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Google, Microsoft crackdown on piracy.

Code of Conduct in the UK will make it harder to search for pirated content.

Google and Microsoft-owned Bing have signed up to a voluntary code of practice in the UK, making it harder to search for pirated content.

The US tech giants have agreed links to pirate websites will be blocked from the first page of results.

According to The Guardian the agreement will run in parallel with existing anti-piracy measures aimed at reducing online infringement.

These include court ordered site blocking, work with brands to reduce advertising on illegal sites and consumer education campaigns.

Eddy Leviten, director general at the Alliance for Intellectual Property, said: “Sometimes people will search for something and they will end up unwittingly being taken to a pirated piece of content.

“What we want to ensure is that the results at the top of the search engines are the genuine ones.

“It is about protecting people who use the internet, but also protecting the creators of that material too.”

Stan McCoy, of the Motion Picture Association in Europe, said: “Pirate websites are currently much too easy to find via search, so we appreciate the parties’ willingness to try to improve that situation.

“We look forward to working on this initiative alongside many other approaches to fighting online piracy, such as the Get it Right campaign that aims to help educate consumers about the many ways to enjoy film and television content legally and at the time of their choosing.”

Meanwhile the high court in New Zealand has ruled Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom can be extradited to the United States to face a multitude of charges including money laundering and copyright breaches.

The German national, who has permanent residency in New Zealand, faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted in the US of piracy, which authorities say cost copyright owners hundreds of millions of dollars.

6 Responses

  1. It’s much easier for the Movie Industry to get others to put up road-blocks than it is for them to modernize their distribution system. IMO the financial portion of the Copyright should be extinguished the moment a movie is shown on FTA or when I can borrow the DVD at my local public library.

  2. I guess the point that is lost here is that Google etc.feel obliged to kow tow to essentially American corporations in it’s own self interest but have ignored consumer rights since the internet became an open market allowing any number of scams and criminal activities intent on using credit card fraud or extortion. Spyware, malware, trojans and Microsoft’s own exploitation’s is perfectly okay too it seems. The reason why these happen is because the internet is an open forum with free open access which is it’s intended reason to exist.

  3. “The US tech giants have agreed links to pirate websites will be blocked from the first page of results.”

    For a second there the pirates must have got a scare.

    So, what open slather on pages 2 thru to 50,000???

    What a pointless agreement.

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