Google ‘PageRank’ Bully Pleads Guilty to Harassment, Fraud

The online merchant who notoriously hangdog his customers–in hopes that they would be inspired to farewell him naughty online reviews and later on up his Google PageRank–pled guilty to different counts against him happening Thursday.

Vitaly Borker, owner of online glasses store DecorMyEyes.com, pled guilty in a Federal Territorial dominion Court to two counts of sending sullen communication theory, same count of ring armou fraud, and one count of wire fraud, The New York Times reports. The sentencing is scheduled for Sep 16, and Borker may font equal to six and a incomplete old age in prison.

Borker rose to fame senior November, when The New York Times published a narration about his fewer-than-savory business tactics. Borker ascertained that Google's PageRank system did not discriminate when it came to reviews–the more reviews and mentions of his business page that existed on the net, the high his PageRank went. In fact, golf links from highly ranked consumer protagonism sites, such arsenic GetSatisfaction.com, were extremely valuable in terms of SEO.

With this in mind, Borker began to harass customers in hopes that they would be inspired to post reviews about how awful information technology was to coif business sector with him. Borker even out went so further as to threaten Death and sex crime to his customers, and at one point sent a customer a picture show of their apartment building and suggested that he "knew where they lived."

Few years after the Times published the article on Borker's sketchy business practices, Google announced that information technology had changed its search algorithm so that "bad businesses" were no more lauded in search results. Google refused to disclose details of the change, suggesting that much details would provide Sir Thomas More unscrupulous clientele owners to plot the system.

Borker was arrested on December 6, and released connected April 6 on a $1 meg bond. Borker was shut up to his home, barred from the Internet, and had his phone apply restricted. Borker was also required to hire a security measur guard–at a toll of $1000 per day–to ensure that he was complying with the judge's orders.

Prosecutors expect Borker will expend at least v years in prison, if not sestet and a half. Borker's attorney has a much optimistic take i, and expects the sentence to atomic number 4 betwixt same year and 18 months.

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