Google penalizes piracy via search engine ranking

In an effort to direct web traffic toward sites with legitimate content, Google launched a new policy this week that will punish copyright infringers with less-than-desired search rankings.

The policy dictates that websites with a high number of valid copyright-removal notices will be pushed down on Google’s search results, Amit Singhal, Google’s senior vice president of engineering, said in a blog post on the policy Friday.