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Although three strike measures, potential fines and even jail sentences aren't that uncommon a fear for Western pirates, those sharing files in India face potentially much stiffer punishments. Stated in a new block warning going up on certain pirate sites, the government is threatening £3,000+ in fines and a three year prison sentence.
“Viewing, downloading, exhibiting or duplicating an illicit copy of the contents under this URL is punishable as an offence under the laws of India, including but not limited to under Sections 63, 63-A, 65 and 65-A of the Copyright Act, 1957 which prescribe imprisonment for 3 years and also fine of up to Rs. 3,00,000/-,” reads the notice posted up on sites blocked by government filters.
That works out to just shy of £3,400, an astronomical sum for many living in India, though it's the three year prison sentence which may cause more fear among pirates in the country.
Source: OpenClipart/Pixabay, Wikimedia
As TorrentFreak points out, block notices on certain sites are nothing new in India, but these notices are. Although it's not known how serious a threat it is, some news sources in India are reporting that they are accurate. Indeed some suggest that merely watching a pirate stream could land you in jail.
However it is worth urging caution over panic, since the notice references the law that is applicable in this case, and it hasn't changed since 1957. Therefore these sentences are the same ones that would have applied last week, there is just more publicity for them now.
The question remains of course how Indian officials plan to implement the law to deter pirates. This warning could be as far as it goes, but if it starts to show its teeth, it may affect piracy in the country, as multiple year prison sentences are nothing to sniff at.
KitGuru Says: Sitewide blocks are always overkill. While piracy does occur on file sharing sites, people also use them for legitimate distribution.
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They almost take more aggressive action towards piracy than rape. I don’t want to force my Western values on other cultures and such things, but this seems absurd.
Indian government has always played in hands of big corporate, you can easily match any measure or “LAW” by the push or new presence of any corporate in that sector, any reforms for that matter, just google and check, reforms follow a big corporation entering a field, now with Netflix and many local media groups joining in online streaming , and many multinational online platforms entering market (say Steam), this move is nothing new.
i have personally seen small vendors being steamrolled in localities when Big Brand Multi-store enter that area.
Also in India static IP is still not implemented by default you have to pay extra for it. same IP is rotated among many users just restart modem and see. Will be hard to prove a particular IP’s link to single user. i can be wrong though.
This may seem a conspiracy theory to some but it has root way back before independence, it was private business that funded the movement through political parties, read the history, no one can deny close ties among both the parties.
Its sad we pay the cost of their investment still.
I am not one to favor piracy but why now the big push? USA and WTO have been on the heels of the government since last decade. Various engagement over the years; the joint meetings etc.
You want to favor business fine, serve the content as it is in the rest of the FREE world, Stop the censoring, and time delays, serve the consumer also. India has always had business protection laws over consumer protection. And not to mention the self appointed Righteous right/left/religious Groups which can easily strong arm the government as seen in lot of previous examples (remember some famous author leaving nation, or a Mumbai editor going in hiding because of a cartoon?) they are the MORAL GUIDE OF THE NATION as if i need it? This viewing of citizens “as Mindless Heard” is what pisses me off. Right to life and liberty, right to freedom speech does not only mean say what you want but Right to Ignore what you want too, i don’t need government or court of law to tell me what to ignore. Protection of citizen should come as physical one with his/her property protected too and not penalized for speaking one’s mind. Gautama Buddha said , Question everything , even what i have said, for without an open debate a society cannot truly progress.
the fight is not one of stopping piracy but for the availability of content as it is in the first world. i am 30+ years of age and i think i might not be so easily swayed by a TV prime time show. Mahatma Gandhi said, keep your mind open as you keep your windows open in the house, but refuse to be swept off your feet by the wind.
sorry for the essay guess it was all bottled up for long.
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