UK Cops Slipping Warnings Onto Copyright Infringing Sites

CYBERSPACE—Now comes word that the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) of the London Police are surreptitiously placing warnings about copyright infringement into piracy sites as a way of letting visitors to the site know that British eyes are watching. Dubbed Operation Creative, the warnings are actually placed, or replaced, over ads "that provide access to pirated or copyright infringing material," according to TechCrunch.com. The scheme is rather complicated, and involves the participation of ad networks as well as rights-holders, the police, and even, to an extent, the offending sites, which can mitigate their behavior in order to be taken off a list compiled by PIPCU called the Infringing Websites List (IWL). "Sites end up on the IWL after PIPCU receives a submission from rights holders that the site is infringing IP," reports TechCrunch. "It then conducts a verification process to determine whether the site should be on the list or not. It says it’s working actively with the BPI, FACT, IFPI and the Publishers’ Association to keep the IWL up-to-date." While the project is tinged with secrecy—"The IWL has not being made public, beyond PIPCU sharing it with the digital ad sales traders and networks it’s working with on this operation, namely the IAB UK, ISBA and IPA."—the justification for keeping the list on the down-low, a spokesperson told TechCrunch, is "because the aim is to work with infringing websites to switch them over to a legal path—so it doesn’t want to name and shame publicly when the website in question may subsequently clean up its act." The new scheme is cauterized as an attempt to influence problematic sites to engage with the government before it's too late. "We’re giving them enough time to legitimize themselves, correcting their behavior," said the spokesperson. "It’s kind of a new innovative policing, rather than going and arresting people; it’s a different way of dealing with this stuff." Interestingly, the plan to replace infringing ads rather than just block them came about after a failed attempt last year that resulted in "ad space being replaced with malware." According to TechCrunch, "The latest move seeks to avoid that consequence by not just blocking content from certain ad networks but replacing banners on sites with police warnings instead." Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fyfe, head of PIPCU, also justified the new practice, saying in a statement, “If an advert from an established brand appears on an infringing website not only does it lend the site a look of legitimacy, but inadvertently the brand and advertiser are funding online crime. Therefore the IWL also serves as a safety tool, ensuring the reputation of advertisers and brands are not discredited through association with illegal websites.” Responding to a query from the site, PIPCU further clarified that "the advert replacement possibly could be seen overseas, however it is more than likely to be mostly UK based.” However, when asked if PIPCU logs the IP addresses of people visiting infringing sites, the spokesperson responded ominously, “As this is a police operation, we cannot disclose all details of the initiative however we can confirm that a number of tactical approaches are used by PIPCU as part of Operation Creative.”