TorrentFreak

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Google Starts Punishing “Pirate” Sites In Search Results

Google announced today that it will lower the search engine rankings of websites that receive a high number of DMCA takedown requests, independent of whether the linked content is lawful or not. The algorithm change is the result of extensive lobbying efforts by Hollywood and the major music labels, and could severely degrade the rankings of websites such as The Pirate Bay, FilesTube, and even YouTube.

Google bayGoogle will soon take into consideration the number of DMCA takedown notices it receives against sites to determine the ranking of those websites in its search results.

“Starting next week, we will begin taking into account a new signal in our rankings: the number of valid copyright removal notices we receive for any given site. Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results,” Google’s Amit Singhal writes in a blog post.

Earlier this year Google decided to publish all takedown requests online as part of their transparency report, and they will now use this data as part of their search algorithm. This means that websites for which Google receives a high number of valid takedown requests will be penalized.

The top receivers of these notices over the past year were filestube.com, extratorrent.com, torrenthound.com, bitsnoop.com and isohunt.com. They can expect to appear lower in future search results and will therefore receive less traffic through Google searches. Whether Google will downgrade YouTube, where (tens of) thousands of videos are routinely disabled because of alleged infringements, is unknown at this point.

Google stresses that it doesn’t know whether content is authorized or not, so removal of pages from its search results will only take place following a valid DMCA takedown notice.

“Only copyright holders know if something is authorized, and only courts can decide if a copyright has been infringed; Google cannot determine whether a particular webpage does or does not violate copyright law,” Singhal writes.

“So while this new signal will influence the ranking of some search results, we won’t be removing any pages from search results unless we receive a valid copyright removal notice from the rights owner.”

One of the main problems with Google’s new ranking is that perfectly legitimate content on sites with a high number of takedown requests will be degraded as well. Taking YouTube as an example, millions of relevant and legal search results will be degraded simply because there are a high number of “unauthorized” videos posted to the site.

Adding the high number of bogus DMCA notices which Google sees as valid, many sites may also be punished for the faulty takedown requests that copyright holders send. That’s worrying to say the least.

For Hollywood and the major music labels Google’s announcement is a clear win. In fact, it was one of the three demands they handed out to Google, Bing and Yahoo last year during a behind-closed-doors meeting.

The other two demands were “prioritize websites that obtain certification as a licensed site under a recognized scheme” and “stop indexing websites that are subject to court orders while establishing suitable procedures to de-index substantially infringing sites.”

Whether Google will also adopt these suggestions remains to be seen.

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  • http://twitter.com/donbvonb .

    First

    • http://www.comichippo.com/ ComicHippo

       Want a cookie ?

      • Bluto

         Google will never be in a position of power again like it is today if they kow tow to the MPAA and RIAA. If I managed Google I would make this threat: “Google will remove all RIAA and MPAA associated sites from its database including all advertising sites for all movies and home web sites for all RIAA affiliated bands if the harassment and litigation continues.”

    • Trespass

      I’m sure your life is complete now. I am flagging this only because it adds absolutely nothing to the discussion. 

      Back to on topic:  And this decision by Google reduces piracy how? Like I don’t have The Pirate Bay and Youtube bookmarked already?

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/7SOODE6ARVQOKVW4MHQWIUWJ4U DandyLion

        Flaggers are faggers.

      • chronoss chiron

        and who the fuck uses a search engine to find pirated downloads….that died like mid 90′s didn’t it?

        • Guest

           It certainly convinces me to use something like duck duck go or, really, any other search engine for my future searching needs.

        • anon

           true

          but more importantly, who the fuck uses google?

        • thisisaguest

           If you live on “Now that’s what I call music”, the top 40 or other MAFIAA sponsored media then sure you can probably find all that you want on the pirate bay, for other people their favourites aren’t conveniently uploaded to a single place..

        • http://twitter.com/Jatthewmoly Matt

          Ehh I usedmtomuse it to find mediafire links

    • Your name

       Money, money ,money! Someone at Google got paid off. Thought Google was impartial but the people who run it are only human i suppose. Thumbs up for artificial artificial intelligence.

      • Guest321

        Lol Google has more money than Hollywood. They don’t need to get paid off. This decision is the result of the never ending legal threats and pressure put by Hollywood on companies like Google that has forced them to make this decision. In reality Google couldn’t care less about copyright infringement.

        • Guest

          That’s what makes Google’s cowardice so fucking pathetic. They’ve actually got the resources to fight Hollywood, win, change the law.

          Instead they do this.

          Good job supporting “free and open”, you sniveling bitches. 

        • http://www.facebook.com/egnyquist Erik G. Nyquist

          They only have to weather the storm of Hollywood and the music industry for awhile longer.  The power hungry California Plutarchs still feel that they may be able to take control of information flow on the internet.  

          All those talks of a “Premium Internet” and similar, where only content they deem fit is made available.  At some point It will be explained how it differs form TV.  

        • Clara Bellino

          Yeah buttheads will be buttheads, sure is nice to know that some people value doing what’s right over having tons of money. When did having money become an enviable trait of character?

    • devilkat

      Now I’m first. If anonamous was half as smart as they think they are then they should do something make a statement , in fact someone pick a day and we will all build bat signals with flashlights , bonfires , whatever you can , gather in groups and sing “Can’t Stop Believing” call out for a hero nothing violent do something good that helps as many people as possible at once.
      OR  Sit here and bitch and moan  about shit and hope for the best    I think we’re screwed any way , I’m hoping for an apocalypse of some sorts do-over for humanity we might get it right this time. I’m going to eat another snickers and watch T.V.

      • Djx

        12/12/12 only few more months.    :)

        • The End Is Not Nigh

          Yes that’s right, because the Mayan’s conveniently used their longform calendar (dated back to at least 36 BC) to predict a date which would be so aesthetically pleasing in the Gregorian calendar, which itself didn’t even come into use until hundreds of years later. They somehow managed to cunningly predict that the original 10 month calendar system would be bastardised by both Julius and Augustus Caesar to give us 2 extra months in the summer allowing for a 12th month to be present in the system, and then worked out a precise date that would fall on the 12th day of that newly-12th (previously 10th) month. And not only that, but they unbelievably predicted the birth and death of Jesus and his ensuing cult status which gave us a starting point for the modern Christian calendar, allowing an amazingly accurate 2012 years to pass before the end of the world would arrive. Clever those Mayans…

          /sarcasm (obviously)

    • jesuschrist

      [root@priratebox ~]# perl fakedmcagooglebot.pl
      Usage perl fakedmcagooglebot.pl http://site1 http://site2
      Crawls random pages on given websites and submits them to google for dmca take down
      [root@priratebox ~]#

      • Yoda

        Why are you working as root?

        • jesuschrist

           Using raw sockets to hide the source IP, raw sockets require root privileges.

        • Yoda

          And how do packets come back if you forge the source IP, genius?

        • TTony

           Why would he need a reply?

        • jesuschrist

          Cough ACK-GET timing cough

  • Aponymous

    I’d love to switch to another search engine but there’s a huge problem… Google already knows what I like which in turn makes it generate great results most of the time.

    I’ve tried switching a few times but those other search engines don’t know me (I’m assuming this has a huge impact on returned search results) and return shitty results…

    Any solution?

    • Guest

      http://www.yandex.com
      Enough said.

      • FrostyC

        Yandex is awesome. Also, this system is ripe for abuse. I could just put in a bunch of fake DMCA notices for my competitor’s websites & voilà I get top placement.

        • http://gene-poole.tumblr.com Gene Poole

           And that’s how you kill it.

          There’s no penalty for submitting false claims, so you push the system until it breaks, and then they have to fix it. Get facebook dropped in rank, and watch zuckerberg shit his pants.

