Google Censors Torrent, BitTorrent, RapidShare, And Torrent-Related Words

Instant search, the Google feature that instantaneously suggests words and websites as you type in the search bar, already disallows profanity and sexually suggestive terms from appearing in the instant search suggestions and website results, but now they’ve blacklisted some new words. Search for torrent, BitTorrent, RapidShare, uTorrent, or any word combined with “torrent,” such as “Ubuntu torrent” and you’ll have to hit enter before any results appear.

Presumably, Google is bowing to pressure from the folks at the MPAA and the RIAA by censoring these terms. What’s odd is that other sites such as the infamous The Pirate Bay, Isohunt, BitComet, 4shared, and MediaFire are not blacklisted from the instant search. It seems like someone just handed Google an arbitrary list and said, “Block these.” I also can’t help but wonder if this sudden blacklisting has something to do with the company’s Google TV agreements and partners. What do you think?

via TorrentFreak