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With reports saying that Google could remove torrent sites them from its search list, it maybe time to bookmark your favourite sites. The search engine giant is hopeful that this would encourage more users to stop downloading stuff illegally, and instead, pay to watch movies or listen to music.
Torrents have always been the free alternative to pay for content, practised by millions across the globe. However, this has resulted in huge business loss for entertainment companies, and they’re looking to change the trend now.
Google is in talks with its search peers, Yahoo and Bing, to make sure none of the popular torrent sites show up on their respective search list. If all goes well, then the changes could come into effect from 1 June 2017.
The proposal is limited to the United Kingdom, but we all know that the internet works without geographical borders, so ruling could end up having a global impact.
By removing the sites from search, Google hopes that people will be forced to pay to watch/download content, but that’s easier said than done.
With internet prices in India falling like never before, users were breathing a sigh of relief. However, Google’s decision totally spoils the fun.
In all likelihood, Google and Co. will be tweaking their search algorithms, making it fool-proof on privacy content. This forces users to pay up for Amazon’s Prime Video, Netflix or Hotstar in India. With Apple and Facebook also working on video content platforms, Google could make lives easier for all in the video business.
Not a good news for many out there. But we’ve been there before and even today, many thrive on torrent binging. We saw that the banning of KickAss Torrents in 2016 never worked out, as it is hard to cull down a torrent site from the internet.
The torrent community’s huge following gets them up and running from an alternative site, as we have seen with KickAss Torrents already.
Also Read:
Kickass Torrents Brought Back from the Dead by Former Staffers
That’s not all, you have multiple virtual private network (VPN) unblocker apps, web extension that let you access torrent sites. This enables one to watch movies, stream videos from sites that are blocked in India, and other pirated stuff.
Taking down sites from search list doesn’t imply they’re off the internet, so it’ll be intriguing to see how Google tackles this issue.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)