        • Anyone

          @Gene_P00le:disqus
          there is a theoretical penalty if it can be proven that the claims were false on purpose, but that is very hard to proof

        • Techanon

          @f05af58b8c10e93b3595bb996aad4e5d:disqus  Well then, since google has this in place, now sites that receive a large amount of bogus DMCAs [compared to legitimate ones] can claim that the intent of those DMCAs is to maliciously lower their ranking in google’s search engine.

        • Anyone

          @4be2d0f8cad931edb8b85486ad744962:disqus
          then they just say “oops, our bad, faulty algorithm” and nothing happens

        • ItsTheSasquatch

          “There’s no penalty for submitting false claims,”

          Something tells me there is… if you’re not hollywood. Laws only apply to the poor, after all. That said, it needs to be done anyway. Just don’t get caught.

      • ICO

        http://www.yandex.ru/

        Or use the Russian index. Enough said.

      • Sucks

         had to look ant this site but pure crap. my goto search entry is “axxo” just to see how relevant the results are and well was some crappy site showing releases to this day which the releaser hasent done for years now so yea dead reliable

        • Anyone

          axxo has been retired since a few years now

      • Eddy

         On your recommendation i just tried yandex….first search, the word torrentz was kindly autoedited to torrents….I was looking for torrentz NOT torrents….bullshit….any other suggestions.?

        • Robert

          Click on the cog wheel in the top left corner select “do not filter” and “offer suggestions only”, save.

          Seems to be easier to work around the crap than google.

    • Dxloat

      I switched several years ago to Metacrawler, granted this is a agregate of Bing, Google, and Yahoo but I have been very happy with it. Try it you might like it.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/7SOODE6ARVQOKVW4MHQWIUWJ4U DandyLion

      Doesn’t even matter, if you want to find a site, you’ll find it, whether or not piddly ol’ Google ranks it lower or not. No big deal. At all.

      • Sir Wootington 3rd Esquire

         Exactly.  Although, I wouldn’t say AT ALL… sometimes I google for torrents out of laziness just because I’m already on google and don’t feel like typing piratebay’s url in.  lol  very lazy but w/e

        • Lisasolea

          All in my favorites, won’t do shit.

        • Guest

           Filetype:torrent

      • googlefail

        startpage
        duckduckgo
        yandex

    • guest754

       Time to set TPB as homepage.

    • jesuschrist

       Exactly why google is a very bad search engine, creates a bubble around you, shows you only the stuff you want to see, if you want REAL results do not accept ANY cookies from any of the google’s domains and use random IP addresses.

    • ghost of lycos

       ”Google already knows what I like”

      seriously? thats not a HUGE red flag?

  • William

    Woudn’t “prioritize websites that obtain certification as a licensed site under a recognized scheme” violate the Sherman Antitrust Act?

    • Guest

      yes, same as with google blocking child porn or rape videos from showing in results. how evil of them, you sick fuck

      • Anyone

        that content is actually illegal (at least for child porn)
        sharing sites are not illegal, despite how much bribed politicians and judges say otherwise, so why should they get the same treatment as illegal content?

      • Guest

        @Guest:twitter 

        Yes. Child porn and rape videos violate the SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT.

        http://en.wikipedia dot org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act

        The trolls here have gotten so stupid it’s becoming depressing.

        • William

          What I meant to say is that giving certain websites registered with a central organization special privilege over sites that don’t register could be seen as an antitrust violation.  Especially if the registration requires membership with an organization such as the RIAA or MPAA.

    • Guest

       Certainly it should take away safe harbor protection since they are actively policing their results, rather than just being a common carrier.

  • Camanon7

    http://www.startpage.com

    Great for anonymity and bypassing censorship.

    • Spencer greff

      But simply forwards to Google correct?

      • Camanon7

        True, but if startpage knows about this they can surely find a way around it.

  • jack

    Google should take themselves down for receiving the highest number of DMCA takedowns.

    • Brent Andersen

      Let’s not even get started on Youtube….

  • Spencer greff

    duck duck go anyone?

    • Guest

       this.

    • Guest321

      It sucks.

      • Guest

         No it doesn’t. It’s just some results need to be updated if they are currently happening.

  • Guest

    ” Google announced today that it will lower the search engine rankings of
    websites that receive a high number of DMCA takedown requests,
    independent of whether the linked content is lawful or not.”

    Was it not Google who said that they receive quite a lot of DMCA requests from people who were not the copyright holder??? Well by there own actions they should rank there own self lower lol

    • Anyone

      yes, google published statistics about DMCA takedowns which show that a large number of those are simply wrong because they are created by automated programs without human oversight

      the whole DMCA should be scraped and the MAFIAA forced to compete fairly

      • Guest

        They abuse the system for patents, they abuse it for takedowns of youtube videos, they will obviously abuse the takedown DMCA requests for youtube.

        They already DDOS’d demonoid, what makes anyone think they, the MAFIAA, are above mass bombing google with worthless DMCA takedowns to bring down their competition as well?

        • Anyone

          that seems to be the current tactic, yes
          the DMCA really needs to have a price per takedown request, or else exactly this is what’s happening, even someone with the resources of google is giving into these bullies

        • Guest

          A price is no good, these people are rich.
          A price will be seen as an investment, pay a lot, take down many guys and become king of the hill after it’s over.
          It’ll only benefit the biggest meanest middle men.
          One must remember, successful companies are successful because they know how to play the business game.
          That’s a good thing when it means investing well or being creative, but it can also mean knowing the loopholes to avoid taxes or to abuse the system that’s meant to keep them under control to hurt others.
          In other words, when making a system that can be abused one must assume the worst always.
          This kind of behavior is human nature, even small kids try to cheat the parents and get more benefits than they deserve.

        • Anyone

          @c93877e2434c650f3b0860acd74c044c:disqus
          one site (outside US jurisdiction) started charging $50 per takedown request, which seems reasonable if the claimed damage each link causes is accurate, and covers the additional manpower needed to verify each request

          guess what, the requests stopped

          I’d guess even a $10 pricetag will stop the censors

      • Andrew me

         If you look closely at what Google is doing you will realise that although it has been requested by the copyright industry, it is actually against there interest to have a DMCA cause so much damage to a website or business.

        All we need is one very big class action lawsuit where thousands of sites had to close down or lost money because of a few illegal or incorrect DMCA requests. Remember a DMCA request states very clearly that the submitter will be held guity of a crime if they take down or try to take down materiel they do not have the copyright to.No excuses of computers doing it wrong or algorithims incorrectly set etc. It states very clearly that the perosn submits the DMCA under threat of perjury if they do not own the copyright to the material they are requesting be taken down.

        Google is in fact giving more and more ammunition for a mass lawsuit and i am sure they will do a few other things in the future that will look silly at the time but will create even more proof for those that sue the content industry.

        Give them enough rope and they will hang themselves is really relevant in this situation.

  • Pingback: Anonymous

  • The Muss

    I’m just gonna add “tpb” at the end.   That’s way too easy.  

    Google doesn’t give auto-suggestions unless you complete the word “torrent” as in inception torrent.  But the moment you type “inception t”  you’ll get to choice of choosing inception tpb.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/7SOODE6ARVQOKVW4MHQWIUWJ4U DandyLion

      lol

  • http://twitter.com/Anime4PSP Anime 4 PSP

    Why you give in, Google? T.T

  • MadAsASnake

    Bit surprised by this – surely it violates their ethos? Past that it’s a major can of worms that intermediaries shouldn’t be involved in. I wonder if their algorithm compensates where DMCA notices have been proved wrong (which is perjury, of course, in many cases)

    • Violated0

      The beginning of the end. When people cannot trust Google to provide fair results they will soon abandon them.

