ISPs in India Ordered to Block Pirate Bay, Torrentz2, YTS, and 1337x

• The High Court in New Delhi is ordering Indian ISPs to block several pirating websites.
• The court is giving the ISPs an active participation role in the copyright infringement, leaving them no margins for disobedience.
• The order also contains a suggestion for warning pirates and even imposing fines to repeat offenders.

ISPs (Internet Service Providers) in India have been ordered by the High Court of Delhi to block certain torrenting websites that are known to have a history of allowing their visitors to exchange pirated content. The list includes 1337x.to, torrentz2.eu, bmovies.to and (and proxies), fmovies.to (and proxies), rarbg.com (and proxies), thepiratebay.org (and proxies), yts.am (and proxies), torrentz.ht, extrattorent.ag, and torrentmovies.co. As the court order maintains, the ISPs are serving as “inevitable actors in any transmission of infringing data over the internet, and their services are therefore used to infringe copyright.”

There is no doubt that the ISPs in India will comply with the court’s order, and the lengthy justification that presents international examples of blockages of the particular websites goes on for 99 pages. The court is putting Indian ISPs on the position of the copyright infringing accessary, liable for violation of Section 51 of the Copyright Act. The blocking injunction extends to the blockage of new proxies that are sure to pop up, by simply having the plaintiffs (rightsholders) filing a detailed affidavit and submitting it to the ISPs for the imposition of new blockages.

The court goes a step further, assuming that most of the people who are involved in piracy do not know or realize that the shared files are the products of piracy. To remedy this, the court suggests that the possibility of framing a policy under which a warning is issued to the viewers of infringing content should be explored. This means that pirates in India may soon start getting pop-ups or email messages, warning them to cease viewing and downloading the infringing material. The court also suggests that if a user receives the warning and chooses to continue their pirating actions, they should then receive a fine.

Now, the choice of VPN solutions for Indian internet users becomes more imperative than ever, in order to stay safe and protected. Of course, we are not promoting the use of VPN apps for downloading torrents that share pirated content, but if you want to stay anonymous at all times no matter what you choose to do, check out our list with the best VPN for Indians that you have on that part.

Let us know how you see these blocks and whether you think they will be a blow to piracy in India or not, in the comments below. Also, don’t forget to check out what else is on by visiting our socials, on Facebook and Twitter.