Topic: Google Removes The Pirate Bay Home Page From Search Results

[Samker]

File-sharing site The Pirate Bay is once again in the crosshairs of copyright owners. Google has removed the site's home page from its search results in response to a complaint it received under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

A search for "The Pirate Bay" Fridays turned up a message at the bottom of the first search-results page that said: "In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 7 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at: http://www.chillingeffects.org/notice.cgi?sID=14635

The complaint was filed by Destined Enterprises, which in the past has helped the adult-entertainment industry battle online piracy, according to other filings at ChillingEffects.org.

The removal was noted by former Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde who wrote in a Twitter message, "Ok, someone from Google can please reply: why is "thepiratebay.org" (the frontpage) removed from your index?"

Google doesn't have any further comment on the removal other than what's available at ChillingEffects.org, according to a spokesman.

However, Google hasn't completely removed the file-sharing site from its search results. It still returns a link to a page that lists a number of content types, including movies, TV shows and music. There is also a link to the Pirate Bay blog.

The battle between The Pirate Bay and copyright owners is currently being fought in court in a number of countries, including Sweden, Denmark, Italy and Norway.

The operators of The Pirate Bay are scheduled to be back in court on Nov. 13 for a hearing in the Svea Court of Appeals in Sweden. In April they were found guilty of of being accessories to crimes against copyright law.

(PCW)