Part of the ongoing battle against web-based digital music piracy hubs is making sure that it's as difficult as possible for people looking to download music illegally to find and access websites known for committing blatant acts of copyright infringement.
Earlier this month, the RIAA released its annual list of "notorious" sites, which lays out the targets it believes to be the biggest offenders. These include stream-ripping sites, mp3 search/download sites, BitTorrent indexes, cyberlockers, and unlicensed pay-for-download sites.
However, the added scrutiny on these sites does little to lessen their ability to disseminate copyrighted material illegally as long as they remain easily accessible.
However, reporting organizations such as Rivendell and BPI work on behalf of record labels and music creators to closely monitor the chief offenders and submit takedown requests to Google on behalf of license holders. Thanks largely to their efforts, Google has now removed more 3 billion infringing links from its search results.
Obviously, the infringing sites themselves remain accessible if users know which URLs to follow, but the first step in stemming their widespread use is to limit their visibility.
But what's the next step? BPI CEO Geoff Taylor laid out his thoughts in a statement reported on by Digital Music News: "Other intermediaries should follow this lead and take more responsibility to work with creators to reduce the proliferation of illegal links and disrupt the ability of illegal sites to capture consumers and build black market businesses that take money away from creators."
