Covert or Overt Commercialism

In the business world, everything is money. Profit motivates people. Companies offering information or publishing ads usually want to make money. Many commercial entities sincerely want to guide people to helpful products or information, but most companies must turn a profit by any means possible, even at your expense. Commercialism runs rampant on the Internet. Websites offer free information because their costs are offset by advertising space sold. Some search engines, for example, present results based not on what's relevant to your research, but instead what company or person has paid to have their information shown to you. The only safe place to conduct your research is at your school or local library.