An anti-piracy memorandum aimed at removing allegedly-infringing content from search engines is beginning to have an effect in Russia. That’s

according to the chief of the Internet Video Association, an anti-piracy group representing the interests of numerous licensed online video distribution platforms.

In 2018, leading content companies and distributors plus Yandex, Rambler

Group, Mail.Ru Group, vKontakte, and RuTube signed up to a landmark anti-piracy memorandum in Russia.

The aim of the voluntary agreement was to make pirated content harder to find in search engines. This, the organizers said, would be achieved by the creation of a centralized database of allegedly-infringing content to be regularly queried by Internet platforms so that delistings could take place.

The ultimate aim is to have the memorandum written into law but in the meantime, it’s being claimed that the system is already having the desired effect.

Formed in 2013 to protect the interests of several licensed online distribution platforms, the Internet Video Association has grown to become one of the most vocal anti-piracy groups in Russia. Its members

support the memorandum and according to director general Alexei Byrdin,

it is now considered to be achieving its aims.

#piracy #internet-censorship #copyright #data analysis