While search engines are extremely helpful for the average Internet user, copyright holders also see a massive downside.
The fact that infringing sites show up in search results has become a source of frustration and Google has been asked to “do more” on several occasions.
In recent years the search engine has stepped up its anti-piracy game significantly. Among other things, Google actively demotes known pirate sites in its search results.
Some copyright holders suggested that removing these domains entirely would be a better option but Google repeatedly refused to do so. According to the company, this would prove counterproductive and lead to overbroad censorship.
Google Removes Pirate Bay Domain
With these earlier comments in mind, it’s surprising to see that Google has removed all search results for Pirate Bay’s main domain name for users with a Dutch IP address.
Searching specifically for thepiratebay.org URLs with the ‘site:’ command returns zero results. “Your search – site:thepiratebay.org – did not match any documents,” Google notes.
In addition to the main Pirate Bay domain, the ‘Dutch’ results of more than 100 proxy and mirror sites were removed as well. This includes tpb.wtf, lepiratebay.org, openpirate.cc, and officialpiratebay.com.
The Dutch results stand in stark contrast to those elsewhere in the world, where the same query returns tens of thousands of URLs. Apparently, Google is treating Dutch searches differently.
BREIN Sent Blocking Order to Google
The reason for this broad removal is provided by Google itself. The search giant notes that the results were removed in response to a legal request. This ‘request‘ came from local anti-piracy group BREIN and includes a copy of a Dutch site-blocking order.
The order, issued in October last year, required Dutch ISPs Ziggo, KPN, and XS4ALL to block access to Pirate Bay mirrors and proxy sites. Google isn’t listed as a party in this lawsuit, but a copy was sent to the search engine nonetheless.
BREIN’s request, at least the part that’s available publicly, doesn’t explain why it would apply to Google. However, BREIN informs us that it’s not uncommon for Internet services to comply with orders that don’t target them directly.
Unique but Voluntary Removal
A few weeks ago, Dutch ISPs agreed to a covenant where they promise to comply with site-blocking orders that are targeted at other ISPs. While Google is not part of this agreement, in this case it chose to follow the court order.
“In essence, this is the same situation as recently agreed in the Dutch government-supported covenant between right holders and internet access providers,” BREIN director Tim Kuik informs TorrentFreak.
“Dutch case law also shows that once there is a contested court order against one access provider, courts do grant the same order against others if they refuse to conform to it even though they are not named in it.”
According to BREIN, Google is not the first party to follow such a court order without being targeted directly. The anti-piracy group further says that future updates to the blocklist will be circulated to all parties, Google included.
As far as we know, this is the first time that Google has complied with a pirate site blocking order without being named. We reached out to Google asking for a comment, but the company didn’t immediately respond.
Meanwhile, BREIN will continue its blocking efforts. The anti-piracy outfit has submitted the legal paperwork to block six additional pirate sites, including their proxies and mirrors. When the court requires ISPs to block these sites, Google may choose to follow suit again.
