Google Shopping evolves: is pay-to-play the future of web tools?

Perhaps more than almost any web startup, Google has walked a fine line between competitive business operations and idealistic techno-utopianism. “Google is not a conventional company,” its founders said in a 2004 IPO filing. “We do not intend to become one.” Central to this “unconventional” operation was a belief in the integrity of pure algorithms. The now-famous “don’t be evil” maxim headed a section praising the “unbiased and objective” search results and rejecting paid inclusion, saying that “we believe it is important for everyone to have access to the best information and research, not only to the information people pay for you to see.”