The unpredcendented profit margins currently enjoyed by search engines are due in large part to an almost unfettered usage of "the world’s information", without a cent of payment to those who financed the creation of the information and to a willingness of search advertisers to continually bid up thier own ad rates.

High profile publishers in the US and Europe have served notice, however, that search engine access to their content may not be allowed without payment for usage of "snippets" of their content and high profile advertisers are reducing their search ad spend because spiraling ad costs did not reflect an appreciation in performance accountability.