Out-Law News 3 min. read
22 Jul 2011, 10:34 am
The Performing Rights Society for Music (PRSM) has proposed that search engines display 'traffic light' marks to allow internet users to determine what content is legitimate. It says the measure would help combat against illegal file-sharing by appealing to users' moral conscience.
"'Traffic lights' is an industry-led, non-legislative concept to signal the status of a site to users, creating a clear distinction between legal and illegal content," the PRSM said in an outline of the plans seen by OUT-LAW.
"They would allow users to assess a website and its potential risks before they download from it," the document said. "It performs the critical role of establishing a distinction between good and bad in the minds of users, which we hope will be enough to deter 90% of users from accessing problem sites. This distinction is vital and provides the bedrock for an escalating series of measures to deal with the remaining determined offenders."
The 'traffic lights' should take the form of green 'ticks' and red 'crosses' and appear next to links in search engine results to signal the legitimacy of websites' content and all websites would originally be marked with a green tick, the PRSM said.
"Green ticks are the default for all sites. The proposal follows the principle that sites are innocent until guilty and therefore free to compete on a level playing field. Red lights are used to indicate a risk. We propose building upon the existing principles of notice and takedown which is clearly established and is used by rights holders extensively today," the PRSM document said.
Under UK copyright laws copyright holders can ask the courts to issue an order forcing website owners to remove material that infringes their copyright. The court also has the power to grant injunctions against service providers that have actual knowledge of use of their services to infringe copyright.
Rights holders can also ask website registrars to remove material on websites registered with them if that material infringes their copyright. Registrars often enter into contracts with website owners prohibiting illegal copyrighted material from being posted on websites it registers. Registrars are under no legal obligation to remove the content following rights holders’ requests.
Links should be marked with a red cross on search engine results if websites ignore a number of takedown requests, the PRSM said.
"In effect, traffic lights provide an incentive structure so that sites are encouraged [to] license content legitimately as well as penalising sites which refuse to take down illegal content," the music licensing group said.
An independent "authority body" would be given responsibility for ensuring that rights holders' claims about websites' content and reaction to notice and takedown requests is "backed up by numbers and evidence of malpractice", the PRSM said.
The marks could be applied to foreign and UK websites to help consumers choose legitimate sites, it said.
If implemented the measures would build on existing consumer awareness aids that accompany some search engine results. Internet security software on Windows operating systems display green ticks next to links to websites to inform users that the site is "safe" from viruses and other security threats.
"This traffic lights proposal extends these services to inform users of potential copyright issues with a site, as well as other unfair or unsafe trading practices," the PRSM said.
The PRSM said that the 'traffic lights' system would solve a problem identified in a Government-commissioned review of intellectual property (IP) laws earlier this year. The Hargreaves Report said that consumers could not always tell "whether a music service is providing copyright material illegally unless the supplier chooses to put the skull and crossbones on its mainsail".
"Traffic lights is a solution which addresses this uncertainty with the intended impact that it nudges consumers in a legal (and safe) direction," the PRSM said.
The PRSM said it would like to work with internet service providers, internet security software providers and rights holders to introduce the traffic lights system "as soon as practicably possible".
The UK Government is expected to announce its formal response to the Hargreaves Report shortly.
