Google's anti-piracy initiatives

The Guardian reports that Google is acting on the proposal it made back in May to hit pirate sites where it hurts – their wallets – by depriving them of ad revenue.

Websites offering pirated content will be blocked from offering adverts from Google and other big web advertisers, in a US scheme intended to strangle illicit revenues.

The initiative will mean copyright holders from the music, film and other creative industries will be able to alert the big ad networks if their ads are appearing on sites offering links to pirated content or counterfeit goods … 
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Image: Voxindie.org

Google has responded to calls from entertainment companies to block torrent sites from search results by arguing that it would make more sense to starve them of ad revenue.

TorrentFreak (via BGR) reported on a debate in which Google’s UK Policy Manager, Theo Bertram, said that attempting to block pirate sites from search results is ineffective, because the same content immediately reappears on a new site.

“Blocking websites, I don’t think is as effective as going after them as a business,” he said, using the now-defunct Megaupload as an example.

“The supply that was going to Megaupload had simply shifted to a whole new range of middle-ranking pirate sites. My worry is if we’re going after them one at a time with blocking, you start getting into the whac-a-mole thing.” … 
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