Google Filters Torrents From Search Results
Written by Ernesto on August 08, 2007Google has been filtering its search results for years. That’s proven very useful for the Chinese government, and of course content owner representatives like the MPAA and RIAA. According to Google, the filtering of torrents from the search results is a response to the DMCA complaints they receive.
So, apparently one day Google decided that it is illegal in nearly every country of the world to host a .torrent file that (allegedly) links to infringing material. Strange, because there is no legal precedent for this decision in most countries.
The owner of SumoTorrent told TorrentFreak that he discovered that A search on Google for sumotorrent now triggers the following message at the bottom of the results page:
“In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org.”
A search for other BitTorrent sites like Torrentspy and Torrentreactor comes up with the same message (note. the sites are still indexed but some results are removed). Strangely enough, for torrentreactor it only shows up for a search on the .com domain.
According to Google the filtered search results are caused by DMCA complaints , but the owner of SumoTorrent is a little surprised by this. He has no clue why the “content owner” didn’t contact him directly because he generally processes takedown notices within 24 hours. Unfortunately the link Google provides to the complaint in question doesn’t work, and a search on ChillingEffects.org doesn’t really help much either.
One of the few BitTorrent related DMCA complaints Google received concerned Paris Hilton’s famous . This notice was sent by Jim Salomon, the brother of Rick Salomon who used to date Paris. The complaint is hilarious, Jim even complains why it takes Google more than 4 hours to remove the .torrent in question. Funny or not, eventually Google decided to remove the .torrent file in question from their search results.
What Google has done isn’t really that revolutionary because most administrators of BitTorrent sites take down torrent files themselves upon request. However, the main reason for this is that they don’t want endless legal battles. They see it as a service to the content owners to remove the .torrent files if a decent request is made. But I kind of hoped that Google would make a stand here, wishful thinking so it seems.So what do you think? Should Google filter their results like this?
Previously: Television Studios Embrace BitTorrent
Next: uTorrent Takes on the BitTorrent Scammers
73 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
Google has always filtered certain results in response to DMCA requests. Its not a question of whether they should, its a question of whether the law is just. They probably have no choice.
Now thats odd….I just read this…went to google did a search for sumotorrent and it popped right up….1st link. As far as I can tell they are not filtering searches for torrent sites or torrents for that matter.
So why do people freak out when torrent sites like isoHunt do the same? Unfounded finger pointing, the bandwagon mentality, and ignorance of the facts in favour of sensationalist bold face headlined as is so common with the average Digg user would have us all believe the end of the world is comming because organisations comply with DMCA reguests. I doubt we’ll see anyone screaming about freedom of speach in this case. Has anyone told Brokep yet? Haha.
A search for ‘torrentspy’ returns a similar message.
How about doing a post on google-alternatives then?
[quote comment="144005"]A search for other BitTorrent sites like Torrentspy and Torrentreactor comes up with the same message.[/quote]
Strangely enough, a search on “mininova”, “piratebay” and other big sites return nothing !
Anyway, if Google starts removing links to torrents and getting ahead of the responsibility of webmasters, then this is the beginning of the end …
Also, why Google start censor torrent links, and keep links to the worst things in the world…
Do not trust Google !
Searching from the UK is OK for all those sites.
Searches work from mainland europe too.
The matter is not finding the main site, it is that Google has removed some links to torrents page of those sites.
[quote comment="144007"]How about doing a post on google-alternatives then?[/quote]
AltaVista is an okay alternative. It’s essentially Yahoo! Search, though. While is has some of the same features as Google, they aren’t as developed. (like with image search — you can’t be directly linked to the image)
I don’t live in the US….The DMCA doesn’t apply to me!!
Why is Google filtering its results for people outside the US?
Ernesto, you should cite this example:
1. Go to google.com and search for:
tiananmen square
also look at the image results.
2. Go to google.cn and try the same search.
Amazing censorship!
This is all american technology allowing them to censor their internet.
@Jpeezy
That’s even worse indeed :(
But not related to BitTorrent
[quote comment="144026"]Searches work from mainland europe too.[/quote]
You can find the sites, but they removed some pages (linking to an “infringing” torrent) from the results
Removed 2 comments
All searches are working for me…I’m in Georgia, US right now…
But I agree wholeheartedly with badnews up there
[quote comment="144079"]All searches are working for me…I’m in Georgia, US right now…
But I agree wholeheartedly with badnews up there[/quote]
Try this:
http://www.google.com/search?q=sumotorrent
And scroll to the bottom of the results, you should see the message there.
Ummmm google has been doing this for the longest time now, how is this news?
Just another reason not to use Google. I don’t, I won’t and it’s their loss. I’d like to see them manage this nightmare when Torrent becomes more popular as a file distribution method. Oh the conflicts that will cause.
