The changes were quietly processed and appear to be broader than previous additions. Google's blacklist prevents the names of sites appearing in their Instant and Autocomplete search services, while the pages themselves remain indexed.
Google users searching for terms like "torrent", "BitTorrent" and "RapidShare" will notice that no suggestions and search results appear before they type the full word. As a consequence, there's sharp decrease in Google searches for these terms. Initially only a handful of "piracy-related" terms were censored, but a recent update to the blacklist includes nearly all the top file-sharing websites. […]
There is currently no clear definition of what Google considers to be piracy-inducing, but Google claims that the blacklist helps to reduce online piracy. "While there is no silver bullet for infringement online, this measure is one of several that we have implemented to curb copyright infringement online," Google spokesman Mistique Cano previously told TorrentFreak. […]
"It's a lot more subtle than the censorship attempts made possible by the pending PROTECT IP and SOPA bills, but it's still censorship and it starts small. Google is increasingly becoming a self-righteous Big Brother of the Web. So much for `Do no evil'," Fung told us.
A Pirate Bay insider also told TorrentFreak that Google doesn't live up up to its famous motto. ""It's just another step towards censoring their search engine altogether — without a legal basis. We're also wondering why this happens at almost the same time as they've released Google Music — a service where they sell music which in some cases might be found on The Pirate Bay," he added.
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