PRS Wants Red Light For Pirates

In a bid to combat music piracy, the Performing Right Society wants search engines to steer fans to legal download sites.

PRS is suggesting a traffic light system that would have mark legal sites with a green tag, while links to illegal download sites would get a red one.

Recent figures from the UK’s British Phonographic Industry say 1.2 billion individual tracks were illegally downloaded last year.
The PRS says the new system is needed, as some don’t know they’re downloading illegally.

“We’re not trying to stop people, this isn’t a legal action, this isn’t site blocking. This is information for consumers and I think that many people want to do the right thing,” said PRS chief Robert Ashcroft.

The technology has already been developed and could be deployed at short notice.

Although Ashcroft is hoping to see some action on the PRS initiative by the end of the year, the proposal may get a mixed reaction from artists and music fans.

Rapper Wretch 32, who earlier this year scored a No. 1 single with “Unorthodox,” says he understands why PRS is making such a suggestion but he thinks the plan is flawed.

“I think 98 percent of people are aware of where they’re getting it from,” he said. “Everyone has got their way of obtaining music and they know exactly where they’re going.”

PRS will now need to convince anti-virus software providers or the most popular search engines to adopt the idea.

The early signs aren’t encouraging, as so far Google, the biggest search engine in the UK, has declined to comment on the plan.
It’s unlikely to deter PRS, which earlier this year persuaded Google to change its Autocomplete search feature.