Google Will Gladly Help Fight Piracy... for a Fee
The entertainment industry wants Google to do more in fighting piracy.
A recent report provided by CNET draws an interesting picture of Google and its position in regards to piracy. By law, Google must remove links from its search engine if they are found to be traced back to pirated material. Typically copyright owners are responsible for supplying these links, however they now want Google to take on a larger stance against piracy than merely erasing links.
According to the report, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) asked Google to help make tracking down pirated material more efficient. Google manager James Pond responded to their request in a letter dated September 20, stating that the company would gladly help out--for a fee.
Based on a service called Site Search, the organizations would be charged $5 per thousand queries, with an estimated cost of several million dollars a year. The service was the result of a new, three-option plan for third-parties to access Google's API. The first option was designed for ads to be placed alongside search results, the second designed for developers, and the third being the paid Site Search product now offered to the music industry.
According to Pond, the fee is to recover Google's cost in providing the service. An additional Google representative confirmed the authenticity of the letter and re-instated that the company complies with copyright laws by honoring valid legal removal requests. With that said, Google isn't charging to remove links, but rather it's charging to search for links.
The music business isn't the only entertainment segment wanting Google to help thwart pirates. Google ads are reportedly showing up on websites playing host to pirated movies and TV shows. Independent filmmaker Ellen Seidler--who lost money on her film because it was distributed illegally online--said that Google fences stolen goods.
"These [pirate] sites...want to drive traffic to their site and they do it by pirating films," she said. "They are paid for the ads on their site by Google and others. What we need to do is force Google to be more vigilant in preventing filmmakers from getting ripped off."
Who's responsible for policing the Internet? Is it the copyright owner's responsibility? If a bill recently introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and senior Republican member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is passed, the Department of Justice could pull the plug of a suspected site's domain.
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Google vs Pirates
Round 1
FIGHT!
Excuse me Miss, but I think that these [pirate] sites offer movies because they wouldn't be much of a pirate site without material on them, rather than to draw traffic to them?
Also this effort by Google would really only stop the average-joe pirate who torrents on occasion. It would not stop dedicated users who have multiple private sites from which they get their torrents. No one needs Google to find something on a private site, unless it's something uncommon that you have to look everywhere for.
what happens if they dont use google??
The RIAA really needs to stop complaining to other companies about piracy, It's their issue! Google isn't doing anything wrong. They are following the law, they are even losing money paying people to look over the removal of links. The RIAA really needs to admit that their business model is completely ineffective, and that piracy is a direct result from that, but oh no, they can't do that, they are too self centered to realize that they are losing money because of their own stupidity.
Google shoudnt remove links. They are not responsable for the content of the webpages, they just provide a search service and its quality is compromised by removing results.
That said, its clear what I think of searching links. They should charge thousands per link because every time they remove one, they are affecting their own business
Google manager James Bond
group of no good evil thieves vs the the white knight of the internet. who will win? the ever elusive, dynamic, and adaptive pirates, or the team of intelligent, creative, software programmers with numerous resources.
who knows? it could start with filtering sites, they could find a way to stop them once and for all if they put their mind to it.
Dam time to order Netflix again, better quality anyways : )
Or better yet, lower the prices on games, software, CDs and movies and I will, without hesitation, ask "my friend" to stop torrenting everything. $60 for a game? $30 for a movie? Come on... we're broke out here, lower the prices and people will start buying again and then voila the cycle is broken.
Lol gay. These people act as though movies are the only thing we pirate.
Who told censorship is free?
Like Google can stop a million people from visiting Piratebay everyday...........
Double the price Google. The RIAA and IFPI will do anything to get what they want.
**** this crap, the last two games i bought without "trying" first were garbage. As a matter of fact, just about any game i didn't "demo" for myself from one of these sites ended up being garbage, rushed and or crammed with unfinished/ untested glitches. I'm done buying them legitimately before trying them. Don't get me wrong, i don't like piracy - i don't like to have to do such a thing to feel like my purchase would be worth it. But thats the only real way to get a feel for a games completion, satisfaction and worthiness of my time to warrant 60 bucks (which is another problem i have - now instead of feeling ripped off for spending 50 bucks on a broken game, its now 60).