  • quawonk

    Google censorship. Corporate bribes well spent.

    • http://profiles.google.com/wileytheshycoyote wiley coyote

      Oh please, Google has always tweaked its search results to favor content that generates income for it.  Why so up in arms about a reasonable move to move sites that pirate/steal content to the bottom of the list?

      The lady doth protest too much, me thinks….

      • Anyone

        it’s not reasonable

        the MAFIAA should improve their offers to compete with piracy, not have other people (police, google) take down their competitors

        • http://profiles.google.com/wileytheshycoyote wiley coyote

          It’s not just the MPAA.  Actually it’s the little guys, independents, who get hurt.  Easy to blame the big bad MPAA. For the record, paying a couple bucks for a movie or 99 cents for a song isn’t unreasonable.  How much did that Starbucks drink you ordered cost? 

          Funny that you refer to pirate sites as competitors? Are car thieves legit competition for car dealers? False equivalency if there ever was one.

          Legal and reasonable options are out there.

        • Anyone

          @google-094d649d34c38e7cfb62738b712bc1ca:disqus
          every study has shown that piracy helps the little guys
          only the middlemen like the MAFIAA are hurt by piracy

          from those 99 cents about 7 cents reach the artist, the rest is kept by Apple and the MAFIAA. and those 7 cents still have to be split with the manager and bandmates.

          and car thieves obviously remove a car from the streets, when I copy a song or movie the original is still fine, so nothing was stolen, only shared
          a better comparison would be car sharing or renting companies, which depending on your needs can be a competition to car dealers. but it is always hard to compare digital with physical goods

        • Guest32

          @google-094d649d34c38e7cfb62738b712bc1ca:disqus It’s true that “piracy” helps the little guys.

          Enterprises and monopolies join forces using copyright, laws and the power of money.

          Little guys need to, and do, join forces PUBLICLY, through the cooperation on the Internet, through Public Domain works, GNU works, and the like, but in a cooperative and public way.

          That’s all we can have if we aren’t part of a monopoly.

        • LiveFreely

          wiley coyote “Funny that you refer to pirate sites as competitors? Are car thieves
          legit competition for car dealers? False equivalency if there ever was
          one.”

          Wow, the irony, the pot, the kettle, the black… A false equivalency if ever there was one there wiley.

          “You Wouldn’t Download A Car Would You?” <— Yes, yes I would.

          Seriously though, come on wiley, you don't really think downloading a movie is the same thing as stealing a car now do you?

          So how many years in prison should someone serve for each movie they download?

          MPAA execs are looking at your comment and thinking "he so crazy".

        • Derek 852

           @google-094d649d34c38e7cfb62738b712bc1ca:disqus First, a lot of us don’t have the money for a starbucks drink. Second, music distribution companies exist to make money off of a problem that has now been solved. Their response, rather than adapting, has been to try and unsolve the problem so they can keep making money off of it.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/L2FW55JCG4NNVE2CCP5336XJRE Cheese!

          @google-094d649d34c38e7cfb62738b712bc1ca:disqus 16.99 for a cd isn’t reasonable. it’s the same price … not lowered since the 1990s. I say, $5 for a brand spankin new CD. THAT would be a compromise and ‘reasonable’ to me. 

      • http://twitter.com/PhilipOConnell Philip O’Connell

        Another reason to be up in arms is no other compan like apple or microsoft has a moto that is total bs they lie cheat and do whatever it takes.

        But according to Google we go by our standards of “do’t be evil” when making decisions surely don’t be evil means you stay neutral and don’t benefit one side heavily over the other.

        I suppose at least we know where we as consumers stand not all 3 companies are bullshitters and will say what they like and Google is no longer worthy of the special (better than others) pedestal that many internet users put them on.

        Well Google, Apple and Microsoft you all clearly suck the industries cock in you spare time just try not to suck to hard or consumers will wake u[p to what sell outs you really are.

      • Guest

        “Actually it’s the little guys, independents, who get hurt.”

        lol

        That’s the exact opposite of reality. Why does it not shock me that a MAFIAA goon is offering falsehood as the truth?

  • Guest

    I wonder if Google has done this at the request of Hollywood etc. to avoid being sued for linking to what they see as piracy sites. Well Google now that you have given them an inch Hollywood will now own you as there bitch for life!

    • Vincent Giannell

       Unless Google changes their minds because of users protesting against this act.

  • Bleh

    And the terrible news keeps pouring in…I hope some new file sharing tech gets developed.

    • tB

       1 word.. Tribler. it’s not that grat yet, but it will be. It’s really the only viable option, all things considered.

      • Anyone

        tribler is quite nice, but currently the client is not really stable and quite buggy
        it freezes regularly with large torrents, and keeps readding deleted torrents until you reset all settings

        but it is a good first step

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/L2FW55JCG4NNVE2CCP5336XJRE Cheese!
        • Guest

           @Cheese, I just make a private torrent and email it to the recipient.

        • Anyone

          @abb249055208c7af4d35568e422dfd63:disqus
          that means your PC has to be constantly running and it will be very slow on their end

          a filehoster like MegaUpload is much better for this, torrents are great if you want to distribute to LOTS of people, not just one or two

  • Guest

    Was it not pointed out by TPB that Google would be doing them a favour if they didn’t list TPB in the searches.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/7SOODE6ARVQOKVW4MHQWIUWJ4U DandyLion

      Howzat?

  • Glidebash

    yarrr

  • http://identi.ca/LauRoman Lauren?iu Roman

    Forget about Youtube for a second, what about competitors that are also contract partners to Big Content? What happens if a content company starts issuing DMCA notices to a distribution medium like Netflix or Amazon of Lovefilm or Sky after a bad negotiation round?

    • http://profiles.google.com/wileytheshycoyote wiley coyote

      They would go to court rather than utilize the DMCA if there was an issue with contractual obligations.   Even if they did send a DMCA, if a counter-notice is filed, that’s were they’d have to end up.

      Your argument has no basis in reality.

      • Anyone

        but previous examples show that DMCA takedowns are used against the competition, the most prominent case was the illegal takedown of the Megasong or lately the US presidential campaign has been hit with false DMCA takedowns as well.

        this censoring has to stop

    • Guest

      And speaking of using this as an anti-competitive weapon, who wants to bet the rankings of Dailymotion, Vimeo, etc. drop due to DMCA complaints while YouTube stays at the top of the search results? 

  • Xram

    the real victory against hollywood is not to pirate their movies. the real victory against hollywood is TO IGNORE their productions and industry, in all possible ways. DO NOT WATCH MOVIES. simple. don’t pay, don’t pirate.

    • http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell

      Not going to happen. Enough said.

      • Camanon7

        Yeah, that’s a pipe dream. I wish there thumbs up and thumbs down buttons rather than just like buttons.

        • Guest

           Personally, I prefer to convince friends and family to start pirating instead of paying for hollywood productions.  Sounds like a better victory to me.

        • Anyone

          once you show them how easy it is compared to official offerings they’ll be converted

    • Guest32

      That’s exactly what I do. I’m not interested at all in useless movies, music and TV when I can create my own stuff instead and have fun and progress while doing so.

    • xpmule

       consider it done ;)

      i wouldn’t pirate 90% of TV, Movies Games etc
      Its almost all garbage designed to drain my wallet

  • http://profiles.google.com/wileytheshycoyote wiley coyote

    If someone is looking for cancer treatment and go to Google search do you think they should find sites offering illegal drugs/treament at the top of the list rather than the NCI (National Cancer Institute)?

    This is a reasonable (and legal) move on Google’s part.  It’s about time.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/7SOODE6ARVQOKVW4MHQWIUWJ4U DandyLion

      “The Filter Bubble”, look it up. A good read.

