NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Attack of the Google DMCA Search Ranking Hysteria!
Attack of the Google DMCA Search Ranking Hysteria!
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000977.html
On Friday morning, Google blogged that they were beginning to
incorporate a new signal in their search ranking algorithm, that took
into account the numbers of valid copyright removal (e.g. DMCA)
notices received for sites ( http://j.mp/O96VAx [Google Inside Search] ).
This signal reportedly could impact search results rankings by
lowering the rankings of such sites (notably, not "vanishing" the
sites from search results).
Immediately, the Net lit up with anguished and angry diatribes
claiming that Google had "caved in" to the RIAA and MPAA -- both of
whom were apparently at least grudgingly pleased by the announcement.
Bloggers wondered if competitors could use false DMCA notices to push
down their competitors' rankings, or if the RIAA and MPAA themselves
would attempt to leverage this system to blow away material that
wasn't even actually infringing.
Then people started speculating about whether this meant that popular
sites -- possibly including Google's YouTube itself -- would be
impacted by this "piracy demotion" factor.
Unless you seriously believe that the Google Search Quality folks are
idiots -- and trust me, they're not! -- it should be obvious that the
overwhelming majority of this panicked reaction has been hysterical
and unrealistic.
The original statement from Google was clear (and later info made this
even more definitive) that valid copyright takedowns were but one
signal among the hundreds used by the ranking algorithm. All manner
of other factors, including overall site reputations, come into play
in these decisions.
So in reality, the only sites likely to be affected by this new signal
are ones where most of their content attracts DMCA takedowns -- that
is, sites pretty much devoted to such materials. And let's be honest
with ourselves, most of us know those sites when we see them --
they're generally pretty explicit about what they're doing!
Even for those sites, the change can only possibly lower their
rankings. That means that if instead of searching for:
movie-title
someone instead searched for:
movie-title torrent
the results would likely be pretty much exactly what you'd expect.
Some observers have bemoaned that this change by Google supposedly
doesn't benefit Google users.
Yet it is difficult to realistically argue that it does not serve
users for legal and legitimate content links to have at least some
degree of priority over "illicit" ones, not only on an ethical basis,
but also given the various sometimes serious hassles that can afflict
users who frequent sites that specialize in the latter.
Is there any potential for abuse or "gaming" of this new signal in
unfair ways? There are probably issues that will be discovered as
this change rolls out, but I would expect Google to deal with them
promptly. It's in everyone's interest for them to do so, including
their own.
And my gut feeling is that we'll all discover that the impact of this
change on sites that aren't focused on explicitly illicit content will
ultimately be negligible, and that the hue and cry over this issue has
been very much the result of misunderstandings, false assumptions, and
perhaps more than a little grandstanding in some quarters.
We shall see.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
- Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: http://vortex.com/t-lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
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