Google Appeases Hollywood But Rankles Internet Freedom Watchers
Google’s nod to Hollywood with its decision to demote in its search results sites accused of copyright infringement raises questions about fairness and the ability of suspected violators to challenge the move.
The Motion Picture Association of America has praised the Internet search leader’s announcement on Friday, while some advocates of Internet freedom have panned it or had a lukewarm response.
Every so often, Google changes its search algorithms and when it does everyone wonders how search results will change.
The company says that starting next week, sites with high numbers of removal notices for infringing copyright may appear lower in search results.
“This ranking change should help users find legitimate, quality sources of content more easily — whether it’s a song previewed on NPRs music website, a TV show on Hulu or new music streamed from Spotify,” Engineering SVP Amit Singhal wrote in a Google blog post.
Happy Hollywood
The Motion Picture Association of America said in a statement (PDF) it is pleased. It is optimistic the change will steer people away from “outlaw enterprises that steal the hard work of creators across the globe,” wrote Michael OLeary, a SVP with the MPAA. “We will be watching this development closely the devil is always in the details and look forward to Google taking further steps to ensure that its services favor legitimate businesses and creators, not thieves.”
The Recording Industry Association of America spoke out in favor, as well.
“This should result in improved rankings for the licensed music services that pay artists and deliver fans the music they love. This change is an important step in the right direction — a step weve been urging Google to take for a long time — and we commend the company for its action, said RIAA Chairman and CEO Cary Sherman in a statement.
It’s an interesting move by Google, which has long been criticized by Hollywood for its hands-off approach to copyright infringement.
For instance, earlier this year at the D10 developer conference Hollywood mogul and talent agent and Ari Emanuel complained that Google could easily filter out pirated content. “I don’t want them to censor results, but they have a bunch of smart guys there that can figure this stuff out & Look, Google can filter and does filter for child pornography. They do that already. So stealing is a bad thing, and child pornography is a bad thing,” he said.
Google Partnerships
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