Google Switches Up Its Search Engine To Shun Sites Suspected Of Peddling Pirated Content
Google is making some tweaks in how its search engine runs in order to crack down on any sites that could possibly be promoting or hosting pirated entertainment content. As for why, well, there are a few prevailing thoughts. Perhaps it's because the entertainment industry wouldn't get off Google's back for letting users find free movies and music on the Internet or maybe Google just wants to impress the cool kids of Hollywood so it doesn't get sued.
On its company site Google said the search algorithm will be changed up and that it's not trying to play Internet cop, it just wants to help you out:
"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," wrote Amit Singhal, Google's senior vice president of engineering. "Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results. This ranking change should help users find legitimate, quality sources of content more easily — whether it's a song previewed on NPR's music website, a TV show on Hulu or new music streamed from Spotify."
The Los Angeles Times says there are plenty of people in the tech world who are definitely on board with the theory that Google is trying to appease, mollify and otherwise reassure those in the entertainment industry that it is trying to combat online piracy before anyone gets the chance to sue it.
http://consumerist.com/2012/08/google-switches-up-its-search-engine-to-shun-sites-suspected-of-piracy.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
