Microsoft and several other of the world’s leading technology companies are pushing on with the fight against online Piracy today as the companies have announced new plans to tackle the Advertising revenue that Pirate sites (like Piratebay.org) are getting from adverts.
Tech giants such as Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and AOL have formed an initiative that could lead to adverts being withdrawn from websites found to be pirating media or selling counterfeit items. This will drastically reduce the amount of revenue the sites get and offer another solution to killing off the pirates.
The tech firms have teamed up with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) where they have agreed a set of ‘best practices’ that allow them to turn down business from websites that sell fake goods or violate copyright law.
See also: Game of Thrones Season 3 Premiere Illegally Downloaded By 1-Million Viewers
Microsoft has commented on the changes in a blog post: “Microsoft is pleased to be a part of this collective effort to combat piracy, and to help ensure a healthy advertising ecosystem,” said Microsoft’s Fred Humphries. “We applaud the Administration’s leadership on intellectual property and innovation, as well as the public-private collaboration that made these Best Practices a reality.”
And Yahoo have had their say too with Linda Covington, Yahoo’s IP policy head stating: “Ultimately, we want to create and maintain a healthy online space, promote innovation, and protect intellectual property,”
So much has been done in recent years to stop Piracy but with many official and government related systems blaming tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo for not doing enough to combat Piracy this new Initiative seems to be a step in the direction of a Pirate free world!