Murdoch accuses Google of enabling piracy

[SpaceMarine93]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-16583218

(Sorry if the title seemed a bit misleading to your personal discretion)

Rupert Murdoch Sopa attack rebuffed by Google

Mr Murdoch said he found links to illegally download Mission Impossible on Google

Google has hit back at Rupert Murdoch after he branded the search giant a "piracy leader".

The News Corporation chairman tweeted that Google "streams movies free" and "sells [adverts] around them".

In response, Google said that it fought pirates and counterfeiters "every day".

Mr Murdoch was tweeting in response to the White House's apparent opposition to some aspects of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa).

If passed, the act would give content owners and the US government the power to request court orders to shut down websites associated with piracy.

A statement from the White House appeared to side with critics of both Sopa and Protect IP Act (Pipa) - a similar bill due to be put before the Senate.

In response to an anti-Sopa petition, the White House said online piracy needed a "serious legislative response" but that it must not "inhibit innovation".

It added: "We will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet."

The stance is likely to anger many companies who have publicly supported Sopa.

Among them is News Corporation. Mr Murdoch's Twitter comments accused the Obama administration of bowing to "Silicon Valley paymasters".

"Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells [adverts] around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying," the 80-year-old wrote.

He was referring to Google's indexing of sites offering illegal downloading of movies and other copyrighted content.

'Nonsense'

To back up his complaint, he later added: "Just been to google search for mission impossible. Wow, several sites offering free links. I rest my case."

Google told technology website Cnet that Mr Murdoch's comments were "nonsense".

A spokeswoman told the BBC: "Google respects copyright - and we've worked hard to help rights holders deal with piracy.

"Last year we took down five million infringing web pages from our search results and invested more than $60 million (£40m) in the fight against bad ads."

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Rory Cellan-Jones

Technology correspondent

"Google is seen by web libertarians as being on the side of the angels. If it joins the web blackout threatened by some firms this week, they will love it even more."

Read more from Rory

Google, an opponent of Sopa, said it believed there are better methods of protecting against copyright infringement.

The company suggested "targeted legislation that would require ad networks and payment processors - like ours - to cut off sites dedicated to piracy or counterfeiting".

Backers of the bill say it will make it easier for content creators to protect their copyrighted material in the face of online piracy.

However, critics say it will hinder freedom of speech and innovation on the internet.

Some opponents to Sopa are set to partake in an internet "blackout" on 18 January.

Recommendation site Reddit is said to be on-board with the protest, while Wikipedia said it may also join the action which would see sites shut down for 12 hours.

Further debate on Sopa is expected this month, however it is unlikely a vote will be passed before the US presidential elections which take place in November.

What's the point really? Even if SOPA or PIPA are defeated, the Republicans would just wait until the conditions become favorable, like when a Republican gets into the White House and maintaining a sizable majority in Congress, (quite likely, considering Obama), with or without putting their judges in the Supreme Court, then they would pass it again under a different name , and it would be years before anyone would be able to remotely challenge the law. And by then no one would had bother.

So anyway, which websites had so far had decided to join the blackout to protest against SOPA and PIPA? Would it be effective? Which websites must join in to make it effective, besides Wikipedia and Google that is?

[Zixinus]

I cannot help but be amused at Mordoch's logic. If he would bother to investigate his claim, he would discover that Google isn't a pirate ringleader, but a distributor of malware.

As for the effort behind this: I think a good deal of it rests on the fact that people like Murdoch think in a paradigm that does not make sense when it comes to computers. What they want is that computers become a special-purpose tool that only allows certain (legitemate) software and content to run. What a computer is, is a device that can process any information (software and content) that is turning-complete.

Many people, including very powerful people, have grown up in the paradigm of special-purpose computers and will insist on the internet being that. SOPA or PIPA is not new, I recall a similar statement a couple years ago when a politician got around "the internet is a series of tubes".

So, I don't think that they will ever stop these regulations, especially as these regulations have potential to be abused in their favor. Or at least until they are lobbied by industries like Murdoch or Sony, that would like to maximize their profits by (or at least they think they do) by destroying piracy.

[Simon_Jester]

The converse is that there are large corporate sectors that don't want the regulations in place. DMCA was sustainable and tenable because it didn't actually prevent the average person from doing normal things; SOPA/PIPA will not be, not if they get used to shut down Google or Facebook. If Murdoch really can shut down Google (at least briefly) to get his IP enforced, all he'll do is make so many Americans angry at him and the law that it will quickly be repealed or amended so he can't do that any more.

CEOs and politicoes in their 50s, 60s, and 70s won't stop SOPA/PIPA, but they can count votes and they're not stupid, just out of touch.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I'm a bit skeptical. He said he found sites with free links to Mission Impossible, but did they actually work or were they just paysite scams like every other free video link on google?

[Dalton]

(Sorry if the title seemed a bit misleading to your personal discretion)

Maybe you should think before you post. I'm changing the title to something less fucking stupid.

