Photo: Ross HalfinSome of the U.K.'s biggest rock stars have banded together to condemn Google and similar online search engines for allowing users to easily share and download illegal copies of their recordings.
The Who's Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, Elton John and Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor are among the notable stars who have signed a letter sent to The Daily Telegraph calling for a greater focus on stemming online music piracy. The same missive also will be sent to British Prime Minister David Cameron.
"Illegal activity online must be pushed to the margins," reads the message. "This will benefit consumers, giving confidence they are buying safely online from legal websites."
The statement also urges the U.K. government to enforce Britain's 2010 Digital Economy Act, the goal of which is to compel Internet providers and search engines to make a greater effort to curb illegal file sharing. As part of the legislation, online pirates would receive warnings and possibly lose access to the Intenet, but according to The Daily Telegraph, these plans aren't scheduled to be implemented until 2014.
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