Filed under: Audio, Internet, Google
The BPI -- Britain's equivalent of the American RIAA -- has sent a cease-and-desist order to Google, demanding that it removes links to one-click hosting sites with copyrighted MP3s from its search results.The DMCA notice (which you can read in full at Chilling Effects) cites 38 copyrighted works that are all easily found using simple Google searches. The cease-and-desist even lists the search phrases that return copyrighted results: usher omg (feat. will i.am download, glee cast i dreamed a dream free download, lady gaga alejandro megaupload -- and so on. The BPI asks Google to remove links to UserShare, MegaUpload, MediaFire, 4shared and others.
Whether Google will remove the links or not remains to be seen. Historically, it does usually remove links to copyrighted content when asked by the copyright owners -- but rather infamously, Google still indexes BitTorrent sites like isoHunt and The Pirate Bay. It's a grey area, that's for sure. Lee tackled it way back in 2009 and there's still been little or no progress made.
As The Guardian suggests, no one really knows whether Google falls under the same umbrella as Napster or Limewire. Does the Google search engine facilitate copyright infringement? The fabric of the Internet is held together by the idea that ISPs and search engines can't be held liable for the data they enable access to -- it's the very basis of free speech -- but I'm sure it's a subject that will continue to be contested in law courts for a long time to come.
BPI sends Google cease-and-desist order: 'Hey, stop indexing MP3s!' originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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