AdSense, for those living under a rock, is advertising revenue for the little guy - You display Google ads on your micro-site, and Google gives you a piece of the action. It's the reason you see those "Ads by Goooooooooogle" all over the place, and it really changed the landscape of the web: Previously the only monetary action on the low-end was referral type activity (e.g. GoToMyPC or Amazon books).

Given the proliferation of click-fraud, I was sure that AdSense would go the way of the dodo, or would see significant changes, and I wasn't alone. Surprising, then, when I see that Google has now spread out to a referral system as well, where once you sign up for AdSense (use that handy button up above!), you can refer others and start, err, monetizing their income to a small amount as well. Of course Google's business plan with AdSense largely revolves around their $100 minimum payout (which relates to referrals as well): Millions upon millions of small sites and dreamy blogs get into the Google Adsense game, displaying billions of ads, and the reality is that the overwhelming majority of them will never hit $100. They'll never need to be paid.

Pretty sweet deal for Google. Unfortunately it's yet another incentive for the spammers and miscreants, and you can expect to see advertisements even more pervasively than the current glut. When will Google's honeymoon end?