UK creative industries partner with search engines to battle piracy

Creative industries and search engines Google and Bing have partnered to produce a voluntary Code of Practice that will stunt the prevalence of illegal copyright infringing pirate sites showing up on search engines.

A first-of-its-kind initiative driven by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) with the support of the UK Government, the Code will increase cooperation and information sharing between key entities to develop and improve the process of ousting pirate sites. It will also enable new practices to be adopted where needed.

It ensures that consumers will not inadvertently be led to illegal sites when searching for MP3 downloads, while also severing the possibility of being exposed to malicious software and malware.

Furthermore, when Google and Bing users search for music downloads, the chance of being led to infringing sites will be lessened with the improvement of autocomplete suggestions that will no longer make recommendations to visit illegal sites.  

However, the Code will not alleviate pirate sites for good, just make them less accessible and efficient for consumers to reach.

This partnership will run in parallel with existing anti-piracy measures aimed at reducing online infringement. These include court ordered site blocking, as well as working together with brands to reduce advertising on illegal sites. 

Education campaign Get it Right from a Genuine Site is another initiative which encourages fans to value the creative process and directs them to legal sources of content.

Chief Executive BPI, Geoff Taylor, said: “The Code will not be a silver bullet fix, but it will mean that illegal sites are demoted more quickly from search results and that fans searching for music are more likely to find a fair site.”

TMN have reached out to Google for comment.