• Wired, Wednesday, October 15, 2008 12:15 PM

Ever visit BankofDAmerica.com? How about Wekepedia.com? Like all of us, you've almost certainly fouled up a URL or two in your day, taking you to the site of a "typo squatter." And like the rest of us, you've inadvertently put money in Google's pocket by doing so.

A new report from Harvard University professor Ben Edelman says Google is profiting from millions of typo-squatting Web sites that earn advertising from Google's Adsense program. "This is one of the unsavory ways we all end up paying Google," Edelman says in an interview. "Users don't have to write Google a check to receive Google's services. But, one way or another, Google manages to get users' money."

The ultimate irony? Many of the ads served on the typo sites are served up by the marketers who own the site the user was looking for. If a misdirected surfer hits a sponsored link, the legitimate domain owner ends up paying the typo-squatter for that referral, and Google as well.

Read the whole story at Wired »