This would make 90% of all applications/websites fraud. Most free(gratis) Windows software tricks you into installing spyware & toolbars. Almost every app on your phone tricks you into giving away personal data. Almost every website tricks you into being tracked across multiple websites.
Yes, tricking people for profit IS fraud. Tracking you across the web like Adsense does is NOT fraud. The act of stealing someone's contact list like Path does is NOT fraud either (but may be a different crime).
And very very little of web sites or applications engage in fraud. The world does a pretty good job of blocking these things, the way Chrome won't even let you go to a web site that has been known to deliver viruses. And yes the FBI should arrest these people.
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/01/31/is-google-intentional...
But going beyond that, even when differences are not subtle as in that blog post you still have a large swath of people who won't be able to distinguish ads from non-ads. Just go in the heart of a large city and observe the web-surfing habits of some regular Joe Shmoe and you'll be pretty astounded with his ad-detection heuristics. Large internet companies know and understand this very well, and indeed design their products as such. Heck, when I'm designing webapps I do this too, I guess I'm just cognizant about what actually I'm doing.
In other words, "tricking people for profit" is fraud. The Internet did not obsolete the crime of fraud.
I guess I'm just concerned with the trend. Things we think of as clever today may land people in prison. Its interesting and scary that we might not see it coming.
