Parents and members of the Victorian branch of Scouts Australia were a bit miffed when advertisements for U.S. Internet casinos and other gambling outlets began showing up recently on websites run by the Victorian scouting movement.
According to a story posted in "The Age," an Australian Internet news magazine, the advertisements, placed without permission, appeared on several of the group's websites, which are hosted by Geocites, an American web hosting company.
"We were shocked, and so were the proprietors of the Internet casinos,' group spokeswoman Jennifer Bartlett told The Age. "We protested to Geocities … but we have not heard a word from them.'
Certain online gaming sites advertise in Geocities, although, they are given a list of sites on which they don't wish to appear. In an email to Bartlett, a representative from gamingclub.com explained, "Any youth-oriented site definitely does not fall into our targeted advertising group. … We apologize for the placement of our banner on your sites and promise to have the situation rectified as speedily as possible.'
As a result of the advertising and the prospects of other unwanted ads, such as those for pornographic sites, the scouts are moving to a local hosting Internet site.