Here's a great post from a while back from Vrypan.net that asks how long it can be until Internet search becomes decentralized:

As search engines become more dominant and are able to influence economy, politics and culture in a straight-forward way depending on their ability or interests, people will want a share of this power. This is not something new, it has happened over and over throughout history. People (probably Internet users and merchants in this case) will want to “democratize search”.

I suppose it is the classic shareholder vs stakeholder dilemma: do search engines need to be accountable to more than just their shareholders? Well, it may be worth noting that (1) the lines between shareholder, supplier, distributor, partner, and stakeholder are increasingly blurry; and (2) whether or not they are accountable to stakeholders may not matter, as if upset stakeholders leave, the entire system could collapse.

I agree the with the underlying idea that search, as well as the Internet in general, are destined for a future of greater decentralization. Google appears to be aiming for greater centralization -- which makes me think they may be leaving themselves open to a debilitating attack to firms that can find new ways of grabbing user attention and/or adding more transparent efficiency to online advertising.

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