Eight major internet search engines have been accused of deception by a US consumer watchdog unhappy about advertisements appearing in search results.

In a complaint filed with the federal trade commission, Oregon-based Commercial Alert said search engines no longer produce objective results and have been using deceptive methods during the dot.com downturn in an attempt to bolster their bottom lines.

Commercial Alert's executive director, Gary Ruskin, said he had asked the FTC to investigate AltaVista, Netscape, LookSmart, MSN, Terra Lycos, Direct Hit, iWon and HotBot.

He said: "These search engines have chosen crass commercialism over editorial integrity. We are asking the FTC to make sure that no one is tricked by the search engines' descent into commercial deception."

"If they are going to stuff ads into search results, they should be required to say that the ads are ads."

The complaint could encourage other consumer groups to come out of the woodwork and demand more transparency about advertising within search results.

However, the move could produce more headaches for search engines that have been hit by the downturn in banner advertising revenues, and could lead to the practice of advertising messages within search results being outlawed.

Useful link:
www.commercialalert.org