Google is no stranger to piracy. According to Mashable, Google deals with millions of copyright complains per year. This is when a company contacts Google to get pirated content removed from the massive search engine. In 2012 alone, Google received 57 million such requests, with an average turaround of six hours per request. For this monumental task, Google has hundreds of dedicated employees.
In a rather uncommon move, Google chose to make their new anti-piracy report viewable by the public. In it, Google says that the easiest way to combat piracy is to provide legal alternatives. Google also removes their ads from blacklisted websites, limiting the site’s ability to make money and often forcing them to close. Google apparently did this to 46,000 sites in 2012, according to the report.
The report responds to public criticism, most notably from the White House, who in a report said search engines are not doing enough to enforce copyright.
While the report shows Google’s commitment, at least on paper, to combating piracy, others aren’t convinced it will be much help.
“Given Google’s track record, I’ve yet to see them actually be proactive with regard to ‘fighting’ piracy,” said Eleanor Seidler, an independent filmmaker. “Over the past few years they’ve had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the table when it comes to discussions as to how they as a company enable, encourage and profit from online piracy. It seems some progress has been made but there’s much more that could be done.”
