Google is doing an elaborate bit of hand waving around those pesky pirate sites, by looking into cutting their funding says the Telegraph. Visa, Mastercard and PayPal have famously shut off funding to Wikileaks back in 2011, so Google reckons why not have them cut off funding to those pirate sites too. But here's the thing, Google doesn't pay out their adsense dosh via Visa or Mastercard, they pay you by check or bank deposit. So to reiterate, Google is cutting off imaginary funding through payment systems it doesn't use, in order to hurt those pirate sites that so often use Adsense. Dropping the search rankings of said site? Yeah, that won't be happening either. But watch out, this funding-strangle may have consequences for legit sites who use credit cards as forms of payment, and Google knows it full well.

The Californian company is wary that the radical plan may have unintended consequences, for instance companies using it to stamp out the competition, but it is thrashing out details and could put it into action in the spring.
A Mastercard spokesman said: “Mastercard takes online safety and security seriously. We work closely with our part­ners to ensure the best possible experience when using elec­tronic payments.” Visa gave no comment. Pay-Pal did not return a request for comment.