InLinks paid links service sparks debate

Chris Crum |
Staff Writer WebProNews

And the Gloves Come Off...

Quite a storm of debate has erupted over a new service called
InLinks - essentially a paid text link service that allegedly
makes it hard for Google (and other search engines) to detect them.
And mouths of Internet marketers begin to salivate.

The debate has basically turned into Matt Cutts vs. the "Yeah,
let's stick it to Google" crowd. .As far as I can tell, this
started with TechCrunch reporting on InLinks, which prompted Matt
Cutts to send them an email from which the following is a sample:

Google has been very clear that selling such links that pass
PageRank is a violation of our quality guidelines. Other search
engines have said similar things. The Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) has also given unambiguous guidance on this subject in the
recent PDF where
they said "Consumers who endorse and recommend products on their
blogs or other sites for consideration should do so within the
boundaries set forth in the FTC Guides Concerning Use of
Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising and the FTC's
guidance on word of mouth marketing," as well as "To date, in
response to this concern, the FTC has advised that search engines
need to disclose clearly and conspicuously if the ranking or other
presentation of search results is a function of paid placement,
and, similarly, that consumers who are paid to engage in word-of-
mouth marketing must disclose that fact to recipients of their
messages.

From Inlinks :

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my opinion:
as long as it ain't down, it's up, Sparky.