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Piracy The Internet

DuckDuckGo Removes Pirate Sites and YouTube-DL From Its Search Results (torrentfreak.com) 77

Posted by BeauHD from the no-explanation dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Privacy-centered search engine DuckDuckGo has completely removed the search results for many popular pirates sites including The Pirate Bay, 1337x, and Fmovies. Several YouTube ripping services have disappeared, too and even the homepage of the open-source software youtube-mp3 is unfindable. [...] The lack of results is not tied to a specific country and manually fiddling with the region settings didn't change anything either. Apparently, DuckDuckgo has simply removed all thepiratebay.org URLs from its index. This whole-site removal isn't limited to The Pirate Bay either. When we do similar searches for 1337x.to, NYAA.se, Fmovies.to, Lookmovie.io, and 123moviesfree.net, no results appear. For RarBG.to and Fitgirl-repacks we only get one result, instead of the hundreds of thousands we see on other search engines.

The absence of results doesn't only apply to pirate sites themselves. For example, there are no results for the streaming portals Flixtor and Primewire. In addition, the associated status pages, which merely include links to the official domains, are not indexed either. Even several popular stream-rippers have been completely wiped from the search results. That includes 2conv.com, Flvto.bid, and several others. The most surprising omission, by far, is that the official site for the open-source software youtube-dl is not indexed by DuckDuckGo. This site certainly doesn't host or link to any copyright-infringing material. We don't know why the official youtube-dl.org website is not in DuckDuckGo's search results, but at least the official GitHub repository is still findable. DuckDuckGo has yet to explain why these domain names aren't showing up in its search results. "It wouldn't be a surprise if the move is copyright-related," says TorrentFreak.

UPDATE 4/18/22: A spokesperson from DuckDuckGo reached out to us and provided the following statement: "After looking into this, our records indicate that YouTube-dl and The Pirate Bay were never removed from our search results when you searched for them directly by name or URL, which the vast majority of people do (it's rare for people to use site operators or query operators in general)."

They added: "We are having issues with our site: operator, and not just for these sites, but now at least the official site should be coming up for them when you use the site: operator for them. Some of the other sites routinely change domain names and have spotty availability, and so naturally come in and out of the index but should be available as of now."
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DuckDuckGo Removes Pirate Sites and YouTube-DL From Its Search Results More

DuckDuckGo Removes Pirate Sites and YouTube-DL From Its Search Results

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  • Explanation (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Privacy is DDG's mission, and those sites need their privacy. Seriously though, just because DDG supports privacy, doesn't mean they need to support piracy.

    • Re:Explanation (Score:5, Insightful)

      by K. S. Kyosuke ( 729550 ) on Friday April 15, 2022 @08:34PM (#62450974)
      Piracy is not an explanation for hiding youtube-dl.

    • Hiding ANYTHING they are not legally enforced to, opens a dangerous door. And it seems youtube-dl has already slipped through that door.

      I have been using DDG as my default search engine for years, it looks like it's time to search for alternatives.

    • Seriously though, just because DDG supports privacy, doesn't mean they need to support piracy.

      I agree. Ford should stop selling cars to people who they think rob banks but haven't been legally identified as criminals.

      Also Slashdot should ban AC posting. We know you have an account. Why don't you stand by your opinion? Do you not believe it yourself, i.e. are you trolling?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mmell ( 832646 )

        Ford should stop selling cars to people who they think rob banks but haven't been legally identified as criminals.

        I'm sorry, did DDG block you from using their search service, or did Ford refuse to sell you a car because they think you're a bank robber?

        This is not like Ford deciding who they want to sell cars to. It's more like Ford deciding what options to offer for your consideration. I'm pretty sure that's how that works.

        • I'm sorry, did DDG block you from using their search service

          No, it blocked thepiratebay from being used in their search service. Seriously are you not paying attention to the discussion, or just too stupid to realise that you with the power of your keyboard and a search box aren't the only relevant person in the discussion?

  • What to fear the most? (Score:3)

    by ukoda ( 537183 ) on Friday April 15, 2022 @06:09PM (#62450702) Homepage
    I guess they are more scared of lawsuits than losing users.

    • Does anybody really not know how to get to Pirate Bay and Rarbg, though?

      Realistically, I suppose if someone needed a tutorial on how to pirate, there's gotta be a ton of how-to videos on YouTube. Hell, they even have videos on how to steal and repurpose those rental scooters that popped up in every major city (not that I'm complaining, those things are a blight).

