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Google To Block Piracy-Related Terms From Autocomplete
An anonymous reader writes "Google is making changes in the way it presents web search results to try to exclude links that may be tied to pirated content. In a move enthusiastically praised by the RIAA, Google says it will not include terms closely associated with piracy from appearing via autocomplete. The company acknowledged that it can be hard to know what terms are being used to find infringing content, but 'we'll do our best to prevent Autocomplete from displaying the terms most frequently used for that purpose.'"
Of course, but they are just pulling it from auto-complete, not search. Now surprise considering that typing "Despicable Me" would magically have torrent behind it. This is just moving the hookers from the street to the alley.
Google search is basically a shopping catalog now. Here is where you go when you want INFORMATION:
lets see what will win. pagerank (tm) or freedom of information and knowledge.
Ooh, ooh, I can answer this one. Pagerank(tm). Easily.
Google's famous for proclaiming that their policy is to not be evil.
They're associating strongly here with the RIAA and MPAA, organizations which are widely considered to be evil, and making decisions based on their input.
I'm not going to say flat-out that Google's being evil, and breaking their ethics policy, but if you lie down with pigs then you may well come up covered in mud...
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
All they need to do is block all major movies and records and artists from autocomplete.
In fact, they should remove them from search results altogether--why, that would send the MAFIAA into paroxysms of joy, right?
expandfairuse.org
Actually - I'd love it if Google Took this approach.
Google: Okay. We've done as you've asked, we removed references to piracy in autocomplete, now wheres our money?
RIAA: What the hell? I just entered "Iron Ma" in there and the 3rd thing on the list is "Iron Man 2 Torrent".
Google: Yeah but notice if you enter "Jolly R" - there's no mention of Jolly Roger anymore.
RIAA: That's not exactly what we were looking for...
Google: -And if you enter "Blackbea" - no mention of blackbeard anymore...
RIAA: Okay okay. We get it.
Google: And this! "Rubber chicken with a"
*RIAA storms the room*
It won't even affect it - It's only autocomplete, not the search itself.
Basically all this means is that the freeloaders (I prefer not to use the term pirate) will need to type 'torrent' manually instead of having it pop up magically. Big deal... given the lengths some of them go to already an extra eight keystrokes (including the space) isn't going to dissuade them one bit.
Google can't magically stop people using the terms outright as it would affect a lot of other searches as well. For instance, someone searching for a water torrent stock photo... Google isn't doing anything to affect that.
AltaVista didn't even have autocomplete, IIRC, and they've not said anything about it changing search results at all.
I just tried "keelhauling", "scurvy", and "buggery" and all were auto-completed just fine.
sic transit gloria mundi
shopping shopping shopping!
no kidding.
I search for specs or schematics or howto's and I get "BUY ME!" crap links.
I search for datasheets on chips and I get junk china sites claiming to be able to get any part I want. (fake ones from china, sure...)
its really hard to get real content from a google search now. and we've been slowly conditioned (cooking the frog) to accept that the search results are dumbed down more and more over the years.
google's day in the sun is over. they do have name recognition but no one really belives, now, that their search is any better than any other.
the auto-complete, bouncing text and blinking things only drive the nails in the coffin down harder.
when you need a pre-processor to a search site, you know they lost their mojo.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
I like the way you think, but I see it a little differently.
Google: Okay, we've done as you asked and removed piracy-related terms from autocompletion.
RIAA + MPAA: Excellent!
RIAA + MPAA: What the ...? I typed "iron ma" and the only thing that came up was "iron magnets"? Where's "Iron Man" or "Iron Maiden"?
Google: Oh, those terms often came up in searches performed by pirates, so as you requested we removed them from autocompletion. In fact, we went even further and removed them from the search results entirely! Aren't you happy?
RIAA + MPAA: *fuming*
Filter out keywords. Do your search with: -buy -purchase -price -shop
It would be really nice if shopping sites could all be on .com and useful informational stuff could all be on non .com domains, but that's as likely to happen as unicorns flying out of my butt.