Last week Google released a paper where it detailed all its anti-piracy efforts.

The search engine responded to increased pressure from trade groups such as the RIAA and MPAA who pointed out on numerous occasions that Google could do more to address the piracy problem.

After the RIAA released a study earlier this year, the MPAA now follows.

Yesterday the movie studios released a report showing that Google and other search engines are a major piracy facilitators.

Some of the study’s highlights are:

- 74% of consumers surveyed cited using a search engine as either a discovery or navigational tool when first accessing a pirate domain.

- 20% of the sessions in which consumers accessed infringing online videos between 2010 and 2012 involved search engines.

- Google’s downranking of websites based on the number of DMCA notices is effective, as their share of Google referral traffic remains stable.

The MPAA is backed by Representatives Howard Coble, Adam Schiff, Marsha Blackburn and Judy Chu, who presented the study on Capitol Hill yesterday.

“Everyone in the online ecosystem has a responsibility to step up their efforts to protect creators and innovators from having their content literally hijacked for mass distribution without permission or compensation,” Congressman Marsha Blackburn says.

“The question search engines need to answer is this: do they want to be the digital highways for legitimate information, entertainment and education, or do they want to be the get-away car for stolen content and mass exploitation of private property?”

The study and the political backing make it clear that the debate over search engines’ responsibility to deter piracy is far from over. Now it’s Google’s turn again.



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Methodology
This study was based on the analysis o a database o 12 million lm and TV content URLs that were knownto host inringing content over the period 2010-2012. The URLs reerred to the piece o content, not the sitedomain. The database was provided by two internet scanning vendors (DTecNet and IP Echelon) which ona regular basis scan websites or a list o MPAA member company titles, in order to nd active inringing linksand determine to which host sites the links direct. Note that these URLs are website-based and thereore theanalysis based on these URLs does not include P2P sites or applications.Using its robust clickstream panels in the U.S. and U.K. (2M and 200,000 members, respectively), Competeanalyzed how many US and UK internet users reached the inringing URLs, how oten and how long theyvisited or and most importantly, how they got there. In this study, Compete ocused on the
role that searchplays
in the consumer path to inringing content. Compete also identied other ways that consumers arrive toinringing content including by either directly going to an inringing domain or URL or by reaching that contentvia a “Linking” site like tv-links.eu. Compete’s data was used to identiy aggregate trends across dierentconsumer segments and was not used to report individual inringing panelists.
Defning the Role o Search
Compete is able to measure how consumers use search engines in their online navigation process and isable to isolate the specic engine, term, what was displayed on a user’s screen and what link they clicked.Consumers use search in two ways within the online piracy ecosystem: consumers can use search as away to
discover websites
that link to or directly host the content they are looking or, or it can be used as a
navigational tool
to arrive at a known linking or hosting website instead o typing the URL into the browser.Compete developed a customized, hybrid approach or this study to measure the impact that search plays inthe path to inringing content as accurately as possible. This holistic approach contrasts with a more narrowdenition that counts search only when a visit is preceded by a visit to a search engine. Compete dened a“search reerral” to inringing content by:
• Keyword Centric Component: A user must have conducted a relevant search query.
“Qualiying”search queries include all types o phrases that Compete has observed which online consumers useto nd illegal TV and lm content online. They include domain terms like “1Channel” and “sidereel”,generic terms like “watch movies online” and movie and TV title-based terms like “Dark Knight Rises”..
• Time Centric Component:
In the same session (dened as a continuous period o internet activitywithout a 30 minute lapse) that a user visited an inringing content URL, users must have conducted a“qualiying” search on any major search engine within a 20 minute window beore reaching that sameinringing content URL.
»
In order to capture the most relevant search queries yet also minimize the amount o noise in thedata, Compete capped the time window at 20 minutes. Compete’s analysis showed 20 minutesrepresents the most appropriate cuto time as terms were still relevant to the content reached.Ater the 20 minute mark, Compete identied a sharp drop in level o relevancy the keywords hadwith watching or downloading content onlinewatching or downloading content online.
Understanding the Role of Search in Online Piracy


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Compete, Inc. is a Millward Brown Digital company based in Boston, MA. The company is a research andconsulting rm that maintains an online behavioral database comprised o 2 million US internet users and200,000 UK internet users. Compete uses its data to help brands, publishers and agencies understand howpeople use the web to communicate, shop, research, and consume content and media.The Motion Picture Association o America, Inc. (MPAA), together with the Motion Picture Association (MPA)and MPAA’s other subsidiaries and aliates, serves as the voice and advocate o the American motionpicture, home video and television industries in the United States and around the world. MPAA’s membersare the six major U.S. motion picture studios: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; Paramount PicturesCorporation; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Universal City StudiosLLC; and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. MPAA is a proud champion o intellectual property rights, ree andair trade, innovative consumer choices, reedom o expression and the enduring power o movies to enrichand enhance people’s lives.
About CompeteAbout MPAA
Understanding the Role of Search in Online Piracy