Lycos Says It Won’t Link to Pirated-Music Sites

Lycos Inc., which jumped into the MP3 digital music fray this week, said it will work with the Recording Industry Assn. of America to make sure its new search engine doesn’t link to pirated-music sites.

The RIAA, the trade group that protects musicians and record companies’ copyrights, has expressed concern over the growing use of MP3--a compression technology that allows computer users to quickly download free, CD-quality songs--and whether search engines such as Lycos’ will bolster such online piracy.

Lycos said it will take down links to sites that house illegal material, but it is up to the RIAA and other copyright holders to alert the company to the copyright violation. “We’re in the business of locating things, not policing the Net,” said company spokesman Brian Payea. “We have talked with [the RIAA] and we will cooperate in any way we can, as required by law.” Lycos, based in Waltham, Mass., does not distinguish between legal or illegal files. Company officials say the firm is only providing links, not the files themselves.

With the search engine, users type in the name of a song or a band to get a list of links to sites where the music can be downloaded. Though some Web sites offer legitimate MP3 files, most of the music stored in this compression technology is illegally posted by young fans.