Google has announced an update to their search algorithms which punishes content pirates by lowering their search rankings. It seems that they have found an alternative solution to content piracy, which seems fitting considering their stance against the SOPA and PIPA legislation.
Google’s Amit Singhal explained how they had enough data from copyright owners to lower search rankings for offending sites. Google is now “receiving and processing more copyright removal notices every day than we did in all of 2009—more than 4.3 million URLs in the last 30 days alone.” Singhal noted in the post. The ranking changes would help direct users towards legitimate, quality sources, rather then possible pirate sites.
Google notes that while this new system will influence the search rankings, they won’t be removing pages from the search unless they receive valid copyright removal notices from the rights owner. They will also be providing “counter-notice” tools for users who believed their content has been wrongly removed can get them back online.
Source: Inside Search
