent news about ISPs having access to customer email. AT&T and Verizon has failed the email integrity test...
Posted by naarita | September 6, 2006 1:13 PM
Seems that with all the record loses mentioned in this artiicle someone other than the accused had something to do with it. Why would Google want to remove email from an account they are hosting even if it does have to do with a litigation? They have better things to do like pull the records of her malicious ad clicking. Or maybe a quick $35 background check would put an end to the suit with prejudice.
Posted by Carl | September 6, 2006 1:21 PM
Kudos to Google if they did refuse to let her store information that she's attempting to use to extort them on their own servers. If the woman has so little common sense, then I'll match that with my pity for her plight.
Posted by jfbiii | September 6, 2006 1:52 PM
# re: AdSense Litigant Accuses Google of E-Mail Tampering @ Wednesday, September 06, 2006 12:14:00 PM There is a term for people like this... starts with a b ends with a itch. chris Hey Chris, would that word be "bravacorp.comovich"??
Posted by Tom | September 6, 2006 2:21 PM
CHICKEN LITTLE HAD NOTHING ON THIS INDIVIDUAL. WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE WILL HAPPEN WHEN SHE IS TRULY IN NEED?
Posted by Ed | September 6, 2006 6:25 PM
Should not Google have some sort of record of communications between her and them? Some sort of transactions had to be recorded somewhere, other than just her email. It sounds like an issue that Google IT should be able to easily ferret out. I mean come on, there renowned for searching for data globally! lol This, of course, would be if they wanted to find anything... Her history of litigations should not preclude her from filing, but they will only become more of problem for her, as this just makes her look like she sounds ;) Eventually, as with most fraudsters, they get caught. If she is, I hope she does get caught. The legal system is mired enough as it is with frivolous and fraudulent cases. If Google is tampering with email that could be considered evidence, they should be sued. No user agreement should preclude the law, even if in fact the agreement says a user waives all rights. I say this only in this case where a service (Google) may be "covering their tracks" to destroy or hide evidence that could be detrimental to themselves.
Posted by Larry | September 6, 2006 7:58 PM
First, let me see if there are any link exchange with this website :-)) May be we get sued for unnecessary removing.....
Posted by Linkmen | September 15, 2006 2:43 PM