You may get 3 years in jail for opening a torrent site in India

NEW DELHI: Did you rejoice when Torrentz2.eu, a new clone to the most popular Torrentz.eu surfaced online recently? Well, if so, here's something for you! A recent report claims that the Indian government will, from now onwards, issue a three-year jail sentence along with a fine of up to INR 3 lakh, if it found out that you have visited a blocked URL. Yup. You read that right! To invite the jail sentence and fine, you don't have to download the torrent file, but just viewing it would be enough. Deccan Chronicle recently posted that they tried visiting one of the blocked websites uploadable.ch to see what happens! However, they seem to have the following message which has been quoted in the report: “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 INR 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.” Now, it looks like, both the government and Internet Service Providers are pretty serious about what they are upto - to fight piracy. However, it seems that not all blocked websites are showing the new warning message. But, the older message is definitely getting changed at a faster pace. The government seems to have now pooled in big companies such as Tata Communications and Airtel into the scenario, to ensure they maintain the blocking goals, as per the plan, reports Deccan Chronicle. While the new warning message is definitely threatening, we are still not clear on how would this be enforced. However, it seems high time, to be extremely careful while browsing the internet, else, you may end up in jail! Source: Techtree