Google Accused of Making Piracy Profitable

Do no evil?

Published on February 13, 2007 By Zoomba In WinCustomize News

Google, friend to all, guardian of the environment and... financier of piracy?

Sounds strange, but that's the latest criticism leveled against search giant Google this week. By allowing two software piracy sites to run Google AdSense ads on their site, a few pirates walked away with over $1.1 million in ad revenue. Many media giants such as News Corp, Disney and Time Warner are screaming bloody murder over Google's apparent support of software piracy sites.

Google's defense is that they do not scrutinize the content of the site or the business model necessarily of their clients, as anyone can sign up for an account.

More details at Ars Technica.

Comments

Erk.

on Feb 13, 2007

I agree with News Corp etc.

Google should be held accountable for not checking the credentials of those using AdSense. It is their program, after all.

If those sites were unable to use AdSense [or any other revenue generator] ...I'd hazard a guess that they wouldn't be around for very long...

Skinhit

on Feb 14, 2007

google is the devil...or at least one of them

SkagGully

on Feb 14, 2007

And who's gonna sue the companies hosting these piracy sites? *rolls eyes*

Frogboy

on Feb 15, 2007

Any site generating significant amounts of revenue should require some oversight.

Jafo

on Feb 15, 2007

By allowing two software piracy sites to run Google AdSense ads on their site, a few pirates walked away with over $1.1 million in ad revenue.

Class action suit from proggy manufacturers.....if you can't kill the sites...sue the arse out of anyone commercially involved.....sponsors/advertisers.....

Google is a juicy target.

It's worth a heap.....only its shareholders will bleed....

Once the smoke settles...somehow Google will be simply bigger.....

NightTrainthedark

on Feb 15, 2007

In todays world, the more litigation you have against your company, the more succesful you are.

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