The unwanted effects of buying patents and sitting on them, or using them to collect royalties is illustrated by George Seldon's century-old patent on the automobile. Seldon wanted to collect on every vehicle sold, of course. Henry Ford recognized that this was an big impediment to a mass market for cars and in 1911 legally challenged the patent as too broad -- and won.
Today, we frequently refer to a "marketplace of ideas." At first, the internet seems to be an open bazaar. We are upset if a government restricts access and e-mail, in whole or in part. However, the structure of search engines and ad-sponsored sites herd crowds in their direction. Internet does not consist of equal opportunity landing pages. What are the unwanted effects of this?
Information is not free. A great deal of human and generated energy goes into creating and propagating it. At their present rate of growth, servers alone consume a significant and increasing slice of electrical power demand. GNP figures and most company accounts capture only a few figments of this operational cost. Eventually some of them percolate into the promotional budgets of organizations sponsoring sites to generate revenue.