  • Isnâ(TM)t DDG just a Bing wrapper? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by AnonCowardSince1997 ( 6258904 ) on Friday April 15, 2022 @06:09PM (#62450704)

    So this means Microsoft has made these changes not DuckDuckGoâ¦

    • That's what I've heard too; just Bing with your PII filtred out by DDG. Maybe it is Microsoft's doing. Anyone know?
    • It's not a Bing wrapper, or at least a standard/complete one. Bing's video and image searching capabilities far outstrip what DDG is capable of

    • Appears no one actually verified this story, because searching for those terms on duckduckgo and bing shows appropriate results, including numerous proxies for piratebay [duckduckgo.com] and rarbg [duckduckgo.com].

      • Not quite. Some proxies are leaking through but very much many of the primary sites are in fact missing from search results.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Functionally what is the difference? DDG chooses to use Bing for search results, and Bing is one of the worst for censorship. Bing is so bad it's not even blocked in China, because it implements the CCP blocklist.

  • Decentralized search is imminent (Score:5, Insightful)

    by metrix007 ( 200091 ) on Friday April 15, 2022 @06:10PM (#62450706)

    If even DuckDuckGo has to kowtow to the media mafias, I don't think there is any hope for any search engine, whether charity or business.

    Removing links to torrent sites due to pressure is one thing, but removing links to youtube-dl is inexcusable. If the project is still up on github, what's their excuse?

    Inevitably, decentralized search will replace any of these sites. That *has* to happen, because people have a desire and need to search for things they know they exist, and we have the technology to have a decentralized search. It's only a matter of time, and the rest of the net isn't too far behind.

    • Re:Decentralized search is imminent (Score:5, Informative)

      by fustakrakich ( 1673220 ) on Friday April 15, 2022 @06:23PM (#62450732) Journal

      decentralized search [yacy.net]

    • All the development these days is on the yt-dlp fork.

      I use it to download from my legitimate Paramount+ subscription because the ads are obnoxious, and I prefer watching my media through Kodi. Most streaming apps just get on my nerves with bad UI design and Paramount+ is especially bad.

      • I think you mean "deprecated". Yes, I too use yt-dlp, mainly for downloading free streams that I want to watch offline or analyze using the finer playback controls that I can get from mpv (a fork of mplayer [wikipedia.org], one of the first GNU/Linux media players capable of playing DVDs).

    • > If even DuckDuckGo has to kowtow to the media mafias, I don't think there is any hope for any search engine, whether charity or business.

      I don't agree with this. I think it's more an issue of every established search engine will start to follow the party lines, and then be replaced by a newcomer. IT's just the circle of life on the Internet. DuckDuckGo has now clearly started its declining phase, so it's time to start looking for a new option that will be usable for the next few years.

    • I think we'll soon witness the return of the url site aggregators popular in the 80s and 90s. Simple web pages with a list of all popular sites in a given domain. They were great. This slashdot article sort of does it for us, on a miniature scale - lists some of the sites that were blocked so that now we know what to look for.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kremmy ( 793693 )
        They never left, they've just migrated over the years. Reddit seems to have hit a critical mass where it's been splintered half a dozen times as they've tightened restrictions about what kind of content you're allowed aggregate through it, but it still remains strong. The migrations aren't happening as completely as they did in the past, probably in part because it's more extreme content that has been filtered and those splinters are niche enough, but also because the big social media sites are just so big

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by narcc ( 412956 )

          Is that what reddit was supposed to be at one point? The kind of site I, and presumably the parent, was thinking of was more like a directory. You'd pick a category, a sub category on the next page, and so on until you just had a list of relevant links.

          They had some real advantages over search.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Kremmy ( 793693 )
            The reason that sort died out has more to do with the sheer scale of the Internet and the Web increasing that much. They were already barely able to scratch the surface of the content out there when I was exploring the web in the 90s. Google used to have it, too, before the sheer volume of indexed content made it unfeasible. I say a lot of the traffic moved onto link aggregator sites with different structures, like Digg, before the migration to Reddit. Indexed forums of information on various subjects that

    • Terrible idea. Spammers would learn to game the search results and it would end up an unusable mess in no time at all.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dryeo ( 100693 )

      First hit for youtube-dl on DDG is their Github page, then ytdl-org, then sites on how to use it, the wiki page, then various pages on installing on dists like Ubuntu.
      Don't see any censorship here in Canada, probably only censorship for the land of the free

    • Youtube *is* the media mafia.

    • A couple decades ago we had decentralized FTP search: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_(search_engine)

      We were on the right path back then. The original incarnation of the World Wide Web never spawned the same kind of "distributed searchable index" server. Every popular search engine has been centralized with custom web crawlers to build a massive proprietary index. And Google managed to effectively monetize search and all but corner the market. Maybe a useful blockchain application would be to let

    • The internet is slowly but surely being co-opted by those in power, to put everyone back in their boxes again.

