The Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) is one of the strongest critics of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) when it comes to the issue of fighting online piracy. The organization repeatedly stated that the search engine giant is facilitating a staggering amount of copyright infringement.
The MPAA took another aim at Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) with a new study indicating the 82 percent of the search queries that lead to infringing film and content URLs come from the search engine giant. The result of the study is no longer surprising for many given its dominance in the search market.
United States Senator Chris Dodd, who also serves as chairman of MPAA together with Representatives Howard Coble, Adam Schiff, Marsha Blackburn, and Judy Chu, released the findings of the study.
Search engines have responsibility, Senator Dodd says
In a statement, Senator Dodd said, “This study reaffirms the significant responsibility that search engines share with all of us in the Internet ecosystem to help prevent the theft of movies and TV shows online.” He also pointed out that search engines as internet gatekeepers share a responsibility in assuming a “constructive role of not directing audiences to illegitimate content.”
On the other hand, Rep. Schiff said search engines need to do more in pointing consumers to legal sites. According to him, “By supporting legitimate sites rather than illegal ones, everyone wins – content creators, the U.S. economy, and consumers themselves.”
Lawmakers wants Google and others to fight piracy
The statements of the lawmakers clearly show that they want Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and other search engines to boost their efforts in the fight against piracy. The overall influence of search engines among consumers in accessing infringing film and television content from 2010 to 2012 was 20 percent.
The study revealed that 74 percent of consumers discovered infringing contents for the first time through search engines, and they are likely to repeat visiting the site using the same navigation path. In addition, the study also found that majority of search queries that led to infringing contents do not contain keywords specifying intent to view illegal content. Fifty-eight (58 percent) of users used title-specific keywords only in their queries.
Google has already been removing infringing links
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is doing its part in fighting online piracy. The search engine giant had been removing links to pages that infringe copyrights, and in 2011 alone, the company removed links to more than 51 million pages. Google is releasing a Transparency Report regarding requests to remove links to infringing contents.
However, the MPAA emphasized, “The share of referral traffic from Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) to infringing sites included in the Google Transparency Report remained flat in the three months following Google’s implementation of the change last August.”
