A host of rock stars have come together recently against the practices of internet search engines, namely Google, that, according to them, allows users to obtain access to pirated copies of their music over the internet.
In a letter addressed to both “The Daily Telegraph” and the Prime Minister, David Cameron, action to stem the copying and distributing music was highlighted, in saying, “The simplest way to ensure this would be to implement swiftly the long overdue measures in the Digital Economy Act 2010 and to ensure broadband providers, search engines and online advertisers play their part in protecting consumers and creators from illegal sites.”
Among the artists who have spoken publicly against Google making it easy for users to find and download music are Elton John, Simon Cowell, Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin), Andrew Lloyd-Webber and most recently, Roger Daltry of The Who and Brian May of Queen.
Google, on the other hand, in being the world’s largest search engine, denies the accusations made by not only the aforementioned artists but the music industry body, the BPI and has responded by saying that it continues to remove millions of links every month based on the requests of music publishers.
With the rules of the 2010 Digital Economy Act, which will send offenders warning letters as well as cut off their internet access, not set to be implemented until 2014, it’s clear that the musicians want these laws, that were passed two years ago, to come into effect as soon as possible.
