The "If you don't like it, just opt out" policy is basically a polite way of saying "We will de-list you before paying for the privilege of pointing users your way." I don't see how anyone could argue that doing this would be outside Google's rights.
I'd be interested to see how long big papers like the NY Times, W. Post, et al, would react when measures like this were passed -- and people started getting their news from smaller, local papers instead, because that's where Google sends them.
The "If you don't like it, just opt out" policy is basically a polite way of saying "We will de-list you before paying for the privilege of pointing users your way." I don't see how anyone could argue that doing this would be outside Google's rights.
I'd be interested to see how long big papers like the NY Times, W. Post, et al, would react when measures like this were passed -- and people started getting their news from smaller, local papers instead, because that's where Google sends them.