A traffic lights system is touted to tackle online 'piracy'

A TRAFFIC LIGHTS SYSTEM could be implemented as part of industry measures to discourage copyright infringement.

The measure was suggested this morning at a Westminster Eforum called "Implementing the Digital Economy Act - site blocking, notifications and encouraging behavioural change".

Frances Lowe, director of regulatory and corporate affairs at the Performing Rights Society for music said traffic lights could create the distinction between licensed and unlicensed content and tell the user if a web site is "rogue" before they click on it.

She said, "We have confirmed that the consumer is confused. Only one in four say they know which sites offer legal content and which do not."

Lowe said that 91 per cent of people said a traffic lights system would help, while 74 per cent said it would definitely, probably, or may change their behaviour. We, of course, have taken note of the 'probably' and 'may' in that survey question wording.

Google, which also had a representative at the event, disagreed with the traffic lights idea, with a spokeswoman saying, "Google would want to work with rights holders to promote 'good' sites and we think that would work better than traffic lights."

She added that a traffic lights system could end up favouring the bigger companies so that smaller, "legal" companies might end up getting ignored on the web.

Meanwhile, also during the forum, Warner Brothers VP EMEA of anti-piracy operations, Trevor Albery said that outside of the Digital Economy Act, the industry needs to bring down activities that promote copyright infringement, like using cameras in cinemas and loading the content online.

He said, "It's our view that the cooperation needs to expand beyond ISPs to search engines, social networks and advertising networks." µ