Blackhat isn't illegal but is it ethical or moral?

[P8I.com]

But if your script clearly goes with the company's name, and the purpose of that script is to manipulate results of that company, then yes, you are in legal trouble.

The whole purpose of doing SEO is to manipulate the results in a search engine. White hats do it within the guidlines through on/off-site optimization, and often with the help of Google's own Webmaster Tools (which allows for direct manipulation of their, or at least, your results). Black hats forgo the guidlines. And, actually, many of the common offsite SEO tactics that are considered "white hat" may in fact violate Google TOS. Google tends to frown upon anything done in an inorganic way.If Google were to sue the maker of a script like this, it'd only be because they were using their brand name in conjunction with their service.

The word optimizing isn't going to save anyone. The words optimizing or even efficiency do not suggest that an action is legal. 😛

The point is that there's a great bit of difference between a hack and an optimization technique. A hack would naturally involve some sort of manipulation of Google code. Optimization mainly has to do with designing your site in a way that makes it more attractive to a search engine, and whatever you're doing offsite to promote it (gaining backlinks, for instance).

IP address ranges

What do you think IP addresses are used for in relation to SEO?