YNOT – Free Speech Coalition had a busy week on the content piracy front. The adult industry trade association’s Anti-Piracy Action Program partnered with a new provider of services and technology and added three more tube sites to its participant roster.

Porn Guardian, which debuted in October, combines technology and human review to identify and remove stolen content from file-trading locations and cyberlockers including Rapidshare, FileMonster, MegaUpload and many others; link-trading sites like Yahoo groups, user groups, linking sites and blogs; and peer-to-peer environments such as BitTorrent and eDonkey. The company’s partnership with FSC expands the types of anti-piracy services available to APAP participants.

“We are thrilled by the expanded suite of services this partnership will provide to clients,” Porn Guardian’s Peter Phinney said. “With Porn Guardian’s expertise in peer-to-peer sharing and cyberlocker uploading and downloading, bundled with APAP’s extraordinarily effective solution to the unique problem of tube sites, clients now are protected against every major current piracy problem and also positioned to deal with emerging technologies we see evolving on the horizon.”

Representatives from both FSC APAP and Porn Guardian will attend the Content Protection Retreat to be hosted by Pink Visual Feb. 6-7 at the Sofitel Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

“We are thrilled to be working with Porn Guardian their services and approach will work well with the program we have already established,” Duke said.

Meanwhile, FSC APAP’s approach to tube sites continues to be effective. TNAflix, Empflix and XHamster joined the initiative during the first week in February, bringing to 12 the total number of tube sites participating in FSC APAP’s Mediawise component. Other tube sites participating in the program include XVideos, Pornhub, XNXX, Tube8, Xtube, Spankwire, Keezmovies, ExtremeTube and Mofosex.

“From the beginning, FSC’s Anti-Piracy Action Program has concentrated on providing a comprehensive plan that is user-friendly and adaptive to the needs of the content provider,” Duke said. “In 2010, we successfully focused on a strategy that targeted tubesites.”

FSC APAP is composed of several components, including Videotracker and Mediawise. Videotracker may be accessed only by participating FSC APAP content providers. With Videotracker, providers have access to copyright counseling, content tracking, documentation of infringements and sending of DMCA notices. All actions are documented in evidence packets the provider can use for litigation or research purposes. Participants are charged a monthly fee to use the Videotracker service.

The monetization component of APAP, Mediawise is available to all FSC members free of charge. Mediawise technology uses audio-video-metadata fingerprints to stop content from being distributed without permission. Content providers fingerprint their entire libraries, and the content owner’s rules for legal distribution are transmitted to software residing on participating tube sites. When pirates attempt to upload stolen material, the Mediawise software either truncates the file or substitutes a trailer. Both alternatives contain an overlay ad that takes the viewer to the content owner’s website. The method not only blocks the upload of stolen content, but also allows the copyright owner to realize a potential new revenue stream.

FSC APAP participants that use both the Videotracker and Mediawise components retain a 60-percent revshare once a piece of content converts, Duke said. FSC members that utilize only Mediawise retain a 50-percent revshare. FSC functions as an “affiliate” by collecting the remaining percentages, which are divided between participating tube sites and software technology provider Vobile.

“This is an extremely exciting time for adult content providers,” Duke said. “Soon, a source that has been a financial drain on their businesses may be a new and vibrant source of revenue.

“Tube sites are here to stay,” she added. “The difference is, now they are working for us.”