The London Police has started to show piracy warnings on websites distributing pirated music and movies. The warnings appear on the websites where normally are other advertisements. The warning calls the users to leave the page.
The warnings replace paid advertisements on the site and are part of Operation Creative of the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit. Showing the warnings on spots where normally paid advertisements show up are crucial in the fight against internet piracy, according to a spokesmen of the Unit. According to him, piracy sites earn lots of money with the banner ads, and banners of well known brands also give the sites an appearance of legitimacy.
The London Police is using technology of the company Project Sunblock. Large brands use services of this company to avoid showing theirs to appear on sites with dubious or illegal content. Banners are often served by large advertising networks where brands have no control on where their ads appear. Project Sunblock does monitor where the ads appear and as a page is on a list of Infringing Websites of the London Police, the the service shows a warning instead of an advertisement.
The infringing websites do not earn money when the warning is displayed. The List of Infringing Websites was announced at the end of April this year, it's unknown which sites are on it.
