387 Indian ISPs must block 104 piratical websites

[nsane.forums]

Songs.ok, site number 104 on IMI's list

The recent Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), considered and eventually abandoned by the US Congress after rancorous debate earlier this year, proposed giving judges the power to cut off American access to particular websites. Under the initial version of the bill, judges would have been able order Internet service providers to use only crude tools like DNS blocking to make piratical websites harder to access. The proposal was criticized strongly on grounds of practicality, due process, and free speech, but major rightsholders want such approaches implemented worldwide. In India, they have succeeded.

A Kolkata court has ordered all 387 Internet providers in the country to block a list of 104 websites after the Indian Music Industry (IMI) filed suit against them. Indian Music Industry officials filed information with the court showing that each of the 104 sites hosted at least some infringing material; the judges ruled that site blocking was a proper way of dealing with the issue. Four injunctions—on January 27, February 6, March 1, and March 2—implemented the blacklist.

Every one of the sites targeted by the music industry was ordered blocked. IMI officials have insisted to local media that they are targeting only the worst offenders, saying that they began their process with 300 websites and eventually narrowed it down to 104 of the most flagrant infringers.

As for how the blocks will be implemented, the court has allowed Internet providers three options: blocking by DNS name ("arstechnica.com"), blocking by IP address ("75.102.3.15"), or URL blocking by deep packet inspection (which can do things like block specific links like "arstechnica.com/bollywood").

But site blocking on the Internet, though it sounds so seductively easy, comes with its own set of problems. Blocking by DNS can be circumvented simply by entering a site's actual IP address instead of its name. Blocking by IP address can be bypassed by moving a site to a new server that carries a new IP address. URL blocking has little effect when an existing site simply changes its name.

These are hardly esoteric technical secrets. One of the first sites to be blocked, "songs.pk," has rebranded itself "songspk.pk." Confused users who turn to a Google search for answers will already find that link number one for "songs.pk" directs them to the new site.

Truly blocking sites from the Internet in this fashion remains difficult, though as usual the goal is more about making infringement more difficult than curtailing all illegal activity. European courts have on occasion required specific sites to be blocked, but those rulings have tended to target one site at a time, and have often been applied only to a single Internet provider. The Indian approach is far broader, and Internet companies like Facebook and Google are coming under legal pressure to censor far more material, including obscene images of gods and goddesses.

NO MUSIC! A friendly Christmas 2007 reminder from IMI (horrific pixelation present in the original)

Indian Music Industry

The first list of 104 sites largely focuses on regional music; it includes sites like apunkabollywood.com, bollywoodmp4.com, and lovepaki.com. IMI promises that its next targets will include more general-purpose file-sharing sites, however.

IFPI, the international music trade group, welcomed the ruling—but insisted that even such measures did not go far enough. “The court ruled that blocking is a proportionate and effective way to tackle website piracy,” said IFPI chief executive Frances Moore. "The Indian government should build on this progress by moving forward legislation to effectively tackle all forms of digital piracy to enable the country's digital music market to reach its full potential.”

Further reading

• To understand Indian infringement, read this comprehensive academic report (piracy.ssrc.org)
• MediaNama's terrific treatment of the order (medianama.com)
• Radioandmusic.com (radioandmusic.com)
• IFPI statement (ifpi.org)
• Hindu Business Online account of the blocks (thehindubusinessline.com)

View: Original Article

[rudrax]

crappy

[DesiPirate]

yes i just checked, songs.pk is being blocked by airtel but i can acces it easily from annonymouse.org(proxy). he he he

I do not download songs but there are 1001 ways to get/download them some are easy and some a little more easy :lmao:

[DKT27]

Court Orders SOPA-style Blackout of 100+ Music Sites

Every single ISP in India has been ordered to block 104 sites offering unauthorized music. A total of 387 ISPs must block the sites immediately via DNS and IP address blocking, backed up with Deep Packet Inspection. While the IFPI praised the action, their Indian counterparts are singing are more interesting tune – they don’t want to destroy their opponents, but bring them into the business.

