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Some questionable characters are hijacking the placement of online ads as big companies pour billions into Web marketing. On Apr. 4, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed fraud charges against Internet marketing firm Direct Revenue LLC for allegedly sneaking adware onto millions of PCs. Direct Revenue calls the lawsuit baseless. The gravy train starts with big advertisers. A recent study shows how ads purchased for placement on Yahoo and partner sites by companies such as Cablevision Systems Corp. were also redistributed until they showed up as pop-ups. Sometimes, the ads showed up in pop-ups from spyware programs. In a prepared statement, Yahoo says it takes the quality of its search ad distribution network very seriously.