Industry plans to limit ads on illegal websites

Woods: Operation Creative
Woods: Operation Creative

ISBA, the Internet Advertising Bureau, the IPA and the City of London Police are planning to launch a major crackdown on ads appearing on illegal websites by the end of the month.

The group, working under the name "Operation Creative", is preparing to roll out a register of sites that are using copyrighted content illegally, with support from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport.

From 31 March, the Infringing Sites Register will be made available online to advertisers, which will be asked not to place ads on these sites in order to reduce their income.

The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit is running the operation.

Jon Woods, ISBA’s president and the general manager of Coca-Cola UK and Ireland, said at the annual ISBA conference this week that the initiative was about preventing "inadvertently placed ads" from funding illegal sites.

A three-month pilot scheme took place last year.

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