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US trade rep bashes Baidu for 'deep linking' naughtiness

The Pirate Bay also singled out on 'Notorious Markets' list

The US government has labelled Baidu - which is China's biggest search engine - a "deep linking" hub spewing out location details about where pirated content is stored online.

In a report issued yesterday, BitTorrent tracker site The Pirate Bay was also added to a list of "Notorious Markets" by the US Trade Representative's office (USTR).

“Piracy and counterfeiting undermine the innovation and creativity that is vital to our global competitiveness. These notorious markets not only hurt American workers and businesses, but are threats to entrepreneurs and industries around the world,” said USTR official Ron Kirk.

“[This review] shines a light on examples of many offending markets, and highlights an opportunity to work together with our trading partners to curb illicit trade and expand legitimate commerce in creative and innovative industries.”

The USTR also singled out clones of former Russian music piracy site Allofmp3 that have sprouted up online.

It went on to list IsoHunt, Btjunkie, Kickasstorrents and torrentz.com as major BitTorrent sites alongside the clear leader in that field The Pirate Bay, whose founders are currently appealing criminal charges brought against them in Sweden.

The USTR said shopping districts in South East Asia and South America were also responsible for flogging counterfeit goods, presumably via the old-fashioned method of setting up a stall in a local market.

While the US government isn't taking any action against the individual websites mentioned in its review, it said it was "actively engaged" with its trading partners to "seek appropriate action against counterfeiting and piracy".

The full 'Notorious' list is here (pdf). ®

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