How Google Fights Piracy

An in depth report has been released by Google outlining its different strategies at fighting online piracy. The report goes one step further and gives copyright holders a variety of tips for combating piracy but also discusses the difference between censorship and removing infringed content.

Listed below are the main highlights from the report. You can download the full report here.

Create More and Better Legitimate Alternatives.
The first principle points out the obvious. If consumers have direct access to content through services such as Netflix, iTunes and Rdio, the more likely they are to pay for the product than pirate it.

“By developing licensed products with beautiful user experiences, we help drive revenue for creative industries.”

Follow the Money.
Within the last year, Google has taken major steps in removing sites that host illegal content from their advertising and payment services.

“Rogue sites that specialize in online piracy are commercial ventures, which ins the most effective way to combat them is to cut off their money supply.”

Be Efficient, Effective, and Scalable.
One of the most popular and effective options for copyright holders is to utilize the DMCA takedown system. Each week, Google is faced with processing millions of DMCA takedown notices.

“Beginning in 2010, Google has made substantial investments in streamlining the copyright removal process for search results. As a result these improved procedures allow us to process copyright removal requests for search results at the rate of four million requests per week with an average turnaround time of less than six hours.”

Guard Against Abuse.
At times, false DMCA takedown notices have been submitted from copyright holders which in turn creates a chaotic atmosphere. This can be viewed as an act of censorship and/or a copyright holder submitting the request for competitive reasons.

“Google is committed to ensuring that, even as we battle piracy online, we detect and reject bogus infringement allegations, such as removals for political or competitive reasons.”

Provide Transparency.
The final principal of Google’s anti-piracy report focuses on the issue of transparency. Google, unlike its competitors, publishes full reports of submitted DMCA notices.

“We disclose the number of requests we receive from copyright owners and governments to remove from our services. We hope these steps toward greater transparency will inform ongoing discussions about content regulation online.”

Google’s anti-piracy report serves as a reminder for both copyright holders and policy makers that digital piracy is an ongoing issue and will continue to be a problem as technology advances.

For those interested in learning how DMCA Force can assist you in the battle of online piracy, we encourage you to contact us today with any questions you may have. We also support the notion of total transparency and here you can view our Google Transparency Report.