Gale Anne Hurd is becoming something of a figurehead in the fight against content theft, first for her own series and now with a look at Game of Thrones piracy.
Gale Anne Hurd Test Pattern Event 3 (Photo credit: Canadian Film Centre)
Back in December the ‘Walking Dead’ producer spoke out on curbing the temptation to access content illegally. Now, following a weekend of big numbers for the Game of Thrones season finale, in terms of both legitimate viewers (7.1 million on HBO) and unauthorized access (1.5 million pirated downloads), she has her sights set on the source: search engine results.
Speaking to British newspaper The Guardian, Hurd cited major search engines – which of course means Google, first and foremost – as a key factor in the curbing illegal access. She stopped short of calling for complete removal of piracy sites however, as some prominent politicians have called for this year, focusing instead on the concept of improved filters.
The concept is actually fairly simple, and one that is in place for a variety of searches across Google. Users can already filter out images by usage rights and search for commercially available products that suit their buying needs, so why not extend that to allow consumers who simply want a legitimate access point to filter down to only trusted sources?
Although it’s understandable that content creators would call for an absolute ban on pirate sites – and rightfully so when such sites are stealing their work – Google holds most of the cards in this game and small steps are more likely to move the needle against piracy. What Gale Anne Hurd calls for is little more than Google already offers for other kinds of content and, although not a perfect solution, would at least give consumers a way to get to only the sources of content that aren’t riddled with malware and ripping off the creative industries.
Showing a well-rounded perspective on the problem, Hurd also pointed out the role of ad-supported piracy, both in making illegal content attractive for site owners and confusing for consumers. Echoing thoughts that we’ve written about several times already this year, she said:
“[Pirate websites] look legitimate. They have advertising from well-known brands, and they take credit cards. How would the consumer know the difference between legitimate sites and illegitimate sites?”
It’s a question that is asked often. Perhaps with prominent voices like Hurd’s now asking it, companies like Google will be compelled to answer more quickly.
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