[tivert]

> I've yet to see Google not return a piratebay link at any point in history. Is it a loophole where they take it down, but their indexer then immediately puts it back in the next pass, lol?

No. If you pay attention there can be a message at the bottom of the search results telling you how many results were removed due to takedown requests. IIRC, they used to even link directly to the request, but now I think you have to jump through hoops to see it.

The "loophole" is that a takedown request has to be for a specific URL, so it requires a lot of constant effort to even try to get them all. Pirate Bay always had dupes and a million mirrors.

[malux85]

I'm not being nit-picky or contentious - I'm asking from a genuine point of curiousity ...

but in the case of Google linking to the pirate bay, isn't the pirate bay the one linking to the pirated content? Google is 1 step removed in that node graph because they are just linking to the pirate bay.

I guess if they directly linked to a pirate bay page that had a magent link on it .... maybe (?)

[whstl]

Google seems to refuse removing because, according to them, "Whole-site removal is ineffective and can easily result in censorship of lawful material."

Instead of removing, they just remove links by request.

Sources: https://torrentfreak.com/google-opposes-whole-site-removal-o... and https://www.scribd.com/document/286275022/TorrentFreak-Googl...

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However they did ban Pirate Bay in the Netherlands after a Dutch court ordered them.

https://www.makeuseof.com/why-google-removed-pirate-bay-from...

[paul_grisham]

Isn't this the same loophole that MegaUpload used? Only removing a link to a file, not the file itself with the claim that other links belonged to potentially lawful owners of the file.

[whstl]

I mean, if the subpoena says "remove a link" you comply with that.

But there's also another fundamental difference: even if there's the expectation of removing all copies of the same exact file, it is "trivial" for MegaUpload to know, by using hashes. They do have access to all files, as it is in their servers.

For Google to delete all pirate links to movie X it would be much more complicated, and would put them on a position of being forced to be the internet police.

[chii]

> They do have access to all files, as it is in their servers.

not if they have the encrypted content only, and the decode key is only in the hash portion of a url, which never goes to a server.

But i guess crafting a technocal "solution" to a legal problem doesn't work, since the law works off intentions, and how much money you pay lawyers...

[whstl]

That's Mega, the one that still exists. MegaUpload the previous one didn't really have the same encryption.

[judge2020]

A court is unlikely to care about the distinction between actually linking to pirated content, and linking to a page with both instructions and a link to the pirated content. To add, enough TPB torrents contain screenshots.

Also, Google's takedown request handling in Google Search is not a matter of DMCA or a legal matter at all - instead, it's like Content ID, where they have their own system for evaluating takedown requests separate from any law. Rights-holders can still send Google legal requests, but it's easier to go through the expedited processes Google provides that also won't increase rights-holders' liability if they happen to submit a false takedown.