UK Police Close Filesharing Search Engine FileCrop
Visitors to FileCrop will now get a message from the police, telling them the site is under investigation
The City of London Police has continued its crackdown on sites making illegal downloads of copyrighted material, taking down filesharing search engine FileCrop.
Anyone visiting the website will now be greeted with a notice from the London force’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU).
Filesharing crackdown continues
“This site is being investigated for online copyright infringement,” the notice read, according to TorrentFreak. “You have tried to access a website that is under criminal investigation.”
From a typical Virgin Media broadband connection, visitors to FileCrop will be told: “Sorry, the web page you have requested is not available through Virgin Media.
“Virgin Media has received an order from the Courts requiring us to prevent access to this site in order to help protect against copyright infringement.”
FileCrop, which advertised itself as the search engine for searched files, let users easily find content hosted by RapidShare, Mediafire and Megaupload.
PIPCU has been taking various actions to take on copyright infringement, shutting down various websites over recent months.
Meanwhile, industry bodies have come together to form the Voluntary Copyright Alert Programme (VCAP), which will see letters sent to anyone believed to be downloading illegal content.
Four letters will be sent to suspected downloaders, each warning recipients about the damage their illegal actions were doing to the creative industries. Yet they will not be threatened with sanctions.
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