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Film Industry's Latest Search Engine Draws Traffic With 'Pirate' Keywords' (torrentfreak.com)

Posted by msmash on from the different-approach dept.

A new search engine launched by the Dutch film industry is targeting 'pirates' specifically, reports TorrentFreak. Every movie or TV-show page lists legal viewing options but also includes pirate keywords and descriptions, presumably to draw search traffic. "Don't Wrestle With Nasty Torrents. Ignore the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story torrent," the site advises. From a report: Like other "legal" search engines, the site returns a number of options where people can watch the movies or TV-shows they search for. However, those who scroll down long enough will notice that each page has a targeted message for pirates as well. The descriptions come in a few variations but all mention prominent keywords such as "torrents" and reference "illegal downloading" and unauthorized streaming.

7 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. Assume your customers are criminals. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Then treat them that way. What an absolutely wonderful way to build their loyalty!

    1. Re: Assume your customers are criminals. by negRo_slim · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Considering this industry, along with most other IP based industries, have long since become parasitical leeches on society and wilp never generate loyalty or respect among any rational thinking individual until we hit a hard reset on the whole affair. Fuck em. Not saying pirate, I'm saying ignore altogether.

      --
      On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
  2. My favorite piracy-related films by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Curse of the Black Pearl

    Dead Man's Chest

    At World's End

    On Stranger Tides

    Dead Men Tell No Tales

  3. SEO by grumpy_old_grandpa · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So run of the mill Search Engine Optimization, in other words.

  4. What if there are no legal streams? by SeaFox · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So are they going to have search pages for films where a legal streaming option is actually not available?

    One nice thing about classic brick-and-mortar rental stores was it was easier to get older titles (and they were cheap-cheap to rent). The back catalog on online streaming seems to not reach so far back. Rather ironic in a form of media that is so much better suited to chasing "the long tail" due to the low cost of disk storage for a streaming title.

    The problem continues to be Hollywood wanting a licensing fee just for making the title available, where if they were willing to take a purely per-view fee, they would see more revenue. VOD services like Amazon could leave the title up for a $0.99 rental fee forever then.

  5. How to use google 101 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Instructions (if you insist in using google):
    1) Open https://www.google.com/advanced_search
    2) Find all the words: "torrent" or "free"
    3) None of these words: "pay" "credit card" "illegal"

    problem solved :)

  6. Where's the legal content? by BlueTemplar · · Score: 4, Informative

    Specifically legal DRM-free files. I'll be all over them. My GoG library can attest to that.
    *crickets*