[Updated] It is just not the 10 sites that we have mentioned, but over 219 sites have been ordered by Delhi High Court to be blocked. Please see the update at the end of the post for more details.
It seems that many popular free file hosting and torrent websites are currently unavailable and inaccessible in India. We tested out a few, but none of the following sites loaded on our ISP network (on our local cable internet provider). Here are the list of the sites that are unavailable currently.
- thpiratebay.se (torrent site)
- torlock.com (torrent VPN site)
- uploadrocket.net (file hosting site)
- 1337x.org (torrent site)
- 1337x.to (torrent site)
- torrentfunk.com (torrent site)
- limetorrents.com (torrent site)
- tusfiles.net (file hosting site)
- unlimitedzone.com (file hosting site)
- torrenthound.com (torrent site)
Our local ISP (ICC cable network), who have BSNL as their internet gateway, gave us a blank page on all the sites without any message on all the above sites. However, it seems that different ISPs have taken a different approach. We tested the same sites using Reliance USB dongle, and the message was different. It did not load the sites at all, and gave us following message.
We tried checking out the websites on our Idea Cellular 3G network, and surprisingly all these sites were loading properly for us without a hitch.
What this means is, some ISP’s (Definitely BSNL and Reliance) have blocked these sites. On the other hand on Idea Cellular 3G network, the sites are working fine.
Generally, when DoT blocks any such sites, they cannot do it arbitrarily. They need a court order, and once they have got it, they block the websites with a message like “This website/URL has been blocked until further notice either pursuant to Court orders or on the Directions issued by the Department of Telecommunications”. While we did not see any such message, TelecomTalk reported that they saw these messages on BSNL network.
Also, it is interesting to note that it is not a blanket ban on file hosting and torrent sites. Few other torrent sites like KickAss Torrents, torrentz.eu and number of others were still accessible.
How Did This Block Come Into Effect?
Right now it is unclear as to who has asked for these sites to be blocked, but from what we can say, it must be a film or music production house that must have got a court order to block these specific sites. The sites that have been blocked are more popular with Indians for hosting Bollywood and South Indian movie torrents.
This is not the first time such blocks have come into effect. Many video streaming and torrent sites have been blocked earlier including vimeo and pirate bay for hosting copyrighted content. However, nearly all of them were unblocked later based on Court order, as these blocks were based on John Doe orders (orders against unnamed entities).
Can the whole Websites be blocked?
No, entire websites cannot be blocked.
A court can only give orders in regards to specific infringing urls and cannot order whole sites to be blocked. In a Madras High Court order date April 25th, 2012, they have specifically mentioned the following
“The interim injunction is granted only in respect of a particular URL where the infringing movie is kept and not in respect of the entire website. Further, the applicant is directed to inform about the particulars of URL where the interim movie is kept within 48 hours.“
Keeping this in mind, it is interesting to note that entire sites have been blocked.
We will keep you posted on further developments on this matter…
Update 1 :
Delhi High Court has given a order for blocking of over 450 sites based on the case filed by Multi Screen Media (Sony TV) in regards to illegal file hosting of videos and clips related to World Cup Football matches for which MSM have sole rights. Check out the actual court order here. [tip: Abhishek Bhatnagar]
It is interesting to note that court order contains instructions to ISP for blocking sites like Docs.google.com, Google url shortner and 472 such sites. We checked quite a few sites that have been listed and while some are still accessible, some of them have already been blocked.
In our view this is absolutely ridiculous that Court can give such blanket instructions to block these sites. We fail to understand that how can anyone give order to block sites like Google Docs, which is legitimately used by millions for their daily work. While Google docs is still accessible, there are so many legitimate sites that are getting blocked due to this reason.
In all probability, we hope that unblock orders should come soon enough…
Update 2:
According to Medianama, who have got updated court order, the list has been culled from initial 472 sites to 219. The Google websites have been removed from the list but still there are number of torrent and file hosting sites still in the list.
[…] also reports that on a BSNL connection, and on a Reliance 3G dongle, various torrent sites such as […]
If any one of us is having problem in opening these blocked torrent sites, install opera browser. All torrent sites are opening in Opera.
It’s being done on the request of music, film production companies.
But let’s face it, Piracy is illegal in india
Some of these sites are blocked on other ISP’s as well… The sites are down on beam telecom in hyderabad… But there is an alternative to get access to them… Use tor browser… Its working just fine
Hi wakkun, There is something wrong with the BSNL DNS system.
Instead, set your DNS provider IP address to 208.67.222.222, it is google’s public DNS service.
You can set it in Control Panel->Network Connections->Wireless (or LAN)-> Internet Protocol TCP / IP ->(Properties) -> Use the following DNS server address
Youtube videos will start playing again.
Thank you so much mate !
Total and complete lunacy.
Not only does it describe the basic ignorance of the court, Sony TV about the internet but also shows the Delhi HC’s utter disregard for the rights of internet users who will be affected by this ban to pursue their legitimate business.
Computer users who need to download software updates/patches, Linux Operating Systems and users of freeware will be adversely affected by this.
There are terrorist groups like Hamas, ISIS, Al Qaeda and others that the Delhi HC does nothing to control or stop. There are pedophiles who are luring children on Facebook, that the courts do nothing about. But suddenly pirated FIFA world cup matches (which most Indians don’t care to watch anyway) is the greatest priority on the internet ??
Hi Arun, Your are right BSNL have blocked all these torrent sites. After reading this article i tried many tricks but all failed, I kept on searching new tricks through which I can bypass this restriction and finally I got the best method to bypass this restriction.. I am sharing the link so that others may get help….. http://goo.gl/zf1qvc
folks don’t worry upon getting block on site thepiratebay.se better use http://pirabay.come.in/ the same site with indian domain
Youtube videos aren’t loading error I keep getting error messages. Tried multiple browsers. Maybe it’s just that something went wrong with the ISP.