News - Do Google and Yahoo advertising networks support piracy sites?

[HEXUS]

These internet search and advertising giants profit from piracy sites says new report.

Read more.

[makavien478]

to be honest the question should be do we actually care ?

[YenRug]

Not quite the same thing, but when I do Google searches for blu-rays of films, I often get shown that the cheapest site is a very questionable one; the "language" used suggests that everything is on PC burned blu-ray discs, it's mainly obvious on things like TV boxsets where they state "8 discs (4BD)", implying that it's originally an 8 disc set squeezed onto 4 blu-ray discs. The problem is, Google don't give you a way of contacting them directly to give feedback.

[d3m0n1q_733rz]

Does it really matter? I mean, they're paying the sites for legitimate business. Those sites host the ads and people visit those ads from those sites. Should we be upset if Google and Yahoo ads are posted on porn sites or something similar? It's like blaming Coca-Cola if a terrorist decided to drink one when they're thirsty. Coca-Cola quenched a terrorist's thirst; I can't believe they support terrorism!

[Jingee]

You could argue that the torrent sites are only advertising torrents on their sites, also.

[Saracen]

You could argue that the torrent sites are only advertising torrents on their sites, also.

That was argued in the last big court take-down. The judge dismissed it entirely because it was the level of piracy was far from incidental to the site, and the point of the torrents was to facilitate the piracy. In other words, the intent mattered far more than the mechanics, because they don't affect the result. I can dig out the actual judgement if you'd like the detailed legal argument rather than my no doubt inaccurate representation of it.

[d3m0n1q_733rz]

That was argued in the last big court take-down. The judge dismissed it entirely because it was the level of piracy was far from incidental to the site, and the point of the torrents was to facilitate the piracy. In other words, the intent mattered far more than the mechanics, because they don't affect the result. I can dig out the actual judgement if you'd like the detailed legal argument rather than my no doubt inaccurate representation of it.

So it can be said that, since the intention of Google and Yahoo is to create a search engine which gives all people what it is that they're looking for, they are not legally supporting piracy. They're only offering the link to the website which others are looking for.

[mikerr]

So it can be said that, since the intention of Google and Yahoo is to create a search engine which gives all people what it is that they're looking for, they are not legally supporting piracy. They're only offering the link to the website which others are looking for.

Not exactly (but nice try) - its the fact that the piracy links are a tiny tiny percentage of google results, and not google's main focus.
Contrast your average torrent site which is 100% piracy focused.