Now Opens A New Front: Copyright Industry Calls For Broad Search Engine Censorship

[stockholmer]

http://torrentfreak.com/copyright-industry-calls-for-broad-search-engine-censorship-120127/

At a behind-closed-doors meeting facilitated by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, copyright holders have handed out a list of demands to Google, Bing and Yahoo. To curb the growing piracy problem, Hollywood and the major music labels want the search engines to de-list popular filesharing sites such as The Pirate Bay, and give higher ranking to authorized sites.

It’s no secret that the entertainment industries believe search engines are not delivering enough when it comes to protecting copyright works. Just last month, the RIAA and IFPI accused Google http://torrentfreak.com/ifpi-and-riaa-patronize-google-with-anti-piracy-report-card-111220/ of massively profiting from piracy, while putting up barriers to make life difficult for rightsholders. If the copyright industry had their way, Google and other search engines would no longer link to sites such as The Pirate Bay and isoHunt. In a detailed proposal handed out during a meeting with Google, Yahoo and Bing, various copyright holders made their demands clear.

The document, which describes a government-overlooked “Voluntary Code of Practice” for search engines, was not intended for public consumption but the Open Rights Group http://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2011/new-powers-over-search-results-proposed obtained it through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. In short, the rightsholders want the search engines to make substantial changes so that pirated content becomes harder to find, or is de-listed entirely. In addition, they want to boost the rankings of licensed content. Below are the three new measures they propose.

•Assign lower rankings to sites that repeatedly make available unlicensed content in breach of copyright
•Prioritize websites that obtain certification as a licensed site under a recognised scheme
•Stop indexing websites that are subject to court orders while establishing suitable procedures to de-index substantially infringing sites


snip


the document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/79607883/Proposals-to-Search-Engines

[Joe Shlabotnik]

1. Remain vigilant.

Just because sopa and pipa are shelved means little. Their shelving is a small victory, but by far the war is not over. Acta is chilling, now this. The PTB will NEVER give up an ounce of control without a fight, and they play a long game with vested interests and the money to stay in the game. They are scared. Our number 1 tool to fight back is our ability to find and share information and to organize. Don't let the war on drugs, war on terror, stopping child pornography, copyright infringement, etc be the buzz words that scare the average person into submission.

[stockholmer]

2. yes, SOPA and PIPA are far from dead

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002212057


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http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/oxm1c/pipa_and_sopa_are_far_from_dead_just_received/

PIPA (and SOPA) are far from dead. Just received this from an IL Senator (Dick Durbin) that basically says, "F**k off and leave it to us pros to keep negotiating away your rights"

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http://news.consumerreports.org/electronics/2012/01/sopa-and-pipa-far-from-dead-despite-concerns-of-white-house-and-changes-to-bills.html

SOPA and PIPA far from dead, despite concerns of White House and changes to bills