Google Maps is Being Used by Pirates to Link to Illegal Downloads
by Shabana ArifGoogle Maps has been commandeered by pirates to advertise links to illegal torrents, and there's a good deal of scammy links on there too trying to get to your doubloons.
This isn't the first time spammers have used the My Maps feature to mark locations with links to pirated content. The reasoning behind it is that the links will show up closer to the top of search results, which is handy for them as Google tends to shunt links to pirate sites down the list. Although the issue hasn't flown under the radar of copyright holders, it's still prevalent. Some links mark actual locations, while others are just generic maps.
TorrentFreak reported on these pirate 'treasures' that can just as easily lead you to a scam site - so if anyone is asking you for card details, cut and run. Not that you should be dabbling in illegal torrents anyway, because we all know it's illegal. You wouldn't steal a handbag, etc.
It seems to be working, given that Google can hardly flag its own Maps service as a pirate site. For the moment, it's going to have to let copyright holders slog through the shit and report the links. [TorrentFreak]
Feature image credit: Unsplash