    • Anyone

      should you find overpriced “official” medicine first or cheaper generica?

      if the MAFIAA wants to be on top of google results they should simply improve their service so it is worthy of that position
      as long as the pirate sites offer a better service they should be higher ranked

      • http://profiles.google.com/wileytheshycoyote wiley coyote

        Not talking generics…those sites are legal.  Your dependence of red herrings is tiresome.

        Why do you think Google had to pay the government half a billion bucks for their drug ads on illegal pharmacy sites?  Because it was illegal and those sites threaten the health of consumers everywhere.  DUH.

        • Anyone

          but piracy has no health risks for the consumer, they are beneficial for both the consumer AND the artist

          so why downrate them just because the MAFIAA middlemen bitch and moan?

        • Violated0

          Those illegal pharmacy sites you refer to were lawful pharmacy sites serving Canada but they were shipping medicine across the border on request. The US Government sued Google for their adverts because these Canadian drugs were not FDA approved.

          Let me ask the big question when what is the harm to US citizens if they use Canadian drugs as long as there is some expert medical oversight? You would use these same drugs if you visited Canada anyway and fell ill.

          So this was just a case of the FDA losing control so they plugged this hole through suing the advertiser.

          On a more global level unlawful counterfeit drugs that can harm people are quite rare when their main problem is genetic drugs available in poor countries which are either made locally or imported from another poor country. Let me provide an example when a couple of years there was the Bird Flu H5N1 scare and Roche sold many of their Tamiflu. I am also aware that in the Philippines they had a big access and price issue so they made and sold genetic Tamiflu that the locals could more afford and which is lawful under international law.

          The main problem crops up when genetic Tamiflu can be easily purchased over the counter in any local Pharmacy which allows us to see that some business people in Western countries can ask the locals to post them entire boxes of cheap genetic Tamiflu which they then sell on the local market for a very handsome profit. In case you did not spot the flaw here then this import and resale then violates the original Tamiflu patent. Sure enough this very same situation happens to hundreds of different drug types thousands of times every day.

        • Anyone

          @Violated0:disqus
          generic, not genetic ;)

        • Guest

          “Because it was illegal and those sites threaten the health of consumers everywhere. ”

          Affordable medicine is a threat to the health of consumers everywhere? I guess being a MAFIAA sockpuppet doesn’t pay the bills so you have to shill for the pharmaceutical industry, too. 

    • LiveFreely

      If Google’s algorithm determines that users will find the sites offering “illegal drugs/treatment” to be of more value than the NCI, then yes of course those site’s should show first.

      The whole point of Google’s algorithm is ultimately to determine what sites/pages the end user will find more beneficial/useful/valuable, and even looks heavily at social signals to see what people are saying about those sites/pages.

    • http://gene-poole.tumblr.com Gene Poole

       google’s search results reflect the popularity of pages on the internet. they don’t create popularity. modifying the algorithm just means the results are inaccurate

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/L2FW55JCG4NNVE2CCP5336XJRE Cheese!

        Auto fill, for me, seems to be trying to lead me to buy shit…
        maybe just me.

        • Anyone

          yes, those are already being censored

    • Maldoror

      If you’re looking for cancer treatment you should be going to a doctor, not Google.

      After that, you can google for more background information, but you will already have learned the basics from your doctor to enable a better search experience.

    • SmashEDO

      @google-094d649d34c38e7cfb62738b712bc1ca:disqus 

      Do illegal drug dealers really advertise online? I have to admit, knocking scag dealers a few pages down the results might help to reduce the easy availability of Heroin to the young’uns in our society.
      Actually, if you type Cancer Treatment into Google the NCI already comes up as the top result… see: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=cancer+treatment …so what’s your point exactly? Obvious troll is obvious.

  • Nimski

    So I guess Google will be fair about it and remove Youtube from the search listings also, right? I would imagine that Youtube probably receives a lot, if not the most, copyright infringement notices sent to websites.

    • Vincent Giannell

       I doubt it.

    • http://profiles.google.com/wileytheshycoyote wiley coyote

      Youtube has CMS (content management) that allows rights holders to control their content.  Another reasonable solution and one that legit sites should all adopt.  

      • Anyone

        the MAFIAA should not be in control
        they have been the gatekeeper for far too long, it’s time the gates are opened to let art and culture flow freely

      • LiveFreely

        Yes I agree, nobody should be allowed to own a website or run a blog without giving every copyright holder in the world full and free access to edit it and remove anything they think or claim violates their rights, no matter what the cost would be to the site owner or how much that would stifle innovation, creativity, and development of new businesses.

        Oh wait… nevermind… I take that back… for a second I forgot I’m not an idiot.

      • Violated0

        YouTube’s CMS is nothing more than a smash and grab system of other people’s media.

        For example the Curiosity rover recently landed on Mars so NASA decides to upload to YouTube the video they shot from their JPL control room as this robot landed.

        I should now point out that since NASA is funded by the Federal Government then all video NASA produces is 100% Public Domain under law when taxpayers funded its production.

        Despite this Public Domain media being uploaded by NASA then it is true to say that SIX other organizations did block this video on YouTube by claiming that this Public Domain media violated THEIR copyright.

        CMS is nothing more than anarchy in action. The rules are screwed so everyone and their dog abuses it.

      • Nope

        Firstly: Not reasonable.  Safe harbor SPECIFICALLY states that an operator is not liable for the actions of its users.  There is ZERO requirement for an operator to “proactively” anything; so long as they do not look, they are not liable.  Being proactive is 100% a creation of the MPAA and their legal bullying; it’s nowhere in the law.  DMCA requests are not even binding legal orders overseas, they are respected as a COURTESY to USA rights holders to appear as reasonable businesses.  Obviously, as is the case with MegaUpload and others, this courtesy may be revoked if the rights holders are blatantly abusing it.

        Secondly: Content ID is not foolproof, and relies on likely patented technology and considerable processing power.  It also doesn’t take in to account who is actually licensed to do something, or if something is fair use, without first being declared “in the wrong” by Google and having privileges revoked immediately for being a potential-pirate, which you then have to make your case from a position of weakness that you actually were allowed to do the upload to begin with.  Let us also not forget when Content ID claimed someone’s original work belonged to the AA’s, essentially “stole” advertisement royalties from the creator in the name of the AA, and required a lot of legal wrenching to have the “pirate” flag removed from work that was always his own to begin with.

      • Maldoror

        Content ID does not work. Recently, a YouTube video containing original content and public domain images from NASA received five (!) claims through Content ID: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/08/as-curiosity-touches-down-on-mars-video-is-taken-down-from-youtube/ Apparently this is not an isolated case either.

      • SmashEDO

        Why the fuck should the MAFIAA have any control over anyone else’s website? What a completely back-assward world you live in. The only way that can possibly be contemplated is if everybody has admin access to control content on everybody’s websites. So I can delete things I don’t like from, let’s say, Time Warner’s site. Of course that’s just stupid, as is your suggestion that to be a ‘legit’ site I should allow them access to my own content.

        Go practice duck-face in the mirror some more, you’re wasting our time being here moron.

    • ScrewEwe2

      I’ve never used Google to search for youTube videos. I use the youTube site to search for youTube videos. Just like I use ISOHunt to search for ISOHunt content instead of using Google to search for ISOHunt content. Same with KAT.ph. 

  • Guest

    Your text in bold does not agree with the first paragraph. The paragraph clearly states “VALID”. Your text in bold negates that claim. Are you trying to be sensational or what?

    • Ben Brubaker

      Here comes the shitstorm.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/L2FW55JCG4NNVE2CCP5336XJRE Cheese!

