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Or more scary (and tin-hat-y) how Google can effectively choose what does or does not "exist" on the net, by not making it show up in results.

It's already doing that via DMCA requests.




You ascribe to Google an agency that belongs to another here. DMCA requests are not Google's choice. They are the choice of another that Google has no choice but to comply with in a certain way by law.


Google very clearly marks when a result it removed due to a DMCA request.


Doesn't make it less non-existent.


It does. If you click through to the DMCA takedown request, there's a list of removed pages. It's more annoying to use, but the information is still there.

(For what it's worth, I'd prefer if the results weren't removed at all, but the current legal environment doesn't allow for that.)


I'm surprised Hollywood would let Google get away with linking to DMCA requests that contain those links. Mind confirming this is what happens?


Yes, it looks like this:

  In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium
  Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you
  wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at
  ChillingEffects.org. 
The text "US Digital Millennium Copyright Act" links to https://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=1386831, and the text "read the DMCA complaint" links to the DMCA request. The DMCA request includes a list of the removed URLs.

If you're interested in seeing one of those requests, go to https://www.chillingeffects.org/ and search the name of a media company.

If you're interested in seeing the message in a Google search results page, try searching "[popular US show] episode 10" and scroll to the bottom of the page.




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