back to article UK cops: Keep yer golden doubloons, ad folk. Yon websites belong to pirates

British police have launched a who's who of pirating websites in an attempt to stop advertisers from spending money with sites deemed illegal. The Infringing Website List is hoping to cut copyright-breaking websites off at the knees by stopping their top source of revenue: advertising. The database will be available to brands …

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  1. JimmyPage Silver badge
    FAIL

    Oh Yeah ?

    888.com and BetFred both advertise on TPB, and I'm pretty certain they know exactly where their dollars are going.

    Isn't this what bitcoins were invented for ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oh Yeah ?

      "888.com and BetFred both advertise on TPB, and I'm pretty certain they know exactly where their dollars are going."

      They pretend not to.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Oh Yeah ?

        What about all those advertisers who pay for ads on the sites and in print of tabloid newspapers?

        If the advetisers don't read the Guardian/Private Eye they might not have heard of the illegal phone hacking activities by the newspapers. With this legislation the CoLP will be able to warn people not to advertise in the Sun.

  2. Michael 28
    Happy

    Great.!

    as soon as that list is available, patch and paste into iptables blacklist (NOT whitelist!) . That'll teach 'em to suck up my bandwidth!

    1. oddie

      Re: Great.!

      Nonono, not the companies that advertise, the companies that are advertised ON..

      I agree though.. if only this was a list over all IP's from ad-slingers :)

  3. Richard 1

    Seriously?

    Right. So we're going to ask the good ol' chaps at big advertising companies to grow a conscience and avoid sites that peddle pirate software, even if it brings in great click-throughs? Yeah, good luck with that one. What about companies with international holdings? Why would they care about a site in a different company with copyright infringing material?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Seriously?

      I'm still not sure why 'pirate sites' would get great clickthroughs to begin with. I mean, who the hell goes looking for a NOCD patch for some game they got in 1998, and then says to himself, "Hey - I wanted to play some Unreal, but all of these hot girls are like living *right next to me*! I'm gonna get me some of THAT action! *click*"?

  4. Dave Pickles

    'Evidenced and verified'

    But not tested in a court of law. Hmmm...

    1. Richard Barnes

      Re: 'Evidenced and verified'

      Exactly. It seems that the police need to be reminded that it's a court of law that decides on whether a crime or a tort has been committed, not them. I'm sure they'd love to do away with that whole tedious trial process, but hey, rule of law etc.

      1. Ted Treen
        Pint

        Re: 'Evidenced and verified'

        Of course they would:- but I look forward to the time when someone on the list, but otherwise unconvicted, tests their inclusion under the UK's (archaic & draconian) libel laws...

      2. Suricou Raven

        Re: 'Evidenced and verified'

        You're thinking of the normal police. The CoLP are a law unto themselves.

        1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

          Re: 'Evidenced and verified'

          But the CoLP are in charge of policing the city. And we know what a great job they have done making sure that none of the financial institutions in their jurisdiction never do anything criminal.

          Shouldn't they be allowed to spread their expertise further?

    2. Anon5000

      Re: 'Evidenced and verified'

      None of what the City of London Police do for their Hollywood friends has any basis in law.

      Previously they have 'asked nicely' some admins, with public whois details who reside in the UK, to close down their site but not taken any legal action. They also wrote to domain registrars to ask them to suspend domains even though there was no legal basis and often the sites were not registered or hosted in the UK, so totally our of their jurisdiction too.

      Now once again we see them attacking sites based on MPAA/RIAA wish list without any legal oversight and probably no jurisdiction again either.

      The City of London Police are just corporate lap dogs using their name in an attempt to achieve results without any legal backing.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Excellent...

    ...It will be very handy to have pre-compiled (and verified!) list of the best places to get all the latest blockbusters and pr0n

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Perfect, just waiting...

    ... for that list to be leaked onto the internet so we can all use the yell.com of pirate sites. The establishment has been jolly nice supplying us with all these links to naughty sites, thank god for Barbara Streisand.

    1. Stretch

      Re: Perfect, just waiting...

      There are easier ways, such as Google's list of all DMCAs it receives.

    2. auburnman
      Pint

      Re: Perfect, just waiting...

      Pint to the clever plod who convinced his/her bosses that compiling this list and putting it online would be a good idea. BOFH would be proud.

  7. WibbleMe

    Forgive my ignorance but would it just not be easier to block the domain from being accessed in the UK?

    1. heyrick Silver badge

      No, because they might have to involve an actual legal process in order to get entire websites blocked.