        More like a shit drizzle,  I guess.

    • Guest

       Well, google sees all bogus claims as valid, unless the site that is being blocked fights back, and when they do, they frequently lose, even if they are in the right, so, most don’t fight back, and google uses that as proof that the DMCA request was valid.

  • Vincent Giannell

    Google will be forced to rethink this due to a massive protest against this act.

    • http://profiles.google.com/wileytheshycoyote wiley coyote

      Well considering the fact that Google helped underwrite the “massive protest” against SOPA, it’s seems rather unlikely they will do the same in this instance since they initiated the move.

      • Vincent Giannell

         There will be a massive protest against this. You’ll see.

        • Anyone

          the problem is this change is not very visible, most people won’t even notice that they have to go to page2 to get to the relevant pages because the first page is irrelevant spam from the MAFIAA

      • http://gene-poole.tumblr.com Gene Poole

         aaaaaaaand paid MAFIAA schill. Knew your colors would show eventually. For a few minutes there you just seemed like an asshole. At least now we know you’re paid to be an asshole.

  • TorrentPower

    We need new search enginge immunized from RIAA and others shit heads.

  • Beavis And Butthead

     Huh huh Google.

  • Guest

    I wouldn’t mind saying goodbye to google and seeing it replaced by someone else, someone else less evil.
    Google still supports some good causes yes and I’m glad it does but it is increasingly “doing evil” and we should face the reality, that in some years, google will be our enemy. Google is on its way to join the old guard that keeps passing laws to remain with undeserved power, and as it does, it becomes an enemy of mankind and justice.

    Copyright is used to sue companies and hurt them in the legal battlefield, it uses judges as puppets.
    It’s used to ask people for insane amounts of money knowing they won’t defend themselves, it’s a scam enabler.
    And it is used by shareholders to take down videos and songs of the competition, even when they do not have any right to it, it is a tool for online corporative vandalism.

    This system will be abused like all the others, google know it, it’s more than obvious.
    But they will still take money and power for implementing a system that will not make their product better, something that will not help people, something that only lets the unfair people without morals more capable of doing harm.
    This is by all means, google doing evil.

    • Regular Guy

      It’s only songs and videos – hardly a tragedy.  It’s the weekend – get some fresh air or enjoy what’s left of the Olympics – it might do wonders for your morale

      • Anyone

        how can you enjoy the olympics if NBC removes them from the internet?

        • Regular Guy

          It’s a live event

        • Anyone

          that NBC is trying hard to censor off the web

        • Violated0

          The BBC have been streaming the events online in HD video but I am uncertain if this service is available outside the UK.

        • Anyone

          @Violated0:disqus
          iPlayer is not available outside the UK

        • UK Guy

          @Violated0:disqus You can access the BBC iPlayer if you have a UK IP address – so any free UK proxy or VPN will let you watch. All the events are still there as ‘catch-up TV’ if you’ve missed anything.

      • LiveFreely

         Yea… It’s only songs and videos, so leave them kids alone and let em download :)

        • Regular Guy

          Just learn to do without…get some fresh air – do sport

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/L2FW55JCG4NNVE2CCP5336XJRE Cheese!

          I like doing sport with some killa choons bra.

      • Guest

        Songs and videos buy politicians,they are the reason basic principles of privacy are constantly being corroded and they’re the reason an open highway of instant unlimited knowledge and one of mankind’s greatest achievements for the betterment of humanity could have been closed forever, because basic principles are given up due to corrupt pressure and they get away because “it’s just songs and videos”.
        Some things have bigger implications than the immediately evident.
        Even fresh air could be lost because principles are ignored, because the immature average guy thought that “just cars” or “just some factories” weren’t a big deal.

  • Jonnycakes

    Oh Google, first you give them one thing then they’ll expect you to bend over every time they want something then you’re pregnant at 16. 

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/L2FW55JCG4NNVE2CCP5336XJRE Cheese!

      Give a mouse a cookie…

  • mark steele

    I actually support this change, It means I’ll stop getting fake search results from sites like filestube. It’s their own fault for boosting their search rankings.

    • LiveFreely

      This!

      If I want results from filestube I will go there or use site: in my Google search, same with any other similar site.

  • noko

    There was this comment from the MPAA on another news article:

    “We are optimistic that Google’s actions will help steer consumers to the
    myriad legitimate ways for them to access movies and TV shows online”

    You mean the myriad of legitimate ways you didn’t create?

    • LiveFreely

      Awesome!

      So when are these legitimate alternatives actually going to become available?

      Google can’t show them first until after you actually create them.

  • Null

    so they punish there own youtube then?

  • ANoi

    What happens if you Google GOOGLE ?

    Biggest DMCA receivers eva !

    • UK Guy

      Then you’re an idiot! Lulz

  • Zenamez

    Well this is rather a pickle. Google will shove YouTube results down too eh? Even though they own YouTube they’re still shoving it down. Call me confused. 

    Second point- Will this affect results if you follow the searched terms with the ‘rogue’ site in question such as “*title of object* bitsnoop” or “*title of video* youtube”? 

    • Anyone

      probably not, at least not until the MAFIAA keeps including those “rogue” terms on their websites as well ;)

  • Tabris

    1) Can’t people just get around this by typing, say, “site:filestube.com” before their search? I guess it stops pirate results coming up by default, but still, that’s not going to stop people who are purposely looking for this stuff.

    2) You just know the entertainment industry’s response will be: “Well it’s a start, but it’s still nowhere near good enough.” It’s pointless giving into their demands because they are never satisfied.

    • Anyone

      1. yes
      but this is mostly aimed at people not yet familiar with piracy
      they will just have to ask their children or grand-children ;)

      2. yes, giving into bullies is never the answer
      Google will learn that

      • chronoss chiron

        “look son here is my bookmarks” …as junior runs off to tell his friends…..
        HEY i might be able ot make money off selling my bookmarks…..thanks google

    • quawonk

       Or you could, you know, type filestube.com into your browser’s address bar.

  • The_seventh_guest

    Last page FTW!!! Bitches!!!!

    • UK Guy

      Good point. All you need to do from now on is go to the last results page – that’s where the good stuff will all be aggregated. Maybe even easier to find now! Thanks MAFIAA, I love it when a plan falls apart.

  • Guest

    Google wouldn’t push Youtube back seeing as they own Youtube, if anything they’ll use it as an excuse to hide their competitors… 

  • quawonk

    I guess we should all look at our search results starting with the last page and work our way backwards.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/L2FW55JCG4NNVE2CCP5336XJRE Cheese!

      lol

  • Vincent Giannell

    I don’t think Google will ever go through with this if it gets too many complaints from users who are against it.

    • Tyj

      keep dreaming

      • Vincent Giannell

         It will happen. I’m sure someone will start a petition to convince Google to change it’s mine.

  • Regular Guy

    It’s quite simple really, Google were put in the position of who’s side they were on – artists or organised crime (i.e. Pirate Bay & Co).  They were highly embarrassed by a BBC news report which put them on the spot.   

    • LiveFreely

      You’re right, that’s why Google removes all of those kinds of sites from their search results.

      Oh, wait, what’s that? They aren’t actually removing all these kinds of sites?

      Personally I don’t see anything wrong with what Google is doing here, I don’t see it as a stand against piracy, nor as a stand for copyright holders.

      Seems to me to be a logical way for them to say that they do what’s right and in accordance with the law, from their perspective.

      AngryCopyPeople: You have to do something about all this piracy in your search results.

      HappyPeopleWhoCopy: We want to find stuff to download through you, we don’t want to switch to another search engine, we like you and we don’t like the other search engines much, please don’t remove all that piracy in your search results.