    • That's REALLY weird then, if youtube-dl is still up on Github, which is owned by Microsoft, and DuckDuckGo is a wrapper for Bing, which is owned by Microsoft.
    • startpage.com (formerly ixQuick) gives results when searching for youtube-dl, and is privacy-minded as well.

  • search.brave.com (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Friday April 15, 2022 @06:15PM (#62450718) Homepage Journal

    DDG also said it was going to downrank .ru information - just because they prefer that politically.

    They've been asked to put up a warrant canary but have apparently declined for years.

    Use Brave Search.

    • Re:search.brave.com (Score:4, Insightful)

      by The Evil Atheist ( 2484676 ) on Friday April 15, 2022 @09:07PM (#62451036)
      Sure, let's give participation trophies to well-known liars and state propaganda outlets by rewarding them with undeserved rankings.

      While a lot of what's happening in Ukraine are not known simply due to the chaotic and fast-paced nature of war, you'd have to be a fucking idiot to actually believe any of the plain denials by Russia of anything it ever does.

      The whole point of ranking is that more factual data is ranked above less factual data. If you hate the idea of merit-based ranking, then you should be against ranking in general.
      • The only thing a search engine should discriminate based on is relevance. How do you decide merit? If you want to discriminate based on some arbitrary system of merit, then go ahead, but make that an optional feature.
        • How do you decide relevance? It is also an arbitrary system. You've just replaced one word with another, with the exact same problem.

          The fact is there's a ranking. ALL rankings are arbitrary systems. Relevance is just as arbitrary as any other measure.

          Whether something is factual or not IS relevant. Relevance IS a component of merit.

    • Isn't Brave the FBI- affiliated search engine?

  • Just another censored search engine now?

  • Killing In The Name Of... (Score:3)

    by zenlessyank ( 748553 ) on Friday April 15, 2022 @06:43PM (#62450770)

    Privacy. I'm very disappointed in you DDG. You were supposed to be the light in the darkness.

    Thank goodness for private trackers.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kremmy ( 793693 )
      It stopped being a bastion a long time ago. The cult around it barely noticed.

    • I'm very disappointed in you DDG. You were supposed to be the light in the darkness.

      There light in the darkness involves nothing more than obfuscating your IP address and largely forwarding your search to Bing. It's quite telling that the results from DDG and Bing for any of these pirate sites are *identical*.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mmell ( 832646 )
      Yeah, but just to ask . . . isn't TPB just another search engine, albeit one that's highly specialized to find torrents? Should we expect any search engine to index the contents of another search engine, even if the engines are designed to search for different things? It seems to me that would be a good way to make search engines recursive: do we really want the internet spending that much time thinking about itself?
  • I have just tried "the pirate bay" search and it pointed it to me. So, may be that was temporary.

    • Just read the article. They did not remove the pirate bay and other sharing sites. They removed the "bang" feature to quickly search content in this sites from DDG itself. And they also removed youtube-dl.org site from their indexing, try going to DDG and search: "site:youtube-dl.org", you will get no results.

  • what nonsense (Score:5, Informative)

    by buck-yar ( 164658 ) on Friday April 15, 2022 @07:15PM (#62450852)

    What nonsense this is. Fake news. Did any of you try searching? I'm finding the pirate bay on DDG and Bing, as well as all the other "blocked" sites.

    • At least on mobile, it's still there. [imgur.com] Maybe it was just a temporary glitch and they fixed it?

    • This is a total click bait article without any shame. All searches are returning working results just like before.

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

      What nonsense this is. Fake news. Did any of you try searching? I'm finding the pirate bay on DDG and Bing, as well as all the other "blocked" sites.

      I'm not. thepiratebay.org does not show up in search results on DDG or Bing. And you can tell they have been completely removed from the index by using the "site:" command to limit results to a domain.

      You're finding a bunch of proxy sites which play whackamole with filters, nothing more. That doesn't make the story false, it just shows that you didn't actually read it.

      • Wow, Troll mod for pointing out a fact I checked on my machine before posting. I think it's time Slashdot includes a basic IQ test before giving out modpoints.

      • No, not proxies, we were finding the regular site. Look at the update in the original article, I was correct all along.

  • How does the result quality compare to startpage.com? That's the other privacy-focused search engine, though it doesn't have the corporate backing of Microsoft behind it. That could be a plus or a minus--less corporate interest, less reputation at stake.

  • It seems to me that they are just shooting themselves in the foot, if this report is accurate, by making themselves increasingly irrelevant. In the past year my usage of their search results has gone from 100% to 95%, as I have found myself double checking some searches with Google if the search results seem limited somehow in the first attempt with DDG.

  • Just buy these deviant Internet censoring sites. Buy them ALL.

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