Advocacy group cites top 50 pirated films, TV shows
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Warner Bros. Pictures'
Phoenix and Die Hard were spotted Monday by NLPC, which searches with title keywords on Google Video's search engine and via Google's blog search. The latter finds sites where bloggers post information about uploaded videos which, as was the case with Legion, might not include its title.
NLPC chairman Ken Boehm said that it's
"Critics argue that since Google is a highly profitable company and the most advanced search technology company, it could easily do a much better job at filtering out copyrighted material, citing the fact that Google has always been able to do a good job at blocking such things as pornography, beheadings, etc. They also argue that Google will selectively block unauthorized posting of copyrighted videos with companies it makes business deals with."
Not bulletproof
Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker said
"Copyright status can only be determined by the copyright holder, and their preferences vary widely," Stricker said. "Some legal departments take down a video one day and the marketing department puts it up the next. Which is their right, but our community can't predict those things, and neither can we. No matter how good our video identification technology gets, it will never be able to read copyright holders' minds."
Despite widely publicized illegal appearances on
A somewhat pixelated widescreen version of Legion was available on Google Video on Tuesday. On a T1 Internet connection, the film (available in two parts) appeared to come from a DVD screener or print and not a camcorder. One possible source of the bootleg might have been Russia, where the film has grossed $3.3 million since its April release. Legion was removed shortly after The Hollywood Reporter notified the Weinstein Co. about its Tuesday upload.
"We are outraged by illegal piracy," a Weinstein Co. spokeswoman said. "Protecting our product and the artists involved is of the highest priority. We are working with the preeminent security companies in the business, and they are using the latest technology available to combat this industrywide problem."