Google gets tough on copyright infringement

By Jeffrey Van Camp December 2, 2010

google-content-id-video-animation — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Internet ain’t the pirate-friendly place it used to be. Today, on its blog, Google announced four new anti-piracy measures it will be taking in the coming months, likely in an attempt to appease network TV channels that are currently blocking its Google TV service. The new changes affect autocomplete, Ad Sense, copyright infringement requests, and how authorized content is promoted on the search engine.

Changes to copyright policy:

Google will act on reliable copyright requests within 24 hours. If they know you’re a copyright holder and you’ve made legitimate requests before, your takedown requests will happen faster on services like YouTube. “Counter-notice” tools will also become easier to use, allowing legitimate or “fair use” content that has been removed the chance to defend itself.
Autocomplete, the feature that fills in words for you while typing searches, will no longer complete words that are closely associated with pirating and copyright infringement.
Ad Sense, Google’s ad serving program, will more thoroughly review web pages for piracy before allowing ads to be served on them. Copyright holders will also be able to request that Ad Sense be removed from pages that are illegally serving copyrighted materials.
Just as it’s done with music, Google plans to make legitimate movies, TV shows, and other content easier to find in search results, even if that content is only preview-able.

Though copyright holders can still make takedown requests, Google’s Content ID system on YouTube has become quite advanced. Content ID automatically identifies videos and audio that contains copyrighted material. Upon the copyright holder’s request, infringing content can be removed or ads can be placed into it, allowing the copyright holder to make money from the infringing videos.

While these changes are proactive, it may not be enough to satisfy certain copyright holders. TV networks would like Google to completely block all illegitimate content from its search results, effectively censoring the web. So far, Google has not done this. Would you like to see it go further to protect copyright, or is it already doing too much?

Editors' Recommendations

How to save your data from Google’s purge of inactive accounts

Topics

Jeffrey Van Camp

Former Digital Trends Contributor

As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…

Computing

Power up your tech game this summer with Dell’s top deals: Upgrade for a bargain

Dell Techfest and best tech on sale featured.

One of the best times to upgrade your tech stack, be it your desktop, a new laptop, or some high-resolution monitors, is when great deals are to be had. Well, I'm here to share that thanks to Dell's top deals, you can power up your tech game and have most of the summer to make it happen. Maybe you're happy with your current system or setup. That's excellent, but you're likely considering upgrading somewhere, and that's precisely what these deals are all about. Dell has a smorgasbord of deals on laptops, desktops, gaming desktops, monitors, accessories, and so much more. We'll call out a few of our favorite deals below, but for now, know that you should be shopping this sale if you're interested in anything tech-related.

What summer tech should you buy in Dell's top deals?

Computing

I love the MacBook Pro, but this Windows laptop came surprisingly close

Apple MacBook Pro 16 downward view showing keyboard and speaker.

There are some great machines in the 15-inch laptop category, which has recently been stretched to include the more common 16-inch laptop. The best among them is the Apple MacBook Pro 16, which offers fast performance for tasks like video editing and the longest battery life.

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 is aimed not only at other 16-inch Windows laptops but also at the MacBook Pro 16. It offers many of the same benefits but at a lower price. Can it take a place at the top?
Specs and configurations

Computing

How to set an ‘Out of Office’ message in Microsoft Teams

Person using Windows 11 laptop on their lap by the window.

Many people use Microsoft Teams regularly to communicate with colleagues both inside of the office and remotely. It is considered one of the most efficient ways to ensure you can stay in contact with the people on your team, but what if you need to let people know you’re not readily available? Microsoft Teams has a method for you to set up an "Out of Office" status for your profile to let staff members know when you’ll be gone for the afternoon, for several days on vacation, or for an extended period.
Where do I go to set up my ‘Out of Office’ status for Teams?
It is important to note that your Microsoft Teams and Outlook calendars are synced. This includes your out-of-office status and automatic replies. So, whatever you set up in Microsoft Teams will reflect in Outlook. Similarly, you can set up your out-of-office status in Outlook, and it will be reflected in Teams; however, the former has a more straightforward instruction.

First, you can click on your profile icon in Teams and go directly to Schedule an out of office, as a shortcut. This will take you to the settings area where you can proceed. You can also click the three-dot icon next to your profile icon, then go to Settings > General, then scroll down to the bottom of the page. There, you'll find out-of-office settings and click Schedule.