Google will try to make a modification to the search algorithm it uses so that it can influence the ranking of piracy websites worldwide.
GoogleTown tried something like this back in 2012, but the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and others claimed there was no visible effect on the degradation of pirated websites. That's why the company promises that the latest algorithm changes, due out later this week, will bring results.
Katherine Oyama, a rights consultant for the company, says that since August 2012, they had announced that they would demote websites for which they had received reports of copyright infringement, and now they have managed to update the algorithm to affect the largest piracy websites.
The announcement of the new algorithm came with a report by Google, titled “How Google Fights Piracy,” to show that it is taking part in the fight against piracy. In fact, YouTube, now owned by Google, paid $1 billion into a project that allows copyright holders to monitor how their material is used on YouTube.
In numbers, last year the company received 224 million reports of illegal downloads, with each report taking about 6 hours to review and often landing on the wrong page or the material they found not actually violating the rules. In the end, they were able to take action on 222 million of those reports, with RapidGator, 4Shared, and Dilandau leading the pack as the sites with the most reports of hosting links to copyrighted material.
Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI, which represents all UK music production companies, made most of these reports last year. He says that when users search for music and films, they should be directed to official sites and services such as Spotify, Deezer and iTunes, which benefit artists, record labels and all those trying to build a “great music economy.”
