Google has removed a host of apps from its Play Store portal for violating its policies on copyright infringement.
TorrentFreak reports the web giant has gone after several apps which offer mirrored access to The Pirate Bay torrenting service, while allowing users to skirt ISP restrictions.
The Pirate Bay Proxy, The Pirate Bay Premium, The Pirate Bay Mirror, and PirateApp are among those to have had their Play Store privileges removed.
According to ‘Gavin,’ the developer of The Pirate Bay Proxy app, accused Google of censoring an anti-censorship tool.
He said: “The app is no different from Firefox or Chrome in that it’s a tool which provides access to TPB or any other web address. The removal has a sense of irony as the app is described as an anti-censorship tool.”
The developers of the offending apps have also received a strike against their names, which could eventually lead to their accounts being terminated.
The Play Store policy sites the reason for the takedowns: “REASON FOR REMOVAL: Violation of the intellectual property and impersonation or deceptive behaviour provisions of the Content Policy. Please refer to the IP infringement and impersonation policy help article for more information,” Google writes.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