“Content theft is a global problem and we must have a global commitment to solving it. This is an important opportunity for the Indian government to move forward with strong protections against online theft,” MPAA chairman and CEO Chris Dodd told the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry conference this week in Mumbai.

“We encourage the Indian film industry to reject as we have, the false argument that you cannot be pro-technology and pro-copyright at the same time,” he continued.

In framing “content theft” as a problem affecting the county’s middle-classes and alongside a clear dig at the likes of Google and Wikipedia, Dodd’s words could have been pulled verbatim from any pro-SOPA speech. But unlike the United States, India doesn’t need new legislation to allow site blocking – they already have it – and Dodd must be as jealous as hell.

Indian film companies have previously obtained court orders to have sites blocked at the ISP level but in recent weeks the IMI, the RIAA-like Indian Music Industry trade group, has shown the movie industry how it’s really done.

In a series of court actions at the Calcutta High Court, 142 music companies of the IMI have succeeded in obtaining orders to force every ISP in India – 387 in total – to block 104 sites (list here) the industry accuses of online piracy.

And when it comes to implementing the blocks, there are no half-measures. ISPs have been ordered to implement DNS and IP address blockades and for those thinking of using a DNS outside India, Deep Packet Inspection will step in to ensure the domains remain blocked.

“This decision is a victory for the rule of law online and a blow to those illegal businesses that want to build revenues by violating the rights of others,” said IFPI CEO Frances Moore in a statement.

But in a clear signal that for the music and movie industries even the toughest of anti-piracy measures are never enough, Moore says that current developments are a good start.

“The court ruled that blocking is a proportionate and effective way to tackle website piracy,” Moore noted, adding that the Indian government should now “build on this progress” by advancing further legislation to tackle digital piracy.

As tough as the Indian court orders are, already their weaknesses are being probed. One of the key sites on the lists – Songs.pk – has already circumvented the blockade by resurfacing with the new URL of Songspk.pk since the blockade was incapable of physically taking the Czech-hosted site offline.

But although the Indian labels have taken the nuclear option in blocking huge numbers of sites, Apurv Nagpal, CEO of Saregama, one of India’s largest music labels says that they don’t want to destroy their opponents. Interestingly, Saregama acknowledges the pirate sites’ “passion for music” and says the industry wants to befriend them.

“We don’t want these sites to be shut down, we want them to pay a license fee and flourish as a business,” Saregama said. “There are legitimate businesses in operation too. The scope is there, and we want these sites to be legal.”

It would be a cold day in hell before Westerners heard the likes of Chris Dodd or Frances Moore make a statement as radical as that. But if the stick is to work long-term it has to be backed up with a sizable carrot, and if the pirate sites really do only want money, surely that’s their Achilles’ heel right there.

:view: View: Original Article

[majithia23]

wtf ...!

crap ....

the only thing knowledgeable in the article is that i came to know there are 387 ISPs in India ! :P

never knew there are so many !

but if we consider the scenario in whole ,

this will sure cause a lot of problems for ME now ...-----

problem meaning , i will be now getting a hole shit load of calls asking me - " Dude , wtf Songs.pk is not opening .. how and from where the hell do i get new songs from ?? "

lol...! :P

i never used this website , but i know this site and many like these are quite popular among the common public . a lot ..........

so if we let go off the geeks like us , who know how to get their stuff , this move will surely bring a bad taste to a lot many ...! ;)

[espns]

Anywhere the court order with the list of sites?

[Ehsan]

so majithia23 is an ISP manager/operator :P

[majithia23]

@Ehsan

nope buddy . i never knew there were so many ISPs in India .

come to think of it , its quite a number .

and there is no ban or anything like this on any website .

everythings working as it should ...

atleast on my side ;)

[implague]

yeah it is true songs.pk and some other sites were blocked