Yes, it is legal for a person to go steps 1-5. But no, it is not legal for that same person to keep going through steps 1-5 over and over again for other members of the network to increase earnings. Their accounts will get banned.

kiss your adsense account goodbye

Why does everyone want to try and cheat the system with adsense? And people wonder why Google bans so many accounts with any sign of fraud.

Create a website with great content that is useful and helpful for your visitors (no spun crap) and you'll be successful. Try and take shortcuts and you will wonder why you can't ever make much money.

lol meant to say turn off your server but then I realized no body hosts their own sites anymore (at least not as much) then i changed it to update.

and yes, i think since so many people try to cheat google is why they so easily ban accounts now. Its just as hard I feel to cheat them and not get caught as it is to just make a good site and properly optimize it.

cheapvpsdeals(dot)com complete scam site, yet it's on the first page for "cheap vps deals" and it changes its results for google bot(edit your user agent if you don't believe me)

so no google isn't smart, their answer to everything is just ban people, even if they're not to blame. They need a real competitor, enough is enough already. Too many businesses ruined by them, too much bias for their own products and services.

Clickfraud is really the only 100% surefire way of getting your
adsense banned. Yukon and I go around and around at the
fools here. The fact that any of us still has an account is
pretty close to a friggin miracle, what with all the idiots
running around. You'd think google would ban everybody
eventually. Maybe that's the goal. Just keep spewing
crapola out about defrauding google and it will happen.

Clickfraud comes in many varieties. This is clickfraud.
Pure and simple.

Google detects clickfraud in a number of ways. Using the
above scenario, you get a boatload of clicks, mindless clicks,
no buyers, no action, and you are flagged as getting dummy
traffic. Clickfraud at worst, mindless traffic at best. Both
are bad for advertisers. Hence people getting messages like,
your site is a risk to our advertisers.

People, be happy with the pennies you get. There is no
magic formula. There are some great tips here in the WF.
Really. Over time, your income will increase. Don't go
looking to kill the golden goose.

Anyone who has been banned by borderline TOS violations,
has got to be really mad. It's people like this that make
google have that take-no-prisoners approach.

I for one don't get it, and never will.

Paul