Is Google Protecting Copyright?

Google has suddenly found itself under fire for potential copyright infringement. A third-party independent ethics group is urging for the United States Congress to take a close look at Google’s copyright controls. The third-party group the group says they found hundreds of violations on Google’s video-hosting service, making the online location a base for illegally copied movies. Specific examples include approximately 300 different movies, including 60 that are more recent theatrical releases like Oceans 13 and Shrek the Third that haven’t even made their way to home video yet.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the group was responsible in the past for exposing the 2003 Boeing /Air Force corruption scandal. Now they are pointing their fingers at Google in a claim that the company isn’t making an effort to stop potential pirates because it’s more interested in boosting traffic than protecting intellectual property. ”They clearly have the technological and economic wherewithal to do something more about it," says Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center. "Instead, they are making money off other people's intellectual property. That's wrong."

Google, on the other side, says they will be putting copyright enforcement technology in place that will allow owners to block unauthorized material from being placed on Google’s video-hosting service. Similar filters are already in place by MySpace and MSN, and initial Google claims said it would be in place by September.

Boehm says his organization is hoping to shame Google into taking more action. He hired his 18-year-old nephew for $10 an hour to pour over Google’s pages. He doesn’t see why the massive online corporation can’t take similar steps considering the profit they make annually.

It’s because of that “shame” idea that I can’t help feeling this is a slight vendetta against a big company, not an actual true effort to protect copyright. I see where Google allowing this to persist is wrong, but is the motivation behind finding these violations truly to protect intellectual property, or is it about trying to take down a big corporation? It sounds to me like more of the latter.