Google Goes After Torrent Sites

The search company’s new algorithm is supposedly designed to demote torrent sites, but will it work?

It seems as though every pundit in the world is fretting about Google’s new algorithm. It’s supposedly designed to demote sites with high numbers of copyright complaints and change results of a search based on the possibilities that there is a nasty pirate site somewhere in the results.

In the end, ask yourself one question: is this even possible or is Google full of crap?

Let’s start by examining the goals and the problems of this algorithm. It aims to get some of the pesky torrent sites reduced to rubble so when Congress eventually has a hearing on the piracy “problem,” Google can walk out on stage and say, “We did our part!”

In other words, this is purely a publicity stunt and a way for Google to document the pundits who will be coming out from under rocks for the next month or two. Some will shake their fists at Google. Others will accuse Google of favoritism. Still others will say Google is the greatest company ever.

Of course, none of this would be necessary if it were not for the aforementioned sites that are ruining the landscape with their evil torrenting of copyrighted content. So these sites will not appear anymore? Or the ones that do appear will be government honeypots to bust the 14-year-olds who are downloading The Avengers?

When you search for “Best Torrent Site,” you seem to get essentially a directory of the best torrent sites. At least, that is what it looks like to me.

You get results like, “The Top 35 Torrent Download Sites of 2012″ and Torrent Freak’s “10 Most Popular Torrent Sites.” Pages and pages of sites describe how the mechanism works and how to use torrents the best way.

What am I missing here? Is there some secret site that is the real torrent site where I can effectively download a copy of the new

By John C. Dvorak, PCMag