Google is engaged in a battle royale with rivals Overture -acquired by Yahoo – and Sprinks for the lucrative classified text ad business. Initially welcomed as the potential savior of small websites, including blogs, Adwords payments have trickled away in recent weeks, webloggers note. —Andrew Orlowski —Google shafts blogger, adds gagging clause to Adsense (Register)

Is Google turning evil? Has Orlowski found a new target?