Comments for Google Deletes Pirate Bay's Homepage From Search Results

Google Deletes Pirate Bay's Homepage From Search Results

2009-10-02T16:23:43Z

Thanks to a DMCA complaint filed with Google, the company's search index now doesn't feature the Pirate Bay's homepage anymore and the Pirate Bay's PageRank has been dropped to zero. Now, when users search for 'Pirate Bay,' a link to the DMCA complaint and a notice that explains that a number of search results were removed from the page appears at the bottom of the page. Interestingly, though, the Pirate Bay hasn't fully disappeared from the search results and a link to piratebay.org/browse still appears on the first page.

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Update: According to Google, "the removal appears to be an internal error and not part of a DMCA request."

According to Chilling Effects, a clearinghouse for DMCA takedown notices, the complaint was apparently sent by an adult entertainment company, Gwen Media's Destined Enterprises, which has filed similar complaints with Google before. According to TorrentFreak, the complaint was sent by RemoveYourContent, a company that specializes in sending out DMCA complaints for the adult entertainment industry.

For the time being, the effect of this takedown notice is that PirateBay.com, a scam site that really shouldn't appear in Google's index, now sits at the top of the search results.

It's important to note, though, that this is far from the first time that Google has deleted search results after receiving takedown notices. To the best of our knowledge, however, this is the first time a well-known site like the Pirate Bay has been affected by this.

Comment from Admin on 2009-10-05

2009-10-05T17:22:28Z

Govcom.org fully documented the apparent removal of 911truth.org from Google results for the query "9/11" September-October 2007.

http://issuedramaturg.issuecrawler.net/issuedramaturg_story/911truth.org.html

Comment from Neil Grroom on 2009-10-03

2009-10-03T23:22:42Z

Yes it's back in google.... an accident..

Comment from Michael Heraghty on 2009-10-03

2009-10-03T20:11:08Z

Google is now saying that the URL was accidentally removed from the Google search index, and it has now been re-inserted. Breaking news on CNET: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10366570-93.html

Comment from Georgia619 on 2009-10-02

2009-10-03T02:38:56Z

Was first for me and the site still seems to be working ok too :)
Download music, movies, games, software! The Pirate Bay - The ...
Download music, movies, games, software and much more. The Pirate Bay is the world's largest bittorrent tracker.
thepiratebay.org/ - Cached - Similar -
Browse Torrents
Movies
Top 100
Music
TV shows
Recent Torrents
How do I download
Video
More results from thepiratebay.org »

Comment from Rob on 2009-10-02

2009-10-03T01:23:46Z

Pirate Bay returns as the first result on Google for me.

Comment from fjpoblam on 2009-10-02

2009-10-02T23:47:21Z

I think I'm with Internet Strategist on this one, as in, "The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen." If we're to trust GOOG search results, then they shouldn't be censorable. (Higher showing in presentation order shouldn't be purchasable, either: off topic.)

Comment from KA on 2009-10-02

2009-10-02T23:46:06Z

Well its sooner or later, isn't it?

Comment from anon on 2009-10-02

2009-10-02T22:22:52Z

That said, the Pirate Bay website appears to be down for me (Time Out Error). Is this an organised take down?

Comment from anon on 2009-10-02

2009-10-02T22:16:56Z

Piratebay.org is still the #1 result on the Google search you linked to for me.

It also still lists the extra breakdown links to Browse Torrents, TV Shows, Movies, Music, etc

http://cli.gs/JMu80t - screengrab

Comment from Dave on 2009-10-02

2009-10-02T18:47:55Z

It's google's responsibility to verify all submitals FYI

Comment from Josh Miller on 2009-10-02

2009-10-02T18:09:25Z

Is Pirates Bay still legitimate? er... Illegitimate?

I thought after all of the troubles they had recently they ended up being bought by some company to turn into "not a torrent/piracy site".

Comment from Nick on 2009-10-02

2009-10-02T17:55:33Z

I think the way it works with dmca is: if you own the content you can send take down notices. ISP needs to comply if it wants to keep the legal protections against lawsuits. But if you make a mistake and take down CNN.com, then they can sue whoever sent the takedown notice for all the damages and some more and it may turn ugly :)

Comment from KURENG | Hafiz.Z on 2009-10-02

2009-10-02T17:38:50Z

my google search still showing pirate bay results http://imgur.com/WVpiY

Comment from Bob Hazard on 2009-10-02

2009-10-02T17:34:56Z

It is still indexing the torrents though.

A search for 'piratebay linux iso' leads directly to the pages within the pirate bay

Comment from KG on 2009-10-02

2009-10-02T17:19:45Z

Sadly, even Google must follow the law. Before people trot out the usual trope that Google has long betrayed "Don't be evil," keep in mind that Google isn't some extragovernmental entity..

Comment from Internet Strategist on 2009-10-02

2009-10-02T16:40:03Z

While I am certainly no fan of scam sites this is a very slippery slope. Who decides what sites are valid and which simply disappear? What if your ecommerce site or business was to vanish from the index? Google is currently providing 60-80% of the traffic to most sites. Few businesses would survive a 60-80% drop in business. Could yours?