Porn stars ask Google for help in the fight against piracy
Porn stars and studios have asked Google for help this week to fight piracy. They demand the same treatment as the music industry receives in the United Kingdom, among others. That reports the BBC.
The music industry recently struck a deal with Google, which makes links to legal music content and in the search engine more prominent in search results. This means that someone who from now on searches for music by, for example, Ed Sheeran, will be more likely to see a link to a legal sales site than to a piracy site.
Furthermore, Google actively helps with the removal of links to copyrighted material on illegal sites; the search engine has had to process more than a hundred million takedown requests.
The porn industry is now asking for the same treatment. “Google continues to discriminate against the porn industry,” Australian actress Angela White told the BBC. Other ‘influential’ figures in the industry are said to have told the British broadcaster that they agree with White.
The porn industry denounces the attitude of Google, which would see the industry as illegal and therefore not allow advertisements from such companies. “The porn industry runs like any other. We pay taxes, create jobs and contribute to the economy,” White argues. According to her, many show an interest in the industry on a daily basis. “How many times a day does someone type the word ‘porn’ into Google?”
In addition to Google, the actors and actresses also attack free video porn sites like YouPorn. They claim that such sites drastically reduce their revenue because visitors would illegally upload their content. While sites like YouPorn offer a reporting function, it would be impossible for small studios in particular to monitor all uploads.
“It’s the mindset that needs to change. Not just because of piracy, but for society as a whole,” the owner of a company that helps porn studios get illegal images offline told the BBC. “The illegal distribution of porn affects real people, from the women and men in front of the camera to the editors, office workers and store owners.”