You point out the following:
o if money is not exchanged until a condition is met, that such offers are not consumer fraud, false advertizing, etc.
It could be useful to know if this view is informed by competent legal advice, and for which jurisdictions this view is supported by competent legal advice.
I work with law enforcement in a variety of countries dealing with online crime, and I can confirm that they are vastly less interested if the victim has no financial loss. Arguments about opportunity costs due to being misled aren't persuasive. So I agree that it's sleazy, but it rates fairly low on the big list of things to be outraged about. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. http://jl.ly