Advertisers and brand holders can help fight cybercrime...

Advertisers and brand holders can help fight cybercrime by supporting the City of London police intellectual property crime unit’s (PIPCU) infringing website list (IWL), PIPCU said Monday. The IWL, said to be the first of its kind, aims to disrupt ad revenue on illegal websites around the world, the police unit said. It’s part of Operation Creative, an initiative designed to stop websites from providing unauthorized access to copyrighted content. The IWL gives the digital ad sector an up-to-date list of copyright infringing sites, identified by the creative industries and verified by PIPCU, so that advertisers, agencies and other intermediaries can stop placing ads on the sites. The IWL rollout followed a three-month pilot last year in collaboration with the British Recorded Music Industry, Federation Against Copyright Theft, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, Publishers Association, Internet Advertising Bureau UK, Incorporated Society of British Advertisers and Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, PIPCU said. The pilot showed a “clear and positive trend,” with a 12 percent reduction in ads from major brands on the identified illegal websites, it said. The trial also shows that 46 percent of ads served to the sites clicked through to scams, it said.