Webferret: Do they have to? I think they're protected by 100-page TOS and service agreement.
Just pay them.
Barter with Google? Ha! They threatened to 'terminate relationship permanently' with people spending millions a year with them. From the official blog : 'We'd rather show one less ad than to show an ad which leads to a poor user experience'
Good for them but what a ... statement.
They don't care, they made $16,593,986,000 last year. I've been to Googleplex and enjoyed the Charlie's cafe lunch paid for by advertisers.
But that's right, things will change if that $16 B dropped in 2008.