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Google Censors "Piracy Terms" From Instant Search

Posted by samzenpus on from the problem-solved dept.

Chaonici writes "A few weeks ago, Google promised that, on behalf of the entertainment industries, they would begin filtering 'piracy related' terms from their search system. Now, TorrentFreak reports that Google has lived up to their promise, and certain keywords (such as 'bittorrent' and 'rapidshare') will no longer produce results with the Autocomplete or Instant Search features. The standard search feature, however, continues to display results as normal. Simon Morris of BitTorrent Inc., RapidShare, and Jamie King (the founder of Vodo) are critical of the change, pointing out the many legitimate uses of popular file-sharing technology."

4 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Applies only to incomplete words by PARENA · · Score: 4, Informative

    The summary is misleading. This only refers to incomplete words. If you type "bitt" or "rapidsh" you won't get the (desired?) results, but if you type "bittorrent" or "rapidshare" you will get the results you expect.

    Apart from that, it's quite childish. Also "pirate" gives me results leading to The Pirate Bay, for example.

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  2. Awesome! by just_another_sean · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's great, so now I just have to start my search with "torrent" or "arrrr" and I won't have to suffer through Google's rediculous "instant" crap? Sign me up!

    In all seriousness; if you like Google just blacklist it for JavaScript, no more instant results. Or search from the address bar. Or, best option IMHO, use https://ixquick.com./ *

    * google it for more details!

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  3. probably prudent by Trepidity · · Score: 3, Informative

    As others have noted, they're not filtering any results. They're just not suggesting piracy-related terms in the autocomplete, along with some other filtered terms like sex-related terms. Probably a prudent decision, because while returning search results for a query the user entered is fairly safe legally, prompting the user with something illegal that they didn't actively look for might be more questionable. Not sure if they could actually be liable, but it at least is less solid.

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  4. Baby/bathwater by mwvdlee · · Score: 3, Informative

    Besides "bittorrent", "rapidshare" and a couple of other, the following words are now also unable to auto-complete:

    http://www.morewords.com/starts-with/bitt/
    http://www.morewords.com/starts-with/rapid/
    http://www.morewords.com/starts-with/torr/

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