My bad for using foul language, i meant to go back and write but i forgot to; i simply have strong feelings about this stuff. If devs would stop pulling development before a product is finished, they might have some really great, polished material people would actually want to buy, or even pre-order without feeling justified in pirating first.
Do we need to call up 4chan again?
The RIAA really needs to stop complaining to other companies about piracy, It's their issue! Google isn't doing anything wrong. They are following the law, they are even losing money paying people to look over the removal of links. The RIAA really needs to admit that their business model is completely ineffective, and that piracy is a direct result from that, but oh no, they can't do that, they are too self centered to realize that they are losing money because of their own stupidity.
I would hope someone at the RIAA would listen to comments like this, see how so many people agree with a comment like this, and realize that there is at least SOME truth to it and then find a way to do something about it.
Instead, the RIAA keeps doing what they've always been doing and wasting $$ by just throwing it at what they think is the magic solution. Stop trying to regulate millions of people and change what you can actually change........
Damn skippy better charge them hoes! RIAA sounds desperate.
[citation]Independent filmmaker Ellen Seidler--who lost money on her film because it was distributed illegally online--said that Google fences stolen goods.[/citation]
Who is this person??
Maybe the lady that directed this movie isn't making any money because the movie isn't any good? You think?
Google manager James Bond
I'm happy I'm not the only person that noticed that.
XD
may i say that for the first time i saw an improvement in our country about games being sold on local stores here that gives me a sigh of relief, no need to pirate games because the price is very affordable, i like to mention that nbalive 11 is selling for 1,300 pesos, unlike before its more than 2,000 pesos, there is a growing interest for ligit copy. i hope the trend will continue on new releases base on price.
So they want Google to help them turning Google into a useless search engine!
How can anyone claim they lost money on a film due to piracy. Studies have shown that people who pirate typically wouldn't have purchased in the first place. These studies also show that by sampling the pirated versions, a percentage of them fall in love with the content and end up purchasing that work and/or other works by the artist/group/director/producer/etc.
Just in case nobody checked it out. The, "Independent filmmaker Ellen Seidler--who lost money" may have lost said money been because the film sucked, not necessarily because it was "distributed illegally online."
"And Then Came Lola" (2009) IMDb score of 3.8 of 10.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1123894/
Just in case nobody checked it out. The, "Independent filmmaker Ellen Seidler--who lost money" may have lost said money been because the film sucked, not necessarily because it was "distributed illegally online.""And Then Came Lola" (2009) IMDb score of 3.8 of 10.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1123894/
yep, checked it right away,,
also check the comments section for this movie...
All that piracy stuff is a very stupid excuse of untalented idiots who want to make lots of cash. I will pay more for content that I find worth paying for, such as proper HD remasters of some movies or shows I really really like.
"Ellen Seidler--who lost money on her film because it was distributed illegally online
--said that Google fences stolen goods."
Lost money?? I mean her movie "And Then Came Lola" has only like 46 seeders and 14 leechers on pirate bay. If she is complaining about that, then for it to be a big deal maybe a total of 80 people saw that movie.
So if Google helps shut done these pirate sites, how will Google ever make money on the Text Adds they place on these sites? Killing your customer seems bad for business.
Google Will Gladly Help Fight Piracy... for a Fee... but who gonna fight google???
"but who gonna fight google???"
Anon
"The Department of Justice could pull the plug of a suspected site's domain." I hope this means "suspected" in the sense of, with strong supporting evidence and a court order, as opposed to Patriot Act violation of the Bill of Rights B.S. I'm really getting sick of how many new laws are about subverting our rights through law enforcement control of telecommunications.
But really, I don't see how this should reflect negatively on Google. They provide a service (advertising) to make money. Other companies say, "Hey you're losing money for us!" Google says, "Okay, we'll help, but you cover the cost of helping you." That sounds like Google's once again, the champion of doing good things. I sure am gonna be sad when they complete their world takeover and I'll have to hate them.