Arrgh, Google the Pirate Opines Forbes Magazine

April 18, 2009

Forbes.com showed its fangs in “Why Google Is the New Pirate Bay” here. The business journalists reported that one can search Google for the name of a movie and the word “torrents” and get a valid hit. The user can then click on the link and download an unauthorized instance of a movie. Forbes.com wrote:

By searching for pirated music or video, Google users can easily scan a range of lesser-known pirate sites to dig up illicit content. Those looking for the upcoming film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, for instance, can search for “wolverine torrent.” The first result is a link to file-sharing site isoHunt, with a torrent tracker file that allows the user to download the full film. In fact, searches for “wolverine torrent” on Google have more than quadrupled since the movie file was first leaked to peer-to-peer networks on April 5, according to Google Trends.

Do the children of Forbes.com journalists use Google to locate copies of motion pictures? Have these progeny been downloading longer than their moms and dads have known it was possible to use a search system—not just the GOOG—to locate this type of content? Is the technology and Google at fault or are those clever progeny to blame? Chicken and egg situation perhaps?

Stephen Arnold, April 18, 2009

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Google, News, Search, Technology

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.