This is interesting. How does this differ from Google’s policy in China?
“In response to a complaint we received under the We Have to Restrict the Freedom of Speech Act by Chinese Government, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page.”
they didn’t hit my torrent site, bytorr.com, no DMCA notices at all, but then we are a meta search engine and blog. Too funny.
I’m in Canada, and I can’t even get to Google.com…it automatically redirects to Google.ca
The .ca domain lets you search not only for the torrent indexers, but for the torrents themselves if you so choose to use Google that way.
I’d like to see what the censorship looks like in the .com domain though…
heyya the .cn thing shows the sqare just fine, altho I can’t read chinese..lolz
anyway…
the if u’d like to see goes to this page: (notice the domain name)
http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=3578
and the top says the following
Notice Unavailable
DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Google
The notice is not available.
Chilling Effects serves as a clearinghouse for cease-and-desist notices. Chilling Effects is not the sender of these notices, and is not responsible for removing pages from the web or search engine listings. If you believe a web page or site was wrongly removed, you should contact the ISP or search engine who removed the site. In the case of an improper DMCA notification, you may wish to file a counter-notification.
You can still find torrents directly in google’s search results with the “filetype” search modifier..
[quote comment="144121"]I’m in Canada, and I can’t even get to Google.com…it automatically redirects to Google.ca
The .ca domain lets you search not only for the torrent indexers, but for the torrents themselves if you so choose to use Google that way.
I’d like to see what the censorship looks like in the .com domain though…[/quote]
I’m in Canada too, and I use Google.com all the time. I use the Google toolbar in Safari. I’m able to “fool” it into getting all the hits I need for any specific torrent, or torrent site. Even if they are filtering SOMETHING, it’s not blocking me from accessing anything that I’m actually looking for.
Extension searches still apply to torrents. (for example, “insert file name here” ext:torrent) Although, searching by extension has never yielded that many results in the first place…
Google disgusts me, seeing as they are in cahoots with the Chinese government in controlling what people can search. Anyone know a search engine thats like google? Because I want to boycott them. AS silly as it sounds, there are plenty of Chinese that face censorship everyday. Do you want the Federal Gov to tell you want and want not you can do? Its already happening.
I searched for several torrent sites and particular torrent files and received unfiltered results each time. I am in the Southern US. This story is bogus.
[quote comment="144081"][quote comment="144079"]All searches are working for me…I’m in Georgia, US right now…
But I agree wholeheartedly with badnews up there[/quote]
Try this:
http://www.google.com/search?q=sumotorrent
And scroll to the bottom of the results, you should see the message there.[/quote]This link didn’t work for me neither.
I had to turn the Google filter off and go through multiple pages to find the notice at the bottom of the page (http://www.google.com/search?q=sumotorrent&start=500&filter=0).
[quote comment="144007"]How about doing a post on google-alternatives then?[/quote]
i agree, it would be a great idea to do a entry on web search engines, i know search.com works pretty good but is relativelye unkown.
i would be interested to see some other sites.
Works fine from India!
Also in Italy with italian version those searches doesn’t remove anything; probably it apply only in US where the DMCA is effective.
And now i remember Bush (or who for hime) a few weeks ago telling that other countries of the world should make US laws their laws……
you are all a bunch of morons. google can do whatever the fuck they want because its their company. they are doing business and not public service.
if you dont like what google is doing, find another search engine or better yet make your own one. geeezzz…….
[quote comment="144155"]You can still find torrents directly in google’s search results with the “filetype” search modifier..[/quote]
I’m nit saying that Google removed oll torrents from the search results (read the article).
The filtering has been confirmed in Europe, US and Asia. However not everyone gets similar results, why is unclear to me at this point.
Here is what you do…You keep morphing the term “Torrent” into something else.
You rename the concept of Torrent to
another word they can’t filter…like “Bush Tor” or “Government Tor” or “Republican Tor” so it just makes it harder and pisses off others who are getting censored by Google.
Play it “their” Orwellian way…and why not? They love to morph words and ideas for their own use..why not the rest of us?
Soooo they filtered out one file…that big name torrent sites have been doing for years in compliance with the DCMA…what’s the difference again?
i just noticed.. torrentfreak is just like google. they filter out comments too. did my last comment about doing a bit more research hurt you mr poster?? lol…
[quote comment="144531"]i just noticed.. torrentfreak is just like google. they filter out comments too. did my last comment about doing a bit more research hurt you mr poster?? lol…[/quote]
I removed 2 comments repeating the same argument to clean up the discussion.