      Google: Ok guys, how about this? Good? Now can we get back to focusing on our ad revenue?

      • Regular Guy

        What’s a dismally cynical post…  it’s’ the weekend and its August – hopefully sunny where you are, just head outdoors and do some sports

        • LiveFreely

           I don’t see the cynicism, but if you do… ok.

      • Anyone

        Google should be neutral
        what is popular should be higher rated

        if the MAFIAA so desperately wants to be on the front page they should improve their offerings so they are actually popular

        • LiveFreely

          Yes, they should be neutral, that is what *I* want them to be.

          Of course Google owns google.com and they have the right to do pretty much whatever they want with their website and I see no reason to get all mad at them for it.

          I do look forward to worthwhile officially licensed offerings, until then?

        • Anyone

          “that content is not available in your region.”

          I love those official offerings, they are so customerfriendly

    • ScrewEwe2

      IMO, I don’t think they were so much embarrassed as I think youTube has turned into a complete clusterfuck for them and they’re just trying to “cooperate” with the MAFIAA to take some of the hassle and heat off themselves.

    • Guest

      “organised crime (i.e. Pirate Bay & Co)”

      Sorry, but filesharing has to be an actual crime first before filesharing sites can be called “organized crime”.

      • UK Guy

        @ac772b48d6728242138b1df18c9716e5:disqus  I concur. Add to this that you need to set out with the intention to commit a crime for it to truly be organised crime. If any of the torrent sites could ever be called ‘criminal’ (which so far they can’t), it was never their intent to commit a crime, unlike the MAFIAA whose remit is to steal as much money as they possibly can from everyone who they can fleece knowing full well that it is either a breach of contract, unlawful, illegal or an unfair monopolistic business practice. The MAFIAA as organisations set out with full intent to be criminal wherever they see it as necessary to make more money, which I’d say is a good definition of organised crime.

  • tao54nyc

    I’ll just start at page 100 and work my way back.  LOL

  • http://gene-poole.tumblr.com Gene Poole

    Aaaaand…this is why I’ve switched to startpage. Fuck Google. Do No Evil my ass. Way to censor, dicks.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/L2FW55JCG4NNVE2CCP5336XJRE Cheese!

      Just did the same, we’ll see how it goes. Thanks.

  • koolkat

    This is censorship ! SOPA coming through the back door !

    • UK Guy

      The internet being anally raped, to coin a phrase.

  • John Space

    36 bookmarks of torrent search engines.
    34 of non-Google ones.
    Like a boss.

    • Andrew me

       care to share those with me :)

  • ofProto

    This why I use Duck Duck Go.

  • Posti

    Any such motion, act that pirates think how bypass new restriction, and every time are strongner than before – so good luck, bitches :) Now we can wait for pirates motion…

    • LiveFreely

      I am no “pirate” but I imagine these kids are creative enough to figure out a way to setup their own search engines (just for finding downloads), that’s how Google got started and it’s probably a whole lot easier to do it now.

      Oh, what’s that, there’s already like a billion search engines that search torrents, cyberlockers/file hosts, and all that stuff? I did not know that, well then in that case I guess Google can just do whatever they want because it really doesn’t matter does it?

  • 0omg

    that will just push most of the site to  block the usa and tell people how to use foreign proxys and not care about google anymore and seo …. a good thing in my opinion lets go back to the darknet :) 

  • Dlccmind

    I find it disconcerting that a PRIVATE company take on the role of punishment. Shouldn’t the legal system handle that?

    • Anyone

      no, the legal system should not handle fair competition

    • LiveFreely

       What punishment?

      Google is a “PRIVATE” company, they own google.com, what’s wrong with them choosing what and how they display things on their own website?

      Should the government force Google to show the results you want the way you want? I am guessing you don’t think so.

      Let Google do what they want with their algorithm, if we don’t like the results it generates we are free to search elsewhere, perhaps even on sites that are tailored to our specific interests whatever they may be.

      • Anyone

        they have a quasi-monopoly on search, that’s why the government should intervene and force them to be neutral

        just like it did with Microsoft

        • LiveFreely

          I disagree with that approach.

          If there is a monopoly, break it up and/or help create real competition, but forcing Google to show the results the government tells them to in the order the government tells them to is so far out of bounds it’s crazy.

          It’s practically begging for extreme censorship and control of the internet which “pirates” are supposed to be against.

          Do you have a link to a new story confirming that the government forced Microsoft to rewrite their algorithm and/or change the order of their search results?

        • Anyone

          @LiveFreely:disqus
          it should not show what the government wants, but government should force google to be neutral in their algorithm (I know, hard to enforce, but it would at least allow Google to tell the MAFIAA to fuck off)

          the bitching and moaning of a failing industry should not influence search results

        • Guest

          “It’s practically begging for extreme censorship and control of the internet”

          The government stepping in and forcing Google not to censor its search results* is practically begging for extreme censorship and control of the internet? That’s some interesting bullshit you’ve got there.

          ( * not that the government would ever do this)

      • ThumbsUpThumbsDown

        “Private” Companies often do HUGE Public Damage while doing what they want. 

        Censorship represents among the worst threats of Public damage. 

        We can’t afford to take for granted that there will always be an “Elsewhere” to go to when Private Companies do Public Damage.

  • Roswell 1701

    Let’s put this in perspective: Megaupload is raided, BT Junkie commits suicide due to fear of prosecution, Bittoxic is quietly shut down, torrent-related news is forcibly pulled from various tech sites, Demonoid is destroyed by what amounts to nothing less than a long-planned and well-coordinated multinational attack, the Six Strikes Law is a looming reality, and now this: coursed SUPPRESSION OF INFORMATION related to specific actions and activities of the Internet User. It’s obvious that the tire iron of the Industry is coming down hard on the skulls of the Torrenting Community, but this goes far beyond P2P. This is INTERNET CENSORSHIP, under the guise of Copyright Protection. I fear it is a powerful weapon that will be brandished not just at those who torrent, but those who blog, those who are creative or those who operate businesses that conflict with the goals and interests of the Entertainment Industry and it’s government allies. Expect The Industry to tighten it’s grip on the Net in the months and years to come…

    • Anyone

      “The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers”

  • Ti

    would someone post a firefox add on to stop this? to make this whole thing meaningless? 

    • Anyone

      it doesn’t work this way, sadly

  • guest

    i’ve been wanting a new search engine for awhile now, tried everything
    they don’t return as good search results as them or sometimes complete garbage
    does anyone remember infoseek? the best search engine ever created until disney destroyed it, the fuckers..and at one point altavista was almost as good, i used to laugh at people who used google, now i’m stuck with them

  • WasterOfTime

    Youtube and Facebook are going to plummet in their rankings fast.

  • Ah

    This is good news , 99.9% of google search are privacy related or to be fair the major part , google was popular due to accuracy of its search result i remember the days when yahoo was better and altavista too , now if google search result will not meet users requirement , people will start looking for alternative , other services will be used and more new search engine will appear , google is dying slowly and punishing itself.

  • Croix

    I already have memorized the urls of the sites I use. So no harm to me. This isn’t going to do anything to halt present pirates who already have their sources bookmarked or memorized. 

  • chronoss chiron

    apachefriends.rog ( lamp or xamp )
    then goto sphider.eu
    fuck google

  • Pingback: Torrent News » Google Starts Punishing “Pirate” Sites In Search Results

  • chronoss chiron

    and eventually all the public leechers that cant cope or exist on private sites will get what they deserve …..

    • Anyone

      until your “private” site sells you out

      private sites are bad, they go against the spirit of sharing

      • Andrew me

         Agreed, the problem with private sites is that there are a limited number of users, so to catch any one person is much easier. Though i do use a private tracker i also use many public trackers so that i can share the stuff i get on the private tracker.

