10 months ago, British music body the BPI had reported 50m URLs to Google that it believed to be infringing, in order to get them removed from its search listings. Now that total stands at more than 100m, meaning the body has averaged 5m takedown notices a month in 2014. TorrentFreak notes that this makes the BPI the biggest filer of takedowns with Google, ahead of Degban (99m) and the RIAA (57m). “This milestone makes two things very clear. First, that however much creators do, the system of ‘notice and takedown’ will never be enough on its own to protect them or consumers from the online black market, or to spur growth in the digital economy,” said a BPI spokesperson. “Second, that despite its clear knowledge as to which sites are engines of piracy, Google continues to help build their illegal businesses, by giving them a prominent ranking in search results.” But the ball may now be in rightsholders’ court when it comes to next steps to persuade (or force) Google to take more action against sites like 4shared, which has attracted more than 10m takedowns so far.

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