Some of the world's largest online advertising companies have come up with a new plan to fight sites that trade in pirated materials and counterfeit goods: DMCA-style takedowns. AOL, Condé Nast, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, as well as 24/7 Media, Adtegrity, and SpotXchange have agreed to a new set of "best practices for ad networks to address piracy and counterfeiting." The new plan, created in cooperation with the Obama Administration, allows copyright holders to ask an advertising network to cease supplying ads to a site engaging in copyright piracy or selling phony goods.
Here's how the new set-up might work. Let's say Walt Disney Studios spots a copy of Iron Man 3 (a Disney-distributed movie) on a piracy streaming site. Right next to the video window, Disney sees an ad distributed through AOL's advertising network. Disney would then have to send either a DMCA takedown request or a cease-and-desist letter to the website displaying the infringing content. If the website did not respond or comply with the request, Disney could then notify AOL that ads from its network were appearing next to a pirate stream of the latest Iron Man installment. It would then be up to AOL to blacklist the site and cease to provide advertising on the site.
Since most websites rely on advertising to generate revenue, cutting off ads could make it harder for piracy and counterfeit sites to remain online. The problem: There are numerous online advertising networks out there that may not be so squeamish about where its ad network shows up.
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