Google is now pledging to respond to takedown notices within 24 hours, part of a stepped-up, four-part enforcement initiative. The improved response and anti-piracy plans come against mounting pressures from the film, music, television, gaming, and related media industries. “We respond expeditiously to requests to remove such content from our services, and have been improving our procedures over time," blogged Google general counsel Kent Walker. “But as the web grows, and the number of requests grows with it, we are working to develop new ways to better address the underlying problem."
The following steps are cornerstones of the plan:
(1) Google will act on 'reliable takedown requests' within 24 hours. That is an average figure, and Google also plans to make the request process easier.
(2) Terms closely associated with piracy will not be included in AutoComplete.
(3) AdSense anti-piracy policies will be improved.
(4) Google will 'experiment' to make 'authorized preview content' more accessible within search results.
This is the right direction for major content owners, but the question is still whether the vast ocean of piracy can be tamed. “There are more than 1 trillion unique URLs on the web and more than 35 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute," Walker relayed. Perhaps 'ocean' is a piddling comparison.
And the reactions so far? “It is in everyone's long term interest that the world's biggest search engine directs music fans towards licensed digital services that pay our artists, entrepreneurs and investors," UK Music chief Feargal Sharkey offered from across the pond. “Today's announcement from Google is an encouraging first step."
More details on the plan here.
The following steps are cornerstones of the plan:
(1) Google will act on 'reliable takedown requests' within 24 hours. That is an average figure, and Google also plans to make the request process easier.
(2) Terms closely associated with piracy will not be included in AutoComplete.
(3) AdSense anti-piracy policies will be improved.
(4) Google will 'experiment' to make 'authorized preview content' more accessible within search results.
This is the right direction for major content owners, but the question is still whether the vast ocean of piracy can be tamed. “There are more than 1 trillion unique URLs on the web and more than 35 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute," Walker relayed. Perhaps 'ocean' is a piddling comparison.
And the reactions so far? “It is in everyone's long term interest that the world's biggest search engine directs music fans towards licensed digital services that pay our artists, entrepreneurs and investors," UK Music chief Feargal Sharkey offered from across the pond. “Today's announcement from Google is an encouraging first step."
More details on the plan here.
