The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) today issued a statement accusing search engines of playing a major role in film piracy. They argue that their most recent research shows almost three quarters of users first encountering illegal online content do so through a search engine, with 58% of them not even searching directly for pirated material.
“Search engines bear responsibility for introducing people to infringing content - even people who aren’t actively looking for it," said MPAA President, Senator Chris Dodd. "The television and movie community is working every day to develop new and innovative ways to watch content online, and as the Internet’s gatekeepers, search engines share a responsibility to play a constructive role in not directing audiences to illegitimate content.”
The MPAA targeted Google, which carried 82% of the queries, for the largest share of the blame. Last year Google adjusted its search algorithm to penalise pages which had extensive take-down requests, but the numbers suggest that this has made no difference to its use in piracy.
