For years they have said, "Don't do this. Don't do that" but never enforced those positions with any real backup until the past 18 months.
Don't write crappy content. Bam! Panda update Feb 24th, 2011.
Don't get crappy links. Bam! Penguin update last month.
The stick has come out from Google on cracking down on what they have been telling SEOs and webmasters for years.
SEOs will be fine. They are a very adaptable group. My concern is more for the small business owner who hires someone that doesn't disclose the tactics they are using.
It's a crazy time in SEO-land. But no one can say that there wasn't warning.
With iAcquire I see this as Google's shot across the bow to paid links. They dealt with bad content last year, then bad links/optimization last month, and I think the next enforcement will be around paid links.