uk Music stars attack Google over piracy

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Pete Townshend and Brian May attack Google over piracy

Pete Townshend of The Who and Brian May of Queen today lead a group of rock and pop stars in a public attack on internet search engines like Google for helping users get access to pirate copies of their music.

Sir Elton John, Lord Lloyd Webber and the rapper Tinie Tempah are among other leading musical figures who have signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph calling for more action to tackle the illegal copying and distribution of music.

Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, the producer Simon Cowell, and Professor Green, another rapper, are also among the signatories.

The letter, which will also be sent to David Cameron this week, highlights the role that search engines can play in giving people access to illegal copies.

Search engines must ?play their part in protecting consumers and creators from illegal sites,? the signatories say, adding that broadband companies and online advertisers must also do more to prevent piracy.

The intervention is the latest phase of a public row between the British music industry and Google, the world?s biggest internet search engine.

The BPI, the music industry body, has accused Google of making it easy for users to find links to filesharing websites where they can download pirate music freely.

Google denies supporting piracy and says it removes millions of links a month from its listings after requests from music publishers.

The stars? letter also urges ministers to move more quickly to implement anti-piracy laws passed two years ago.

The 2010 Digital Economy Act set out plans to send people downloading pirate material to be sent warning letters and potentially have their internet access cut off. Those plans will not be implemented until 2014.

The stars? letter points out that the London Olympics will put new global attention on Britain?s creative industries, and argues that the country is well-placed to increase its exports from the music industry.

?We can realise this potential only if we have a strong domestic copyright framework, so that UK creative industries can earn a fair return on their huge investments creating original content,? the signatories say, calling for illegal activity online to be ?pushed to the margins?.

They add: ?The simplest way to ensure this would be to implement swiftly the long overdue measures in the Digital Economy Act 2010 and to ensure broadband providers, search engines and online advertisers play their part in protecting consumers and creators from illegal sites.?

Source: The Telegraph

[thealexweb]

Once Digital Britain is implemented we'll have one of the most draconian anti-file sharing systems in the world, what more do they want? -.-

[Praetor]

oh dear...

EDIT: eh i just realized it's been 10 years since I've joined Neowin (05/06/2012). Congrats me!

[georgevella]

Itt's their product really so I get it why they want to do this, but, it's bordering on censorship.

[He's Dead Jim]

Different strokes,

The BPI is responsible for scaring people.

I went round some charity shops the other day with some DVDs of my own work, I offered a % sale or return,

They all flipped me the bird, citing "fear of copyright infringement and its legal consequences",

If these artists offer a saleable product our long suffering music fans will buy it.

They're basically grumpy old men whose time has been.

Do we hear Justin Bieber, Rebecca Black, complaining???

[mps69]

So by stopping Google showing people where to get pirated music will make the problem go away.

Yeah let me know how that works out for you. :hmmm:

[Cody Williams]

i always figured blaming Google for links is like blaming the government for crime since they build the streets that the criminals use to drive on. Get rid of the streets so crime will drop! /s

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

So two old has-beens who make money solely from royalties and produce nothing new (of any worth) have been advised by lawyers to follow this bandwagon.

Google does NOTHING wrong. In my view, they would be doing wrong by censoring results just because a site MAY contain pirated material.

[spacer]

Yet another instance where non-technical people just simply don't understand how stuff works. Search engines are not the problem. Forcing them to suppress links to known piracy sites will not stop piracy or put a dent in it. And even you could force them to, what's to stop people from posting links to those piracy sites on other, legitimate sites? Does Google then have to ban those new sites as well? When does it end?

I wish people would educate themselves before demanding action. They not only make themselves look like fools; but, if they get their way they make it infinitely worse for everyone for no tangible benefit.

[nvllsvm]

Itt's their product really so I get it why they want to do this, but, it's bordering on censorship.

Or rather, it is most certainly devaluing physical property rights by placing intellectual property above it. I still fail to understand how one can forbid another from flipping bits on a hard drive to match that of another. Forbidding that essentially cedes partial ownership of private physical property to a third unassociated party.

Intellectual property = essentially infinitely reproducible

Physical property = scarcity applies

[Azusa]

The irony is they more than likely said in one of two interviews they were forward thinkers...

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Won't be long before the only Google results that can be displayed are Justin Bieber and the Teletubbies.

[encarta]

[Growled Member]

I think I can easily pick out the downloaders in this thread.

[Hum]

^ I would never do that. :p

[Raa]

Stop living in the past guys. The internet is the future, get on it, or get left behind!

Haven't they learnt? Lawsuits aren't working.

[+Xinok Subscriber²]

I think I can easily pick out the downloaders in this thread.

Granted, the pirates love to use these excuses. But when you look at countries like China that censor websites for no justifiable reason, there's genuine reason to prevent censorship of any form, no matter how good the intentions may be.

[simplezz]

Once Digital Britain is implemented we'll have one of the most draconian anti-file sharing systems in the world, what more do they want? -.-

The total destruction of the internet. Because nothing else will do what they want, which is total control over the distribution, pricing, format, and consumption of all media.

The IFPI and BPI no doubt encouraged this.

[Growled Member]

Granted, the pirates love to use these excuses. But when you look at countries like China that censor websites for no justifiable reason, there's genuine reason to prevent censorship of any form, no matter how good the intentions may be.

You have a good point there.

[MtnDewCodeRedFreak]

Oh well, then hello alternatives - like file-sharing via IM or email attachments.

I laugh at those dumbasses.

[ViperAFK]

Surprise, a bunch of old people trying to push draconian laws.

[exotoxic]

piracy is a must for me, not to rip off artists but to find new tracks. I am in to EDM, many tracks are released everyday across a bunch of sites and each site has its "exclusive" tracks so i would have to spend quite a long time going through each site checking all the new and exclusive tracks. Using piracy all the new tracks are added to torrent sites for example which is nice and convenient central point, download them, scan through, add the ones i like to the shopping list delete the rubbish. This is a much more productive way of doing things.

[Dashel]

The 2010 Digital Economy Act set out plans to send people downloading pirate material to be sent warning letters and potentially have their internet access cut off. Those plans will not be implemented until 2014.

I laughed. Ah, hobbiton. You need a little taste of some DMCA, bitches.

[SharpGreen]

Here we have two more poor souls whom the music industry has convinced that piracy actually affects profits.

[sagum]

I hope they ban access to google like they have done TPB, that would be so funny... I assume by google they mean google's youtube.

If I was google, I'd

1. Just say, ok thats fine with us we'll just remove EVERYSINGLE keyword relating to your names from search results that come from the UK.

2. Charge them a fee everytime someone searches for a banned keyword.

3. take them to court on the grounds the artists such as elton john failed to protect their own music properly and has now caused loss of earnings having to clear up their mess for letting our uses to be able to index their pirated music in the first place. DRM amidoingitright.mp3?