Are we looking at a Nation wide download ban?

Department of Telecom (DOT) India has ordered all ISP ( Internet Service Providers ) to block file sharing websites in India. So now on you can’t download from most of the file sharing sites like rapidshare, megaupload , filserver etc. DOT India has brought this new policies to stop piracy. As we know through this file sharing site, most of us are downloading illegal copies of latest movies, songs, software’s, so to put an end to it and to control illegal file sharing to a greater extend GOVT of India and DOT have passed this new policies. There is also speculation that Torrents will also get blocked soon.

Following websites seems to be blocked by Department of Telecom (DOT) India in concern with piracy issues,

Depositfiles.com,Fileserve.com, Filesonic.com blocked, Filesonic.in, Hotfile.com, Mediafire.com, Megaupload.com, Megavideo.com, Movshare.net, Novamov.com, Putlocker.com, Rapidshare.com, Uploaded.to, UploadStation.com, VideoBB.com, Wupload.com etc.Also some video sharing sites,pron sites and Chinese sites are also getting blocked by DOT India.

Its has been reported that Airtel being first to implement this new policies, as of now most of the Airtel broadband customers get a “The site has been blocked as per instruction from DOT” message when browsing the above file sharing sites.

We think this new rule by DOT will get implemented on all ISP providers including BSNL , Asianet, MTNL, Reliance, TATA Telecommunication very soon, also many more file sharing websites, torrent sites, pron sites will get blocked in the coming months. We are also getting reports that BSNL has already started blocking Torrents downloads in many parts of India. This new policy will definitely going to effect a lot of Indians who use this sites to earn money by sharing files, also using them to transfer legal big sized files like backups,documents etc.


Link to above News

So yeah, Like serisouly, I would like to quote a commetn someone made in that link :

good for piracy but not supportive for persons who use too keep their back up files in sharing websites . So by this movement whether govt will reduce the broadband and 3g data tariffs no … Will the make it unlimited ? No . There is no internet freedom anymore whether next is you tube, orkut , twitter facebook to be blocked. ?

Hey, there is so much porn in the internet! Let's ban Google cause that's what helps people find it!

Children are getting influenced by Facebook and Twitter! It's ruining the Indian Culture! Ban social networking sites!



Where is the freaking democracy here? Has it been legaly proved that torrents are illegal? Or has isohunt been in a legal conflict for years for no reason? This is pretty much like China here. Where is the part where we say : "For the people, by the people of the people"?!

What happens to those individuals who use file sharing for soemthing like REALLY sharing files. No longer will I be able to download awesome pics my friend draws. No longer will I be able to upload a hialriously funny video of a dog chasing his tail (or some random thing which makes people laugh), or maybe even a txt file that I want someone to get spontaneously.

That Megaupload Shortcut thingy below the chatango chatbox on the portal has helped us SO many times. I remember quite a few people used it to transfer something they wanted to share with us. Ichigo shared her piano song practice somethings, I shared a few txt files which were to be read by a number of people for their inputs.

Lemme quote something I once read in the newspapers. It happened back when Assassin's Creed 2 was being released. They introduced it at a SUPER cheap rate - WITH collectable items. What was the aim of keeping the price low? To reduce the piracy bullshit. They gave the buying person an INCENTIVE to NOT download. Today, given the oppurtunity, I would not mind buying a game (which is not EA) simply cuz they are at prices which we can afford. I bought Portal 2. (The joke is that I got a cracked skidrow version too But shhhh...)

Lemme take the example of Star Wars Force unleashed 2. GAY GAME. It was SO freakingly SMALL. I don't know when I started it and when I ended it. I finished it in half a day. Awesome graphics, but hey, where the hell is the story?

What I'm trying to say is that Ubisoft didn't crack down on the guys trying to distribute the pirated versions of their game, they just gave the Buyers a reason to buy the game instead. Agreed, there were STILL people who downloaded the game, rather than go for buying, but there IS a feeling of pride behind having bought the original Discs. I would bet you that some AC fans WOULD have bought AC 2 instead of downloading. Why? Because as a gamer, I know that's what I would have done, if O put myself in that situation.

Hm, I may have ranted off-course a bit.

Oh, I wonder what will happen to those people who have paid accounts on Rapidshare and Megaupload, etc etc.

I get a feeling this will not get carried through permanently. Banning file sharing sites, will pose a LOT of problems. If it was so simple, porn would have been banned ages ago from the whole world-wide-net.

Update:

Airtel has removed the ban and all users can now access the above mentioned file-sharing websites, exactly as they could before.

Source: http://twitter.com/#!/Airtel_Presence

Although Airtel didn’t specify the reason for the ban, Medianama reports that this ban was due to a court order from BIG Pictures, a subsidiary of Reliance Entertainment.

According to this order, BIG Pictures can issue cease and desist notices on all pirates copying and distributing its latest film, Singham.

May I add that Reliance has still persisted with the ban on all of it's broadband services.

Retards.

All this for the sake of a movie that they wanted to protect from being pirated. Do they even know how piracy begins? Why don't they go and allot guards to keep an eye on theaters. Cam-rips start from there.