Google helps Australia crack down on piracy by tweaking search results
Google has joined Australia in the fight to stop Aussies from getting their hands on downloading or consuming pirated content.
The search engine giant has voluntarily agreed to remove sites that facilitate copyright infringement from its search results.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Google has reached a voluntary agreement with Australian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and content rights holders to de-index sites that have been blocked by internet providers under recent laws.
This means that content rights holders won’t have to take Google to court to force the company to remove offending sites from search results.
It also means that pirated content on websites will be harder to find if you’re using Google as a search engine.
Back in 2015, the Federal Government passed legislation that paved the way for court-ordered blocking of websites that hosted material in breach of copyright.
By 2018, the Federal Court had ordered 65 piracy sites to be blocked and more than 378 related domains.
Google confirmed to news.com.au that they have joined Australia in the fight against piracy.
“Google supports effective industry-led measures to fight piracy,” a company spokesperson said.
Graham Burke, the chairman of Creative Content Australia and outgoing chief executive of Australian film distribution company Village Roadshow had previously been vocal about Google as he believed it was “complicit” in piracy.
However, due to the backing from the search engine giant, he has changed his tune.
“We’ve gone from being enemies to being allies … because I believe Google is doing the right thing by Australians,” he said.
“Pirates’ business model is robbing and scamming people, they have sophisticated ways to take your information. Google has come down on the side that is right.”