      1. Ripperroo

        you can't block what you don't host.

        it would be like trying to stop the sun from shining, it can't be done effectively - all you have to do to circumvent the block is to find a proxy in a country that DOESN'T block the site in question and you are past the block put on in your own country.

        also pirate bay have released 'the pirate browser' that can access all these blocked sites via the TOR network making it impossible to block the sites as you completely bypass the blocks put in place by your ISP.

        1. Fluffy Bunny
          Holmes

          Re: you can't block what you don't host.

          You're missing the whole point here. The muppets aren't trying to block the sites. They are trying to deny them their income stream. It could be quite effective. Or, they could just replace regular ads with ones for online gambling.

    2. JimmyPage Silver badge
      Stop

      @WibbleMe

      without a court order ?

      1. WibbleMe

        Re: @WibbleMe

        Well bulk class action... we get parking tickets and speeding fines with out court so if one is blocked then put a support ticket to the London Met

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: @WibbleMe

        without a court order ?

        get the IWF to add it to their blacklist..need for pesky legal oversight thusly removed...

        Quangos, got to love them..

    3. nsld
      Paris Hilton

      It would

      But that requires court action, legal arguments, obtaining injunctions and serving them and all those other time consuming and expensive legal oversights.

      Instead what we have here is the content industry drawing up a wish list of sites they want to impact and then the tame muppets from the City of London Police to sign off on the list to give it a semblance of legality, after all, the police never get it wrong do they?

      Of course we all know that everyone's favourite not evil search engine indexes torrents, will we see the plod blacklisting that site and cutting off its revenue stream? Perhaps I should google for the answer......

      1. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
        FAIL

        Re: It would

        plus that other thing the copyright mafiaa hate so much, evidence.

    4. Crisp

      Re: block the domain from being accessed

      Great idea :) That should solve the problem once and for all!

    5. oddie

      what to do if you want to arrest someone who annoyingly keeps not comitting a crime?

      "Forgive my ignorance but would it just not be easier to block the domain from being accessed in the UK?"

      -but what if the site in question isn't actually doing anything _illegal_, or even dodgy enough to get it blocked.. or even worse.. it IS illegal/unlawful/could potentially be used to commit something which technically isn't actually a crime, and you CAN have it blocked, but outside of the UK, somewhere, someone is viewing said adds?

      What is needed her is obviously the online equivalent of being able to arrest someone for wearing a loud shirt in a built-up area :)

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO8EpfyCG2Y

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: what to do if you want to arrest someone who annoyingly keeps not comitting a crime?

        > What is needed her is obviously the online equivalent of being able to arrest someone for wearing a loud shirt in a built-up area :)

        This is pretty sad, probably, but without following the link I already know you're talking about Constable Savage. :-b

      2. Private Citizen.AU

        Re: what to do if you want to arrest someone who annoyingly keeps not comitting a crime?

        I thought the Brits invented something for that - the ASBO, I suspect 600 years of common law took a uturn about there.

    6. Suricou Raven

      That's probably the next step.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    looks at Digital Citizens Alliance

    Sees headline of 'Which side is Google on?'

    Text in images etc etc etc

    puts site into the Luddites bucket

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      So much text in so many images

      WAI means nothing to these guys

      And they're the White Knights?

      1. ElReg!comments!Pierre

        Actual CnP from their site:

        " The companies that run the Internet, companies like Google"

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    oh blimey, a javascript redirector from the root document into some godforsaken directory and a defined default document

    awesome

  10. Anonymous Coward 101

    Aren't most of the ads on these sites selling shite like 'steroid alternatives', penis pills and porn? As parodied near the end of this comic on The Oatmeal:

    http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones

    1. Suricou Raven

      That's because the big ad-providers refuse to serve infringing sites already. So they have to take whatever advertisements they can get - generally that means scammers and other people who are willing to be associated with sites of dubious legality.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      > Aren't most of the ads on these sites selling ... penis pills ...

      Quick, somebody tell Mr Clifford.

  11. WonkoTheSane
    Pirate

    Intentional confusion of TLAs?

    Infringing Websites List - list of sites deemed nasty by MAFIAA*

    Internet Watch List - list of sites deemed nasty by Mumsnet & Daily Fail

    * (Music And Film Industry Associations of America)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Intentional confusion of TLAs?

      No, sites that profit by ripping off the honest indie band, indie film-maker etc.

      Hollywood can look after itself. It's the smallest outfits who are hurt most by freetard businesses.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Intentional confusion of TLAs?

        > It's the smallest outfits who are hurt most by freetard businesses.

        Diametrically wrong. The "smallest outfits" as you call them, are the ones that thrive in the free sharing environment. Cf also crowdfunding.

