Google's Hand Getting Forced to Go After Pirates?

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) feels that Google isn't following up on its promise to de-rank sites that have multiple copyright violations filed against them. The Pirate update rolled out in August of 2012 and so far the effects have been minimal. We covered this update in detail and although it hasn't been enforced as aggressively as some would like, it's still very much a reality.

Sometimes it's hard to remember the big motivation behind some of Google's updates. The Pirate Update has BIG money and BIG business pushing to make it a reality and this little reminder by the DCMS is only the beginning. Google was privately confronted by former culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, over a year ago that if Google didn't step up to address this growing threat to the entertainment industry and go after well known pirate sites then legislation would be put in place forcing Google's hand.

The music industry is hit very hard every year by illegal downloads and sites that are abusing the system to make a quick buck at their expense. Even 3 months after Google's initial Pirate update rolled out illegal filesharing sites are outranking legitimate sites.

The DCMS said in a statement:

"The Department is aware of the concerns raised by rights holders that this has not had the impact that they hoped, and, together with industry, we now need to review the effect of the technical change made by Google and consider our options."

"This is part of a wider campaign to tackle online infringement, which includes working together with payment facilitators (such as credit card companies) and online advertising bodies to reduce the revenue flowing to seriously infringing 'often criminal' sites."

That all being said, if you haven't seen any effects of the Pirate update and you're a site that has multiple copyright complaints against them - it's only a matter of time. Google has a lot of big names with big money breathing down their necks and if they don't make an aggressive push removing pirating sites from the index, then the government is ready to step in to do it for them. Look to see a big shift in the index in December followed by consistent shifts through the beginning of 2013.