Redmoon, public MFA "free internet" terminals using YSM

http://fofr.trivialbeing.net/2006/12/redmoon-public-made-for-ads-terminals.php

In a number of public places including a cinema multiplex in Cambridge and Leicester shopping centre (UK) I have come across terminals touting, "Free Public Internet Access" or "Free Internet Zone", these are owned by operator Red Moon Interactive.

These terminals, which provide a search box and nothing more give a list of ads as results which seem to be provided by what once was Overture and is now Yahoo! Search Marketing and are usually entirely irrelevant.

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My experience with the access points, a rough 20 minute test exploring different avenues of search, as I waited for a film screening, concluded that this is a commercial venture (albeit a clever one) that I could and would not classify as a service. Finding what I wanted proved impossible and knowing that each click would generate a tiny profit for Red Moon with little to no return for the advertiser, as a web advertiser myself, was infuriating. If you add to the mix the non-savvy users that will ignorantly click on all links in frustrated hopes of finding something of importance you get a highly profitable business that further devalues online advertising.

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The inadequacies of the Red Moon terminal to provide a service to its users will be directly proportional to its profits – the longer it takes to find information, the more ads are clicked, the more money is made.