A new report has revealed that online piracy websites have experienced an 89 per cent decrease in web traffic since 2014, thanks to crack downs from internet giant Google.
The news will come as a sigh of relief for web-browsers in Britain concerned about ‘accidental’ and ‘low-level’ infringement, after the UK’s Digital Economy Bill recently proposed increased penalties for online copyright infringement.
Under new proposals, infringers could face a maximum penalty of up to ten years’ imprisonment – as opposed to the current maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment.
Since the Digital Economy Bill was first unveiled during the Queen’s Speech in May, casual downloaders and web-browsers across the country have feared that they may be at risk of facing prosecution in the near future.
But Google’s latest study, entitled How Google Fights Piracy, has revealed that websites promoting online streaming and downloading of illegal copyrighted material have experienced a significant reduction in web traffic since 2014, following Google’s ‘downgrading’ of such sites on its search engine’s results pages.
Google’s theory is that if the general public is unable to search for or ‘stumble upon’ online piracy sites while watching, listening to, or downloading content online; copyright infringement will effectively be reduced – and Britons will be less likely to face legal action.
Following the announcement of the proposed Digital Economy Bill, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) has recently called for increased crack downs on online copyright infringement.
However, the UK IPO has also suggested that ‘low-level’ or ‘accidental’ infringers would be unlikely to face severe penalties for ‘casual downloading’.