      • Daniel

        Many private sites have the most dedicated kind of users that put enormous amounts of work and dedication into the materials they share, to the benefit of the other members. Against the spirit of sharing? It’s where the spirit of sharing is most alive. So sorry if I see your complaint as nothing more but sulking by someone who didn’t get an invite to a site they would’ve liked to join.

  • Motoxxx

    Not many people use a search for Pirate sites, just saying…this means nothing! I have all of my favorites bookmarked and if I here of a good site I type it in for Christ sakes. Only the in experienced ” Google IT”

  • Fuckthefeds

    Google’s full of shit. If this is really going to happen, Youtube and blogspot should be one of the most penalized sites since they’re constantly getting DMCA violations

  • God.Love.Downloading

     Sad day indeed, I need to replace Google, I wonder if Yahoo has improved their engine since the early 2000′s.

    Google has sold shout the past three years, it gets worst but heck, their SHAREHOLDERS probably get richer.

    • Daniel

       Read the article, the same demands have been put towards Bing and Yahoo! — chances are they’ll implement similar measures.

  • Rusty Shackelford

    Funny since Google seems to be the only place I’m able to search for scene releases.

  • foff

    What stupid fucks the industry are.  Good fucking idea make it harder to find the sites we like.  That means even the mafiaa will have a hard time finding them and monitoring them.  Ha ha retards!

  • Guest

    This is actually a good thing! By punishing the pirate sites, Google is making it much harder to find infringers, which means that content should remain up longer.

    • Fantastic

       yep, a sniffer isn’t going to fine a pirate file that doesn’t show up in the front five pages easily.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/BUSYAWMRBZOVHLEA566TYPDBKM D

    Never going to find youtube then

  • JohnGaspardo

    If you control the present, you control the past and therefore control the future and information is power. When the corporations control the information you have access to only then can it morph into true fascism. Most people have no problem having their every movement tracked and watched. They pass a growing number of cameras every day and aren’t bothered by this but if I pointed my camera at you on the street would you not think i’m a “creeper” and  weirdo and tell me to put it away? The most insidious thing about it is it’s not my camera you should be worried about but the ones operated by faceless governments and corporations whose lines are increasingly blurred together. When they got you to hand over the freedoms that you never fully understood and appreciated in the first place is when I fully understood the implications of such an insanity. When they cowed your children into buying this concept of guilty until proven innocent;thats when i knew. The kids growing up today are already being programmed. Why else would you build the worlds greatest police state if not to keep and consolidate your power and at the same time grab for more. After all your not a terrorist or a criminal and it will just be faster and easier to let them search you and molest you at the airports, and coming soon to a theater near you the bus station, train station and even the local walmart. When they have a camera and mic in every room of your house will that be enough? You can only fight their corporate fascism if you refuse their version of reality. This road can only end in crimes against humanity and you know and they know it so what are you waiting for?  

    • LiveFreely

      I agree 100% with everything you are saying.

      We need true freedom.

      But I don’t see how this has anything to do with Google editing their algorithm to count valid DMCA notices against a site/page’s ranking in their search results.

  • Dandruff

    I am glad google is doing this.  Not because I think the this will stop piracy or even that I am against piracy (i think there is a time and place for everything), BUT because this WILL SHUT UP HOLLYWOOD!

    If a CEO goes to google and types in the name of his movie, and he sees results, he will probably be all huffy.  With the changes from google, we can still go directly to sites with search engines, or learn to use the advance search features google allows.

    In the end, i can see this as being a WIN-WIN situation

    • Anyone

      of course this will not shutup the MAFIAA
      they always want MORE MORE MORE as long as someone else foots the bill

      they’d only stop if the internet was un-invented, the internet has destroyed the gates they are the gatekeeper off
      they are obsolete but they will fight until it is too late and dragging many great new technologies down with them

      • Andrew me

        What i think Dandruff meant was that more pirate sites will be hidden in lower ratings, the MPAA is not going to go through 167 000 search results to find a torrent site or a site that has or is capable of distributing torrent links.In fact the more Google does to remove pirate sites from any search the better for the users as the less chance you have of someone seeing there content being shared. For these rich idiots , what is out of sight is out of mind.
        Yes it will make it harder for people to find torrent sites, but there is such a large amount of the population using torrent sites that someone in your family or circle of friends is bound to have a few new sites as they pop up on-line.I know i have people emailing me regularly for new torrent sites to use. and there are other search engines or ways of searching that provide exactly what you want.

  • DMCASensor

    “Google announced today that it will lower the search engine rankings of
    websites that receive a high number of DMCA takedown requests”

    Oh! cool! I have a new job! DMCA notice generator! I am going to write a script for that!

    Itune, RIAA, MPAA, Holywood trailers on utube, album previews Hop. . . in the tube! It’s going to be a lot of fun! Please help me!

    • http://nejtillpirater.wordpress.com/ Nejtillpirater

      A better way of doing it is to lower the rankings for links in requests they’ve complied with, about 97% of all requests according to their FAQ.

      http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/faq/

      • Guessing

        Ya let just fuck up the Google Censorship by filling a bunch a BS DMCA notices against sites who benefit the MAFIA.

        THAT’S A GREAT IDEA DMCA Sensor!

  • Waseihou

    YaCy – http://yacy.net

    In the long term, we should start creating our own search engine – and do it the pirate way. A ship we could board on is named YaCy. It’s a peer to peer based search engine, and nobody has a control over it. All what is needed is that a lot of install it and setup it to periodically index pages we are interested in most. Search results of YaCy  cannot be censored, and it can be setup to crawl your predefined sites, making it your personal google. It is not possible to DMCA it, because the data are distributed among
    all pears, and nobody is responsible for anything. If there is enough
    peers, it will be reasonably fast.

    Install this open source project today, and give it a try! Let it run together with your torrents, learn howto setup it and finally use it for obtaining your torrents. You know where your torrent is, but instead of downloading it index that page with YaCy, find it with YaCy, and then download it. It will be somehow harder in the beginning, but freedom is not something to be given, you must take it.

    Let’s tage it together, let’s try YaCy and make MAFIA red with anger! ;)

  • http://nejtillpirater.wordpress.com/ Nejtillpirater

    Reasonable. Sites with too many DMCA takedowns should really be classified as pirate sites and Google should not present search results to them at all. That’s in theory since in practice it may be hard to define an organization or similar that classifies the sites as pirate sites, there must also be some way to overrule that etc.

    Lowering the search engine rankings is not the perfect way but a rather clever way of doing it without being accused of censoring.

    • LiveFreely

      Well, they will be accused regardless.

      However Google should not keep sites/pages out of their results because an organization claims it should based on a faulty and fairly easily abused system (DMCA notices).

      Innocent until PROVEN guilty in a court of law… not guilty because some organization says so.

      If it is proven in a court of law that a website’s sole purpose is to violate the law, then Google can/should keep that site/page out of their results in the jurisdiction where the guilt was proven.

      Really what Google has done here is a toothless empty gesture that amounts to telling AngryCopyPeople to STFU and go away now kid ya bother me.

      • http://nejtillpirater.wordpress.com/ Nejtillpirater

        Google can do whatever they want since they’re a private company. There´s no law against removing search results or using a ranking that the users dislike. If you don’t like Google, Facebook or whatever – don’t use their services.

        • LiveFreely

          I am all for Google doing pretty much whatever they want with their algorithm, whereas you clearly want an independent organization to use a faulty fraud ridden system (DMCA notices) to actually control what can and cannot be shown in Google’s search results.

          What I am saying is let Google do what they want…

          What you are saying is let Google do only what YOU want.

