TorrentFreak is reporting that Google may soon be required by a court order to remove the words “Torrent”, “MegaUpload” and “RapidShare” from its Instant and Autocomplete Search results.
Google Instant works by throwing you straight into results before you’ve finished typing your query in an attempt to speed up search, while Autocomplete offers you words that you might be typing based on what other people are searching for.
The French Supreme Court has ruled that by directing people to torrent sites in easily in Instant and Autocomplete results, it’s indirectly aiding and abetting piracy.
The court said that while Google isn’t directly responsible for piracy, it should do its best to make it difficult for users.
TorrentFreak reports that the ruling is in connection with a case that has been going in the French Supreme Court between Google and music industry body SNEP, for the last two years.
Google certainly isn’t directing anyone to pirate websites on purpose, it’s merely a search algorithm doing what a search algorithm does: point people in the direction of content that everyone else is searching for. By removing these words from a search, it’s not going to stop piracy, but it might cut down on new people getting into it. Or will it? [TorrentFreak]