Tedster posted a thread at WebmasterWorld citing a NPR article which reminded him of Google offering ORM advice (online reputation management advice). I personally don't see anything new and enlightening in the NPR article, but it did remind us of the ORM piece.
But a Google representative did tell the NPR their advice in a raw way, they said:
Google doesn't seem to have a problem with the whole game. As the world's largest search engine, a spokesman there says creating new content to hide negative material is fair play.
Well, yea, they said so, in other words in their blog posts a year ago.
The question is, do you think Google is saying they are okay with you 'manipulating' the search results for ORM purposes? I doubt it. I guess it depends on how you define the word 'manipulating.'
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.