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What's to stop a botnet operator from incorporating that data scientist's findings into their bot behavior? It's a chicken & egg problem, and it will hopefully lead to a better alternative to online advertising (perhaps something more user-centric).

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> It's a chicken & egg problem

I think you mean it's an arms race. Arms races are good markets to be in as the hash-checking AV companies have proved.

There will always be an incentive to commit fraud as long as there's money to be made. Why doesn't a robber of houses move to a new city each time they commit a crime? There are costs to all crime, especially in the setup. If you raise the input cost to generate a reward, then you make it less attractive as an avenue to fraud. At least among the unskilled criminals.

I'll totally admit I'm skewed by operating on the data side and want to believe that my work has some lasting positive impact, and isn't a band-aid.

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