crisscross - 1:51 pm on Feb 16, 2003 (gmt 0)

>Maybe it's Google's way of ensuring they have content for >their Google News / Search.
>Imagine some day NY Times, CNN, etc... all got together >and blocked Googlebot because it was "stealing content"...

As more news sites move to subscriptions this will be an issue. However, It seems likely that news providers will create free headline and summary pages that Google can index and that Google will add pay-per-click so that they can make money from referrals.