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RIAA uses Congressional hearing to again call on Google to do more about piracy
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 17 March 2014
It’s no secret that Google is now at the top of the agenda for the anti-piracy brigade, the record companies and movie studios reckoning that the web giant could and should be doing way more to stop the appearance of unlicensed content sources in its search lists.
The record companies have frequently said that once a label has requested one bit of illegally distributed content be removed from Google search results, the search engine should automatically block any future listings if the same bit of content is posted elsewhere on the same piracy platform. Meanwhile in Europe, where the labels have secured web-blocks against piracy sites in some countries, the record industry reckons Google should also step in to stop proxies that circumvent the blockades from appearing high in their searches.
Last week the Recording Industry Association Of America put all this into words as part of a review being undertaken by the US House Of Representatives Intellectual Property Subcommittee of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which sets outs the obligations of online operations like Google when it comes to tackling online piracy. The takedown systems operated by Google et al that allow copyright owners to have infringing content or links removed stem from the DMCA.
The RIAA’s chief Cary Sherman told the committee: “[Google should] ensure that when links to content are taken down, the same content on the same site is not continuously re-indexed when repopulated by the pirate site, rendering the takedown process useless”.
He went on: “Regardless of what Google takes down today, its search engine will spider the same pirate sites tomorrow and index anew all the illegal content on the pirate sites. All those links to infringing music files that were automatically repopulated by each pirate site after today’s takedown will be re-indexed and appear in search results tomorrow. Everyday we have to send new notices to take down the very same links to illegal content we took down the day before. It’s like ‘Groundhog Day’ for takedowns”.
Google continues to insist that it stepping up its anti-piracy systems – either voluntarily or as a result of new laws – is not the best way to deal with online infringement, the web giant advocating the expansion of legit online content services, and going after the revenue sources of piracy operations (ie ad networks and online payment processors).
Giving her company’s side of the argument to the same congressional committee, Google’s Katherine Oyama said last week: “The best way to battle piracy is with better, more convenient, legitimate alternatives to piracy, as services ranging from Netflix to Spotify to iTunes have demonstrated. The right combination of price, convenience, and inventory will do far more to reduce piracy than enforcement can”.
