Google's NEWS!

Well today, at long last, Google has seen fit to revise its approach to online piracy (copyright infringement).  What prompted Google to make this move can only be guessed at, but it stands to reason that it was a confluence of factors that led to today’s announcement.

Of course, I found it more than a little ironic that my initial comment to their post was deleted (I merely made the point that the action was long overdue and I said it in very polite terms).  Ironic given Google’s frequent and disingenuous reliance on hiding behind the concept of “free speech” at every twist and turn during this debate thus far.

However, in honor of Google’s new way of looking at the world I thought I’d share my latest collection of screen captures highlighting samples from around the world showing Google ads prominently featured aside infringing streams and download links to our film. (Remember ours is just a little indie film-multiply this by tens of thousands and you will get a sense of just how much AdSense factors into piracy and its profits).

Also, in light of today’s announcement, Google may want to examine it’s own “Terms of Service” for AdSense that is, as of today,  listed at the top of search results for that query.  Their posted terms make no explicit mention of copyright except with regard to Google’s own copyrights (section 15).   There’s a reference to “illegal content” (section 5) but no clear specifics as to what that means.  I’ve posted the entire “TOS” on another page here.