Have you heard the shocking news?  Google got busted dealing with content stealing website owners!  Oh yeah.  It's totally true.  Google not only assigned representatives to work one-on-one with two websites that dealt in stolen movies, but also suggested they place high bids on phrases like "pirated" and "bootleg movies".   The whole Internet is up in arms by the shocking revelation.

Did you note the sarcasm there?

Come on.  How many times do I have to ask this:  are we really surprised?  Are we surprised that a company wanted another popular company to use its products?  Are we surprised that Google wanted two websites with a lot of traffic (and thus a lot of searchers) to bid a lot of money on popular search terms?  Really.  Are you surprised?

In a candy-coated world, "pirated" and "bootleg movies" wouldn't be popular search terms.  In a candy-coated world websites with pirated movies would be popular.  In a candy-coated world Google would be the perfect company that actually never did any 'evil'.

But back here in the real world, Google is a company that wants to make money.  And if making money means helping popular websites generate more ad revenue, so be it.  From a PR perspective, it'd probably have been better for Google to just ignore the movie downloading websites.  But from a business perspective you can't blame them for wanting to take advantage of the sites' popularity.

Remember… Google is a search engine.  It's not a policing agency or a moral compass for the world to follow.  The main purpose that Google serves is helping people find what they're looking for.  Even if it's pirated movies.  The moral and legal implications of bootleg videos on a website are between the companies that produce those movies and the websites hosting them.  Not Google.  Say it with me: Google is the middle man.

I know a lot of the embarrassment for Google out of this whole deal is because they made money from advertising that directed people to the sites in question.  Guess what?  Google makes money every day on websites conducting less-than-stellar business.  Sites that sell unregulated and, in some areas, illegal prescription drugs.  Sites that basically serve as online extensions of pyramid schemes.  Sites that sell porn… sometimes to minors.

Like I said before, it might not have been the best move to help the sites come up with better keywords.  But that's the business Google is in.  If a website that sold prescriptions or pyramid schemes or porn contacted Google for help would they be turned down?  Would someone from Google say "we don't condone your business so we're not helping you"?  Doubtful.  Maybe I'm wrong.

I'll say this one more time:  Google is a business.  A money-making business.  Their primary motivating factor is bottom line… not a happier, more legal world.  Come on.  Be realistic.