There's a thread on W mW about a change in Google's wording about the ability of competitors to harm your ranking.
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4457938.htm
Their wording has changed from
Quote"There's almost nothing a competitor can do to harm your ranking or have your site removed from our index."
to
Quote"Google works hard to prevent other webmasters from being able to harm your ranking or have your site removed from our index. "
Can't knock them for being honest
Yeah, that sounds like an acknowledgment of the problem.
Time for an experiment??
Wonder what they are doing to "work hard to prevent" because it seems like they've worked hard to make it easier to harm others rankings.
>Time for an experiment??
*evil grin* Whatcha got in mind, Rooftop?