Google censors themselves for RIAA/MPAA

[Jagos]

Link (http://torrentfreak.com/google-starts-censoring-bittorrent-rapidshare-and-more-110126/)

It’s taken a while, but Google has finally caved in to pressure from the entertainment industries including the MPAA and RIAA. The search engine now actively censors terms including BitTorrent, torrent, utorrent, RapidShare and Megaupload from its instant and autocomplete services. The reactions from affected companies and services are not mild, with BitTorrent Inc., RapidShare and Vodo all speaking out against this act of commercial censorship.

So, I'm switching from using Google as a main search engine in a variety of ways. First, I don't use Chrome since they track. Second, I'm using google to go to a few new search engines where they don't track info. Third, I'm using proxy sites just in case. Yes, I happen to be paranoid sometimes.

Browser - SRWare Iron - No tracking
Ixquick - With the scare tactics they have on the first page, it worked and convinced me that they're pretty cool to look at.
Proxy sites. Eh, they're free. Just so long as they don't advertise, I'm good.

[ChaoticBrain]

Really, this makes no sense. If you don't know what torrents are, you're not going to choose it from the AutoComplete list. If you do know what they are, hiding them isn't going to stop you searching for them.

Anyway, I switched my toolbar search engine to Ask.com.

[Doc ock rokc]

...Do they even know how torrents work?
Do they know that several Corporations use torrents to distribute their work? Like BLIZZARD (they use it in their down loader) Heck I think most online games are distributed this way even Steam could be considered a torrent device.
I understand that they want to fight pirates but really trying to censor sites that might use torrents to spread their work is just going to make it where they shoot themselves in the foot.
Also Legally they can't use your Specific information unless you have a account on their site so they can't get on you for searching torrent.

[Hanuman]

...Do they even know how torrents work?
Do they know that several Corporations use torrents to distribute their work? Like BLIZZARD (they use it in their down loader) Heck I think most online games are distributed this way even Steam could be considered a torrent device.
I understand that they want to fight pirates but really trying to censor sites that might use torrents to spread their work is just going to make it where they shoot themselves in the foot.
Also Legally they can't use your Specific information unless you have a account on their site so they can't get on you for searching torrent.
Considering the current advertisements of Mac vs. PC I think the way the powers that be manage the public has radically changed.

If they can convince people that macs aren't pc's they can sure as hell convince people that steam isn't torrent.

[bluestarultor]

...Do they even know how torrents work?
Do they know that several Corporations use torrents to distribute their work? Like BLIZZARD (they use it in their down loader) Heck I think most online games are distributed this way even Steam could be considered a torrent device.
I understand that they want to fight pirates but really trying to censor sites that might use torrents to spread their work is just going to make it where they shoot themselves in the foot.
Also Legally they can't use your Specific information unless you have a account on their site so they can't get on you for searching torrent.

Key word: legally. We all know they're scraping for ways to bypass that. RIAA is already flooding government records-people with massive batch requests to check if people are pirating music with no evidence or explanation. Remember the proposed policy change brought up a few months ago?


That said, I'm split on the issue. There's no laws concerning this stuff right now, or at the very least the whole topic is a mess of convoluted gray area. Google is looking out for its own interests, but on the other hand, they're the big guys and should be pushing back. Now, as was observed, this really isn't hurting much, since most everyone knows about torrents anyway and those who don't aren't going to be using them. But it is a symbolic loss, essentially forsaking an entire class of valid, useful software because of paranoia and fear-mongering on the part of the industry. Google basically just broke down under pressure and said "yup, dem torrentz is wrong (now get off my back)" and opened the door to a ton of unnecessary follow-up that'll see similar treatment being forced on other search engines.

Like, really, nobody's stopping pirates. Ever. We haven't been able to since "don't copy that floppy." Now it's easier than ever.

[Torque]

want torrents? thepiratebay.org Problem solved. Google is teh dumb

[phil_]

Torque, dude, we all pretend we don't know those things here. Hush up.

[BitVyper]

How does it censor them? 'Cause I'm just trying some searches here, and it seems to work just fine?

Edit: Ooooh, it doesn't autocomplete them. Well.... that's awfully silly.

[Krylo]

It also doesn't do the instant search thing, where it starts searching while you're typing.

It is very silly, though. It's not like pirates are too lazy to type out words.

