The Trustworthy
Accountability Group (TAG) recently
launched
what it is calling the Brand Integrity
Program Against Piracy. The program will coordinate with companies in
need of advertising and reliable advertising agencies in an attempt to diminish
the number of advertisements that appear on websites which facilitate access to
illegal content or counterfeit goods.
The Brand
Integrity Program Against Piracy was supported at its launch by the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce and a several organizations and companies involved in advertising,
online publishing, advertising technology, media, and consumer protection,
including: - Advertising: Association of National Advertisers (ANA), American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), GroupM Interaction
- Advertising Technology: Collective, DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science, L-3 and MiMTiD, sovrn, Veri-Site, whiteBULLET
- Media: Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), CreativeFuture, Copyright Alliance
- Consumer Protection: International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC)
Any advertising
agency that wants to participate in TAG’s new initiative can do so by using
validated tools and services to identify and prevent advertising from running
on websites which violate core IP principles.
TAG will also
work with third party validators, such as Ernst & Young and Stroz
Friedberg, to certify ad agencies as “Digital Advertising Assurance Providers”
(DAAPs). In order to be certified as a DAAP, advertising agencies must be able
to identify ad risk entities, prevent advertisements on undesired ad risk
entities, detect, prevent or disrupt fraudulent or deceptive transactions, and
eliminate payments to undesired ad risk entities. Once an ad agency is
certified as a DAAP, it can work with companies to ensure that their ads do not
end up on websites with illegal content.
This is a very
important initiative considering there has been a rise in the number of
ad-supported piracy websites. The Digital Citizens Alliance released a February
2014 report entitled “Good Money Gone
Bad,”
concluding that websites selling advertising against illegal content make
roughly $227 million in annual ad revenue. The largest Bit Torrent websites are
making more than $6 million a year, but even some of the smallest websites make
more than $100 thousand a year.
While it is hard
to estimate how much of this ad revenue is lost to the original artists and
brand owners, even a $1 loss to innovators and entrepreneurs due to theft of IP
is very unfortunate. This initiative and other private tools, such as WheretoWatch.com and Rightscorp, are a step in
the right direction towards diminishing the size and scope of online piracy and
the sale counterfeit goods and content.
Strong IP rights
are important for ensuring that content providers, artists, innovators, and
marketers can earn a return on their ideas and labor, incentivizing more
innovation, investment, and economic growth.
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