          Clearly it is you who do not like what Google is doing therefore it is you who should not use their services.

          Kinda looks like you didn’t really read my comment before you responded to it, but hey feel free to argue with yourself because you were actually agreeing with me lmao.

          “Google can do whatever they want since they’re a private company” <— that's what I'm saying, you're saying it too but it seems like you don't really mean it because you want a third party to be able to control their results and remove content from them.

          "If you don't like Google, Facebook or whatever – don't use their services." <— that's what I'm saying, so if you do not like the fact that Google won't remove sites from their results that have too many DMCA notices then you should stop using their services.

        • http://nejtillpirater.wordpress.com/ Nejtillpirater

          @LiveFreely:disqus 

          No I like what Google does in this case but at least in theory they could do a lot more. The sites with a very high number of DMCA takedowns should be treated like pirate sites and Google should remove ALL links to them. Exactly how this should be done can be discussed, if a court order is required, for how long etc. 

        • Anyone

          @nejtillpirater:disqus
          google should remove all sites that send lots of DMCA takedowns
          that would improve search results greatly

    • Guest

       Ei copyright troll, they are already censoring words in autocomplete and now censoring websites that are better than “legal” ones.

    • Guessing

      Save for the fact that usually it is not easy to determine if a DMCA notice is valid or not and we know how corrupted is the industry.

  • Anonymous

    only fair that if so-called pirate sites are lowered in search results, then anyone that abuses the take down rules (DMCA) should equally be punished. that wont happen because, as per usual, the entertainment industries want everything their way, fair doesn’t even come into the frame. if there should be any penalizing, it should be against them, arse holes!

    • LiveFreely

      Actually Google does have rules about manipulating their search results so it is theoretically possible that what you are describing could happen, but not likely.

      If Google determined the owners of SomeMPAAMovieService.com were intentionally attempting to manipulate the search results and suppress their competitors in a malicious manner than Google could and likely would literally ban/remove SomeMPAAMovieService.com from their listings.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_O6U3KKUEBKHH2ILVJOTG366M3U bob

    They arent losing squat. Either way im never going to a theatre. I dont pay that much for anything, not even sex.

    • http://truth-and-opinion.dyndns-blog.com/ The Peripatetic Apostate

      So if you don’t pay much for sex, then what are you paying for sex?

      For most people, their right hand and the cost of an aDSL connection to get Internet porn seems satisfactory.

      LOL

  • faizfakhirin

    google starting a joke.

  • me

    What I say here is unpopular, but it must be said: this comes from relying on a couple of very few crucial websites. Google, 20 or so file lockers etc… are single points of failure. All of them. They are the strategic choking points that the MAFIAA can and does blackmail.

    Only a truly distributed search engine that EVERYBODY operates on his/her PC can resolve this issue. Time to p2p search, and drop Google & Co. Time to p2p DNS too, by the way.

    (I’m not implying that Google is evil at this point, only that Google is within the sphere of influence of the U.S. Copyright Taliban, and it is time to retire that good and trusty horse, before it is being stabbed to death by the MAFIAA).

  • townie2

    i agree with  Trespass, just Bookmark the sites, problem solved.

  • tremor

    Considering the MAFIAA and others submit false DMCA requests, including for content they don’t even hold copyright on, Google really is acting irresponsibly here. Sounds like a case of big money paying off big money. Don’t be evil Google.

  • https://openid.org/lulaladrao LulaLadrao

    too bad google is now only a big corporation, they dont have a cause anymore !

  • Bowser_420

    Who gives them the right to sensor what we search for…I dont remeber asking Google to sensor my searchs, I believe that we dont need another big company telling us what we need. The government tries to do that all ready not to mention countless others. I can understand that crimes against people should be reported ex.( child porn, rape etc) but when your lobbyed to change somthing for the good of the company lobbying you, this isn’t right. Just look at any government. Also if you take a look at assets sized from some of the file sharing companies that have been busted by authorities, none of the money went back to the poor artist. So the authorities got to keep millions maybe billions. Its a money scam, it always boils down to who makes the money off of what they are doing. Follow the money trail…

    • LiveFreely

       ”Who gives them the right to sensor what we search for” <—- But they aren't censoring your searches, you can search for anything you want, and if you don't like the order of the results they show you, you can use a different search engine there are many of them out there, even ones that exclusively show the kind of results a pirate would be looking for.

      "we dont need another big company telling us what we need." <—– But they aren't telling you what you need they are just managing their search engine in the way they see fit.

      "when your lobbied to change something for the good of the company lobbying you, this isn't right." <—– Let companies lobby for what they want, and let people too. Lobbying in and of itself isn't the problem in government, corruption and bribery is. There is a difference between Lobbying and bribery/corrupution.

      "I/We want you to change/make this law to be what we want it to be" there is nothing wrong with you or a group of your peers, or a CEO and a group of their peers, saying that.

      "Take this money, take this vacation, take this whatever, and change/make this law to be what we want it to be" <—- there is something wrong with that.

  • Anonymouse

    Just set up a custom search with your favorite sites on it

  • Anon

    Right, so Google are going to censor YouTube then? Their own company? They get thousands of take down requests. Somehow I doubt it……

    Evil Google. Evil.

  • xpmule

    Screw google another reason to hate them..

    i would love to find another search engine

    • http://truth-and-opinion.dyndns-blog.com/ The Peripatetic Apostate

      Yahoo, which was around well before Google was anyway, is hurting financially and would be glad to take refugees, I imagine.

      I don’t know their policies at the moment.

      Google owns YouTube and is not applying applying its new pirating policy evenly with respect to YouTube.  Damn hypocrites.

      You should stop using ALL Google services anyway.  Gmail is about the easiest of free email boxes to hack, and Google provides no support to users at all for tracking down those who hack into your account.  At least Yahoo has a support service.

  • BoobTube
  • http://danuradio.com/ Trudie

    The algorithm change is the result of extensive lobbying efforts by
    Hollywood and the major music labels, and could severely degrade the
    rankings of websites such as The Pirate Bay, FilesTube, and even
    YouTube.

  • guest

    *looks at bookmarks*
    moving on…

  • http://www.nic.com/ KhornePony

    DMCA works even if you live outside USA.

  • Daniel

    «The other two demands were “prioritize websites that obtain certification as a licensed site under a recognized scheme”»

    Welcome back, Net Neutrality!

  • tmc8080

    Riddle me this… what happens when the pirates begin using other search engines and Google doesn’t make as much money from spewing ads to the right of the screen?
    Default search engines are a dime a dozen.. just because google does, doesn’t mean the 30+ alternatives will tow the line..
    Google doesn’t like losing money.. and these half measures usually peter out, let’s see what happens… tick, tock, tick, tock..

  • meowmix

    i emailed google a while back when i searched on something and it came back with some bullshite about sights being blocked due to dmca complaints. i pointed out that i was in england, what the fuck do i care about a us bullshite law? my searching should be free of censorship until my govt sticks their oar into something they don’t understand. 
    the google cunts never replied .

    they never replied to my complaint about the google timeline missing out on the meow wars, which i was part of.

  • Pingback: Google comienza castigos a sitios “piratas” en los resultados de búsqueda | Diez Curiosidades

  • http://twitter.com/DuckTheNWO NewWorldStoner™

    Well now that Google has turned evil, is there a gap in the search engine market?

    DuckDuckGo anyone?

  • Miami Sunset

    This is a great idea. It’s the way copyright issues should be controlled. It helps placate copyright holders without allowing them to profit. And it helps keep the novices from finding material and drawing attention to it. Of course it’s completely useless for actually doing anything about illegal downloads.

  • Pingback: Google Starts Punishing “Pirate” Sites In Search Results | Nyheter

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