[Zixinus]

I'm a bit skeptical. He said he found sites with free links to Mission Impossible, but did they actually work or were they just paysite scams like every other free video link on google?

Hence my comment about malware.

The point is however is that this shows just how out of touch is he with the very technology he is talking policy for.

Is he throwing in with SOPA? I am betting his company is, not sure.q

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

I'm a bit skeptical. He said he found sites with free links to Mission Impossible, but did they actually work or were they just paysite scams like every other free video link on google?

Nah, it's not hard to find free TV/movies through Google. Malware-infested sites, usually, but the links are often legit.

[The Yosemite Bear]

ths is the same murdock that has been involved in hacking scandels....

talk about dissassocitive projectionism....

[SpaceMarine93]

The problem is that Murdoch is going to throw the combined might of his media empire, which is BIG, to influence the public and politicians to support SOPA and PIPA. Unless every major player on the Internet (Google, Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) unite to oppose it, and the majority of the public actually care enough to do something about it, I think we are in deep trouble.

[Anguirus]

1. Lose your credibility by failing to keep a lid on the incredibly illegal and immoral behavior of your reporters
2. Take on Google.
3. ???
4. Damned if I know. He already had the profit.

[The Yosemite Bear]

it's not just his tabloid reporters, it's also that his marketing company is under investigation in New Jersey for corperate espionage and illegal hacking.

[Simon_Jester]

Wikipedia is already on it.

[Dalton]

The problem is that Murdoch is going to throw the combined might of his media empire, which is BIG, to influence the public and politicians to support SOPA and PIPA. Unless every major player on the Internet (Google, Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) unite to oppose it, and the majority of the public actually care enough to do something about it, I think we are in deep trouble.

Really? Do you have any proof Murdoch will do that? Or is this more of your hyperventilating alarmism? Aside from the fact that SOPA is essentially dead, even the White House withdrew support for it; for Congress to even think of attempting to force it through with so much opposition from multiple fronts smacks of tyranny.

[thejester]

Really? Do you have any proof Murdoch will do that?

News coughed up $5.2 mil in lobbying last year and it's a well documented how the upper echelons of News management will shift the editorial slant of their particular organ to align with what they think Murdoch's views are, usually without anything nearly as blatant a signpost as this. Course as you say Murdoch's influence in the US is considerably less than in Britain or Australia and he probably can't carry SOPA singlehandedly.

[Dalton]

Really? Do you have any proof Murdoch will do that?

News coughed up $5.2 mil in lobbying last year and it's a well documented how the upper echelons of News management will shift the editorial slant of their particular organ to align with what they think Murdoch's views are, usually without anything nearly as blatant a signpost as this. Course as you say Murdoch's influence in the US is considerably less than in Britain or Australia and he probably can't carry SOPA singlehandedly.

Hey, those are great figures. Too bad it doesn't prove that Murdoch is going to sic News Corp on lobbying hard for SOPA.

n.b. The goal here is to get SpaceMarineNumbers to back up his fucking arguments.

[thejester]

I'm sure he can't prove it in the sense there's not going to be a memo saying 'fucking dealing with SOPA' with Murdoch's signature on it - but it's nowhere near as unreasonable a statement as you seem to think it is.

[Dalton]

I'm not calling it unreasonable. I'm asking people to either back up their shit or don't claim it in the first place.

[NoXion]

I'm not calling it unreasonable. I'm asking people to either back up their shit or don't claim it in the first place.

I'm curious; I didn't think there were rules against reasonable speculation. Would different wording have been sufficient to avoid your ire?

[madd0ct0r]

well, SM93 might be able to show articles in Murdoch owned papers supporting SOPA, but it's going to be hard to prove 'he's going to'.

Probably going to might have been better

[Zixinus]

Isn't there a list somewhere, showing which companies support SOPA? Just correlate the list with one of the companies that he owns.

[Flagg]

Oh Murdoch is totally for SOPA. He's said so publicly. On the internet. Which is hilarious. But that's not the point of this exercise. The point is for Spacenumbers to back his shit up.

[Dalton]

I'm not calling it unreasonable. I'm asking people to either back up their shit or don't claim it in the first place.

I'm curious; I didn't think there were rules against reasonable speculation. Would different wording have been sufficient to avoid your ire?

It was not presented as speculation, but as a statement of fact.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Well can I use your employer as a source Rob?
Rachel has extensively covered the whole extended News corp hacking scandle. The whole clear channel has been trying to take out google for financial reasons, is a major Internet provider, has it's own music/video download service for charge, and is a major SOPA supporter.....

[Darth Fanboy]

$5.2 million in lobbying is a drop in the bucket vs. putting all of News Corp's resources towards the bill.

[Edward Yee]

Nah, it's not hard to find free TV/movies through Google. Malware-infested sites, usually, but the links are often legit.

Amusingly to me, the malware-infestation is one of the better deterrents for me against looking 'em up that way.