Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL have joined forces to offer a new solution in the fight again online piracy, by allowing rightsholders to notify them of infringing websites, sites that will then be banned from receiving advertising dollars.
In the UK, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is also working with the music industry to produce a database of infringing websites.
The former Google et al. led initiative was brokered by the IAB, with help from the White House's copyright czar, Victoria Espinel, and also includes support from 24/7 Media, Adtegrity, Condé Nast and SpotXchange.
Rightsholders will be able to alert these major advertising networks if their ads are being shown on sites suspected of piracy, and all participating ad networks will implement "best practice" guidelines to prevent piracy sites from earning ad dollars.
But despite these new industry led initiatives designed to starve pirates of their funding source, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) reacted with apathy towards this latest gesture of cooperation from the tech industry.
MPAA chairman Chris Dodd criticized the plans of Google, Microsoft and others for placing too much of the anti-piracy burden on the rightsholders, and for it not being broad enough to the liking of the film industry's main copyright lobby.
"An incremental step forward that addresses only a narrow subset of the problem and places a disproportionate amount of the burden on rights holders is not sufficient. Absent meaningful proactive steps by players in every sector -- advertisers, ad agencies, ad placement services, online ad exchanges and rights holders -- the results will be similarly incremental. It is our hope that all parties will work together and build upon today's announcement," Dodd said in a statement.
The Record Industry Association of America (RIAA), the music industry's key trade lobby, was a little bit less harsh in their response. "The real test will come as these practices are implemented, and whether they have a demonstrable impact," said RIAA CEO Cary Sherman.
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