[Torque]

Torque, dude, we all pretend we don't know those things here. Hush up.

I have no clue what torrents are. I'm just saying if you were the kind of person who might be looking for whatever those are you might look to that website. I dunno. It has something to do with water maybe? Torrents and Pirates? Seems the logical conclusion to me.

[Pip Boy]

So all google did is make it so that nobody is going to accidentally see the word "torrents" when trying to search for tornadoes?

That's got to be the most effective anti-piracy I've ever seen.

[Loyal]

I wonder if it could have been deliberate, then?

[Azisien]

That's like ten times more effective than a small thermonuclear device detonating inside your PC whenever THE MAN detects you pirating something.

[bluestarultor]

That's like ten times more effective than a small thermonuclear device detonating inside your PC whenever THE MAN detects you pirating something.

Why bother with thermonuclear when you could just thermite it? Materials are cheap and piss-easy to obtain, wouldn't need to take up much space, and could destroy the computer just as easily if you had units on every CPU and HDD, motherboard and other components optional.


Or if you're going lengths to punish them with, y'know, death and destruction of all their property, enough thermite can easily burn down a house and, given it burns at some thousands of degrees, enough to dissociate water into hydrogen and oxygen, you could just as easily have a lot of water "cooling" in the PC for a nice explosion to shower the pirate in molten iron.


Honestly, THE MAN didn't get where he is by wasting perfectly good nuclear material on the unwashed masses.

[Pip Boy]

He also didn't get there by setting his own computer up to explode accidentally every time he tries to download porn while he's supposed to be investigating bank fraud.

[bluestarultor]

He also didn't get there by setting his own computer up to explode accidentally every time he tries to download porn while he's supposed to be investigating bank fraud.

Well, is it free porn or pirated porn? It also doesn't count if he's paying for it. Obviously THE MAN himself isn't going to be doing such grunt work, so if one of his employees is pirating porn, said employee is expendable and the organization will run much more smoothly without the weak link.

[Azisien]

I suppose you have a point, but the thermite reaction is so well known, it's like, old. Making such small thermonuclear bombs, on the other hand, would be a marvel of engineering that continues to push the envelope.

[krogothwolf]

Obviously you would use the thermonuclear(must stop typing in nuklear for nuclear, damn you Brian Clevinger!)device to destroy any neighbours who might be thinking of pirating, the babies who may pirate in the future, and render the land unstable for future privateers.

[synkr0nized]

So they'll take on the country of China but are afraid of a couple organizations at home, eh?

[KeienSlayer]

This is how I assume this happened.

The Man: Hey, Google, censor yourself and we'll like you more.
Google: Naw, we're good.

The Man: Alright, we've got money. How about you censor yourself now?
Google: Dude, we already have all the money.

The Man: Fine, I'll give you the deed to the Earth. Will you censor yourself now?
Google: Sure, why not.

[bluestarultor]

So they'll take on the country of China but are afraid of a couple organizations at home, eh?

Pretty much why I'm so disappointed. Google has enough money and power that it could buy a respectable plot of land and become a country. They're already a world power. Backing down on something as piddly as this means they're really not concerned with the larger issue at stake. That honestly worries me, because as a big player in the same general industry, people look to them for an example on these issues. What they did was small, but the repercussions could be huge.

[Jagos]

Pretty much why I'm so disappointed. Google has enough money and power that it could buy a respectable plot of land and become a country. They're already a world power. Backing down on something as piddly as this means they're really not concerned with the larger issue at stake. That honestly worries me, because as a big player in the same general industry, people look to them for an example on these issues. What they did was small, but the repercussions could be huge.

The writing has been on a wall for a while though...

Google TV has come out and it's competition to it. So they want more people to see Google TV while they court the ones holding onto the copyrights of shows.

[krogothwolf]

Google should buy an Island, name it Google Island, hire Google Mercenaries, get gWMD then take over the world. Then Google Earth would be home to a peaceful group of humans who have a gchip in their brains controlling their actions.

[ChaoticBrain]

Google should buy an Island, name it Google Island, hire Google Mercenaries, get gWMD then take over the world. Then Google Earth would be home to a peaceful group of humans who have a gchip in their brains controlling their actions.

Except all they'd accomplish in terrorizing the world with nukes is pissing off the first-world nations and getting several nukes back in the face. No more Google.