HYDERABAD: Two years after it was made punishable to download copyrighted products, such as, movies or music, from Torrent websites — following which the Torrent websites were themselves banned — the practice of illegally downloading movies and music still thrives to this day, unabashedly.
Prior to the ban, websites like PirateBay, torrentz.eu, extratorrent.cc and others were the go-to sites for Internet users for downloading movies and music illegally. However, they hit a brief roadblock in 2016 when these websites were prohibited by the government. Nevertheless, it did not take much time for several mirror sites — that functioned just like original sites, but had bigger names — to crop up all over the Internet.
In fact, there are many listicles available on the web which enumerate the plethora of mirror sites (that are not banned) available right now. Interestingly, experts say that banning mirror sites would be a fruitless exercise as a new one could be formed by changing its domain name the very next instant.
Apart from Torrent websites, Internet users also take advantage of illegal movie/TV series streaming sites like gomovies123.com and others. In these sites, one can find all the latest releases, including music. Though the Centre had also done a crackdown on them, mirror sites of these streaming sites sprang up in no time.
According to the law passed in 2016, if one visits banned websites and downloads the information, one is liable to get a three-year jail sentence, in addition to a fine. However, it is important to note that the ban pertains to copyright infringement by downloading the file in question.
The law may be stringent, but there rarely has been any instance of a person getting booked under this law.