In celebration of it’s fifteenth birthday, Google’s search engine function has received criticism from British Members of Parliament. The House of Commons’ culture media and sports committee has accused the Goliath of industry of not pulling its weight in the battle against piracy. Tory MP John Wittingdale, who chairs the committee, has publicly condemned the company, by expressing displeasure in Google’s supposed lackadaisical effort in directing its users away from websites which promote copyright infringement. This is by no means the first time Google has received rebuke in this matter, both public and private organisations alike seem to enjoy taking shots at what can be considered a big target. While I agree, Google can probably do more to reduce the traffic and attention piracy websites receive, I don’t see how it is fair to burden them with the task of doing so. Google’s search functionality is, as the name would suggest, just a search functionality; it is there to help the users find what they are looking for. Yes, I assume their search algorithm is programmed to promote certain searches over others, but I would suspect that it is done more on the statistical basis of what the user is probably looking for, rather than what they should be looking for. To use a simple analogy: it wouldn’t exactly be fair to blame a magnifying glass for finding a loose thread on your newly tailored suit. Still, Google has voluntarily taken on the task of filtering some searches, and instead of being grateful, they have received nothing for criticism for doing a service to the global community. I’m not saying they don’t have any responsibility, they definitely do, but the actions expected of them should be proportionate to how their search algorithm works and what percentage of new traffic they garner for the websites promoting piracy.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/sep/26/google-mps-music-film-piracy
