London Police Placing Anti-Piracy Warning Ads On Illegal Sites 160
mrspoonsi (2955715) writes "The City of London police has started placing banner advertisements on websites believed to be offering pirated content illegally. The messages, which will appear instead of paid-for ads, will ask users to close their web browsers. The move comes as part of a continuing effort to stop piracy sites from earning money through advertising. Police said the ads would make it harder for piracy site owners to make their pages look authentic. "When adverts from well known brands appear on illegal websites, they lend them a look of legitimacy and inadvertently fool consumers into thinking the site is authentic," said Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fyfe from the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (Pipcu). "This new initiative is another step forward for the unit in tackling IP crime and disrupting criminal profits. "Copyright infringing websites are making huge sums of money though advert placement, therefore disrupting advertising on these sites is crucial and this is why it is an integral part of Operation Creative.""
Might fine police work there, Lou! (Score:3, Interesting)
No one confuses Rapidshare for BMG's official site. People go there specifically to download pirated content, full stop. Seeing police ads might scare a few people with the paranoia of thinking "the man" has caught them, but the other 99% of visitors will just thank the police for subsidizing their favorite warez sites.
Truly pathetic, Boys in Blue (Hmm, do Bobbies wear blue?)
The move comes as part of a continuing effort to stop piracy sites from earning money through advertising.
By... Um... Buying banner ads on piracy sites? BRILLIANT!
City of London Police =/= British Police (Score:5, Interesting)
One thing I'd like to point out is that the City of London Police are not the same thing as the British Metropolitan Police. This was something that came up in an article a few months ago where the City of London Police were fighting against piracy. They're basically an area within London that has existed for hundreds of years under corporate rule.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... [wikipedia.org]
The City of London police are basically a corporate police force with an authority that does not go beyond the corporate-controlled City of London area.
Re:Hilarious (Score:5, Interesting)
Without more details it's hard to say, but it sounds like the ad network should file a complaint with the UK and get these overenthusiastic corporate cops charged.
There's a battle to love - ad networks versus the 'city of london.' May they fight forever and leave the rest of us in peace.
There's no such thing as "Illegal" sites (Score:5, Interesting)
Websites by themselves aren't "illegal". Using those terms gives undue legitimacy to copyright maximalists. What is meant here by "illegal" is that they host content which may be infringing on copyright.
Re:Hilarious (Score:5, Interesting)
So what they're doing is infringing the copyright of the allegedly-copyright-infringing website by modifying and redistributing it.
The hypocrisy is think with this one!