9 December 2013Copyright

Police operation cuts advertising on piracy sites

UK police say they have helped to reduce advertising on copyright-infringing websites from “major household” brands by 12 percent.

The data apply to a three-month pilot phase, starting in the summer, during which police officers, rights holders and advertising companies combined to disrupt advertising revenues on websites promoting piracy.

As part of the crackdown, revealed on December 9, rights holders indentified 61 sites providing illegal access to content. Once the police confirmed the illegal activity, the sites were encouraged to correct their behaviour.

Details of the sites failing to work with the police were then sent to 60 brands, agencies and advertising businesses, which were asked to stop advertising on the sites. For the persistent offenders, the police ordered registrars to shut them down, with 40 being barred so far.

A report covering the 61 domains showed that ads from “well-known” brands decreased by 12 percent, while ads offering explicit adult content or exposing people to malware increased by 39 percent, showing that sites may struggle to maintain their revenues when adverts from established brands are removed, the police said

Superintendent Bob Wishart, from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), which led Operation Creative, said the initiative helped officers to get to grips with a criminal industry making substantial profits.

“Together we have created a process that first and foremost encourages offenders to change their behaviour so they are operating within the law. However, if they refuse to comply we now have the means to persuade businesses to move their advertising to different platforms and, if offending continues, for registrars to suspend the websites.”

The operation’s early results show that working with the police and advertisers can help rights owners to disrupt the funding that sustains illegal sites, said Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI).

“We hope to broaden the initiative to include more brands, advertising networks and other online intermediaries, to support innovation and growth in the legal digital music sector,” he added.

David Ellison, marketing services manager at the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (IBSA), said the “vast” sums brands invest in their online advertising can easily be eclipsed by the damage that can be done to a brand’s reputation by one misplaced advert.

Operation Creative helps to protect advertisers by ensuring that their ads don’t appear on illegal, IP infringing websites, thereby starving these sites of revenue advertisers unwittingly provide. The pilot scheme proves that this project can make a difference,” he said.

Along with the BPI and ISBA, the groups working with PIPCU are: the Internet Advertising Bureau UK, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, Federation Against Copyright Theft, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and The Publishers Association.

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