We verified the filtering on several continents, so stating that we didn’t do any research doesn’t hurt me at all ;)
Im in Southern Cal I did the search http://www.google.com/search?q=sumotorrent
i got Results 1 - 10 of about 1,680,000 for sumotorrent. (0.03 seconds)with a Sofia, Bulgaria proxy and Results 1 - 10 of about 1,690,000 for sumotorrent. (0.06 seconds) with no proxy…
so whats the best alternative search engine???
^^^
BTW this message was at the bottom of each search ” In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org. “
Google should’ve taken a stand… I mean, google’s purpose is to search. They have no control over what content a website has. They just give search results…
holy sh*t does the states/canada/china blow.
Hey clever admin, ya can’t read the text indicating what these boxes are for. I just got rejected for being silly enough to put my usual internet name into the first little box under ‘Add your response’, my subject line into next box and my body text into this one.
I listed 6 or 7 perfectly good search engines, I rattled on about the various forms of censorship both govt and jerks apply through lawyers and less legal leverage. I may as well repeat: Google “national DNS spoofing”, and suggest that this, along ISPs being coerced by govt to apply other filters is strong censorship - not just in China.
want to search the internet, try http://www.dogpile.com, if you don’t like it - you can try the ones it is using individually.
To go to google.com, try: http://www.google.com/webhp?tab=lw
I can go to http://www.google.ca, I am in AU and if I go to http://www.google.com then I get redirected to http://www.google.com.au. To get you guys the link to ‘Google International/US’ the second thing I tried was to go to maps.google.com and click on the ‘web’ link in top left hand corner of page.
My boss wanted me to scan a printed picture of the google logo, I did so before he got back, three settings to try to make decent image of it were crap. I googled: ‘google logo hires’(***not images, web links) and some pretty darn snazzy (inc. orig) pics came from google, and excellent ‘art’ on fourth or so link stating grieviance (mildish) with google on issue of not doing a themed logo for memorial day.
Here you are, have the link, fourth from the top on ‘google logo hires’ : http://zombietime.com/google_memorial_day_logo/ , so, sorry, I don’t think google are censoring the links *on purpose* themselves. (scroll down if you go to page at zombietime (don’t worry about name) and see very snazzy artwork by public contrib.)
Your grief is clearly with the the dirty rat-m*****ls who can’t allow their competitor (or perhaps shame) to be revealed by simplistic means. These people have used something (usually lawyers) to make google ‘censor’ the result links.
Google’s doing a bang-up job of getting relevant results for relevant search term phrases. They often have a point of contact for the ‘ratbag’ in the bit where they mention that some process or another has censored the result. (Can’t you tell what their message means? :) They clearly indicate that someone has caused something to be missing - more the act of the bi-partisan, rather than an active censor.
Aim the blame where it belongs, what is your government doing people?
robsoles.
Ps. I can’t find a download site that isn’t torrent without specifying extensions/types for http:// and ftp:// in Google…
HEY ADMIN: Fix website display, I just uninstalled firefox coz an extension I added ‘bit’ it, right now using IE60 with big arse firewall and sheer refusal to allow microsoft servers anywhere near any of my PCs. I run IIS5.1 on machine behind other registered copy of big arse firewall, behind b-a firewall in router!
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Same here, I did a search for Sumotorrent on Google and got “Results 1 - 50 of about 1,470,000 English pages for Sumotorrent. (0.15 seconds).”
I am located in California, USA. I know Google allegedly filters results for some places, but not here, not right now, anyway…
Eh, it periodically occurs for me.It sometimes does and sometimes doesn’t. And about Google helping China censor websites…It’s not as bad as AOL, Yahoo and MSN with their censorship. If I remember correctly Google has been banned a couple of times by the Chinese government for not complying to their rules.
No need of google,
Look at this ScreenShot
http://hotimg3.fotki.com/a/121_247/66_70/Transform.gif
i can find .torrent files without need of a website; all we need is to create a decentralized software with new torrent files specific features.
Just checkout that sancho software
Wishful thinking indeed…
This is kinda lame move my anti-piracy groups, don’t they know that Google Indexes are sometimes old. New links pop up all the time. Maybe not from the popular site but at least from some other site.
google.ca doesn’t filter out torrent searches.
Either the American people are going to revolutionize the way corporations are allowed to operate in OUR COUNTRY or corporations are going to revolutionize the people. Either way a revolution is coming because our great Republic has been under attack for some time. What will happen when you can no longer afford your rights?
your article says that torrent websites respond to a request to remove content, is that not what google are doing!
Well this article made me almost shit myself at 6am, seeing as I run http://www.torrentfilter.org
I just glanced over the title and thought they’d gone and made a big deal over my little site
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Oh, and did not know about it. Thanks for the information …
boo
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