The search giant has been removing more general terms like "torrent", "BitTorrent" and "RapidShare" from its auto-complete and auto-search functions since January. While users could still successfully search for the terms, they weren't offered by Google until the full word is typed. There was a sharp decrease in searches for the terms as a result.

Searches including "thepiratebay," "the pirate bay," "isohunt," "torrentreactor," "btjunkie," "kickasstorrents," "sumotorrent," "btmon," "extratorrent" and many others are now excluded as well.

While Google has been ...