If you are an avid Internet user, this news might have scared you. A recent report claimed that users who visit blocked URLs, including torrent sites in India will be sentenced to three years in jail and charged a fine of Rs 3 lakh.
The reports also claimed that anyone who tries to view a torrent file from any banned website in India will be slapped with the charges. In simpler terms, you don't need to download a torrent file to get into the crime books. According to the reports, accessing information under a blocked URL will also be considered a punishable offense.
Torrentz is back! Clone of largest torrent site surfaces online
Heartbreak for torrent fans: Kickass Torrents owner arrested, site down
Already in a tizzy? You don't have to be. Here's the truth. These reports were triggered by a warning message posted on the blocked websites as per a Bombay High Court order that was made while considering a plea from the makers of the Bollywood film Dishoom.
It is known that the Indian government has blocked several URLs, including a number of torrent sites, in the past few years. The message we used to get on those pages earlier was this - “This website/URL has been blocked as per instructions from Department of Telecommunications and/or Courts of India.”
However, the new message has an alarming tone after the Bombay HC felt that it should spell out the chargeable offenses under copyright act. It reads: "This URL has been blocked under the instructions of the Competent Government Authority or in compliance with the orders of a Court of competent jurisdiction. 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 upto Rs. 3,00,000/-. Any person aggrieved by any such blocking of this URL may contact at urlblock@tatacommunications.com who will, within 48 hours, provide you the details of relevant proceedings under which you can approach the relevant High Court or Authority for redressal of your grievance."
Acting on the court order, which intended to prevent piracy of the movie Dishoom, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that put out the modified warnings on the blocked websites paved the way to a number of confusing reports in the media.
Onmanorama did a random check on a number of torrent sites to see if those URLs were throwing the above message and we found them on two websites.
The warning clearly distinguishes between 'viewing copyrighted content under this URL' and 'viewing the URL'. Breathe, the police are not going to knock on your doors for visiting a blocked URL using proxies or VPN (virtual private network).
Now, the following are a common Internet user's doubts.
1. Will visiting a blocked URL send one to jail? We might land up on those pages accidentally, even without an intention to download copyright material and would stumble upon the above mentioned warning. Would that make one a criminal? No, it won't. Legal experts say that there is no provision to make visiting a website punishable. But if the site has child pornography, it is a punishable offense.
2. Would downloading copyrighted content land you in jail? Yes, it can. But if that was the case in India, lakhs of Indians would have been in jail already. Why? India has a humongous number of torrent users and most of them visit torrent sites regularly to download digital content which will also have copyright material. Downloading copyright material online has been declared illegal in India for a while now, but it is not humanly possible to go after torrent users.
3. Can't one check any torrent sites at all? Not all the torrent sites are banned in India. Some Internet service providers (ISPs) might have blocked all of them, but there are n-number of proxy websites that netizens know how to access the blocked sites. However, it does not mean that proxies are untraceable. But, if one wants her/his way in downloading a torrent file, it is not rocket science for them to figure out on the world wide web. Mind you, not all proxy sites are safe for they might expose you to cyber attack.
4. Will India block more websites? For sure. A large number of websites have been blocked in the nation as per court orders in cases where the complainant is either a movie studio or a film producer. They spot their copyright material on those websites and approach the court seeking to block them. It could also be that these studios move court in a precautionary measure before their film hits theaters. The department of telecommunications (DoT) gets that done after court issues an order. However, the Internet itself throws you various options to access them.