An RIAA bigwig just laid a blog post smackdown on Google, claiming the search giant doesn’t do enough to remove links to copyrighted material. Apparently, processing more than one million requests for removal per month isn’t enough.
Last week, Google started highlighting copyright issues in its Transparency Report, which contains statistics on just how many takedown requests it receives from copyright owners. It’s also a chance for Google to brag a little; it process nearly 50,000 URLs for content belonging to the RIAA, which is nothing compared to the 200,000 URLs processed for NBCUniversal and the nearly 500,000 submitted on behalf of or by Microsoft.
But apparently Google’s efforts fall far short of what the RIAA would expect. It wants Google to take down EVEN MORE links. According to RIAA EVP Brad Buckles:
Clearly the current process is not working. Google is routinely directing people to unlawful sources of content, which is clearly at odds with data that suggests most people rely on search engines to identify trusted websites at the top of search results. If Google truly doesn’t want its search results directing people to materials that violate copyright laws, more should be done to address this problem.
More specifically, Buckles accuses Google of throttling organisations that submit huge numbers of takedown requests, and he claims that Google doesn’t do enough to block domains that repeatedly violate copyright. As Search Engine Land points out, the former claim is horse hockey. As for the latter, it’s clear that no matter what Google does, the RIAA won’t ever be satisfied until Google starts wholesale censoring its search results. Google’s obviously working hard to protect the property of rights holders. Maybe it’s time the RIAA express a little gratitude in return instead of whining like babies. [RIAA via Search Engine Land]