  12. Crisp

    "We are not making the IWL public."

    Then how am I supposed to check to see if any of my websites are on it?

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: "Then how am I supposed to check ..."

      You're not. This is a Double Jeopardy thing where, if they find you guilty on one account, they can automatically double the sentence by grandly stating that you were also in cahoots with one of these evil (as defined by corporate copyright holders) sites to defeat Freedom and Liberty for All.

      Then they do a Grand Slam by noting that your nefarious activities were tantamount to terrism, and the heavy metal door goes Clang! on your future while the music industry snorts another line of white off a pristine hooker's bum in celebration of its benevolent oversight.

      All they're doing is setting up a stool so that we fall from higher up when they "catch" us.

  13. bigtimehustler

    Errr, evidenced and verified by the city of london police? So basically bollocks then unless tested in court? The police need to get back to their jobs, presenting evidence to the courts, not compiling databases of unverified nonsense.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The database will be available to brands and companies that buy ads

    and to all the piratebay (proxy) users in the UK. There's nothing like harmonious cooperation of pirates, businesses and met police!

    1. TheOtherHobbes

      Re: The database will be available to brands and companies that buy ads

      >The database will be available to brands and companies that buy ads and to all the piratebay (proxy) users in the UK.

      It'll probably be torrented tomorrow.

      1. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart

        Re: The database will be available to brands and companies that buy ads

        >The database will be available to brands and companies that buy ads and to all the piratebay (proxy) users in the UK.

        It'll probably be torrented tomorrow.

        Or left on a train on a USB key

  15. astrax

    Might not have the expected results...

    It could be that this newly created db of 'illegal' sites may actually be more useful to marketing companies than expected; now there exists a single source of potential targets to get cheap(er) web advertising! Now, I'm not saying the entire marketing sector is totally unscrupulous, I'm just saying that the entire marketing sector is totally unscrupulous.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "It is essential we protect our creative industries from people ripping off their content online,"

    Who is protecting the consumer from getting ripped off by the creative industries online ?

  17. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Devil

    Motes, beams, pots, kettles...

    "City of London Police". Aren't they the Robber Baron's Praetorian Guard?

  18. Gordon Pryra

    sites will be "identified by the creative industries"

    Sounds like the BPI dictating UK laws again.

    Just who on the BPI has friends in high places or how much of their cash is going directly into bribes?

    Defend it with the much loved "think of the children!" defense all you want, but these guys should not be in the position of power they seem to be with our legal system and legislators.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: sites will be "identified by the creative industries"

      Remember Peter Mandelson being a guest of David Geffen's boat in Corfu:

      http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/aug/18/peter-mandelson-political-briefing

  19. Salts

    Never mind the...

    bollocks, why waste all the time, money and effort on this, just advise people to install adblock plus :-)

  20. Velv
    Pirate

    "The database will be available to brands and companies that buy ads"

    I own a UK Registered Limited Company.

    Google sent me a voucher for £75 worth of AdWords, I might think about using it.

    How do I get access to the list?

    (tee hee)

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Usually, exactly the people that advertisers are looking for are on the more interesting sites

  22. Someone Else Silver badge
    Coat

    "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," PIPCU's head, detective chief inspector Andy Fyfe, said in a canned statement

    Would that be Barney's British cousin?

  23. David 45

    Deemed illegal?

    By whom, I might ask? Is this the police acting as judge and jury again, as per. the City Of London police not too long ago? Due process, anyone? On the face of it, looks like an attempt to by-pass the courts yet again.

  24. cd

    Such a shame...

    ..that the acronym couldn't work out to PICPU.

  25. Craig Cruden

    Finally a list I can use

    I want to make sure all my advertising goes to support piracy sites only and this is just what I was looking for :p

  26. oldcoder

    New business plan for "pirate sites"...

    Put ads on it for free...

    But make the companies PAY to have them removed...

    "Nice business you have there... too bad it is associated with a pirate web site..."

    :)

  27. T J

    This is really a bit.... sad.... overall. The rozzers have resorted to this. Can't be long before they (rightly) give up entirely and go after corporate tax frauds and other rapists like we pay them to.

    1. ElReg!comments!Pierre

      You pay them to do this

      It's the Intellectual Property Crime Unit, their very raison d'être is to be Big Media's private police paid on the taxpayer's money. So, it's very unlikely they will ever stop.

  28. promytius

    so where exactly will admen develop this sudden morality from?

    Yes, Martha, admen do have souls...of course, they were all authorized by Satan, and approved by the Board of the Seven Deadly Sins. OF COURSE they'll comply!

    Resistance is futile.

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