THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Anti-Piracy Cell of the state police is planning to approach the state government to bring in a piece of legislation on the lines of the US Bill ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’(SOPA), to track down the online pirates.
SOPA Bill was introduced in the United States in 2011 to combat online copyright infringement and trafficking in counterfeit goods. Though SOPA was presented in the United States House of Representatives, it is not yet passed by the house, following various protests against the contents in the bill.
The provisions of the proposed Bill include barring advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with infringing websites. Search engines would also be asked to cut links to websites with pirated contents, especially movies and porno clips. “A SOPA-model legislation will help us demand internet service providers to block access to websites with illegal content,” said Anti-Piracy Cell DySP S Rafeeq.
“The US Bill SOPA is an expansion of the criminal laws to include unauthorised streaming of copyrighted contents. If it can be implemented here, we could book those uploading or downloading pirated content with the help of service providers,” Rafeeq said. Rafeeq said CD piracy is showing a downward trend following the continuous raids. But, internet piracy is still elusive owing to lack of facilities. “New movies and pornographic clips are uploaded in large numbers. Though we track down the accused with the help of ‘fake sites,’ it couldn’t be checked effectively,” he said.
Office-bearers of the Kerala Film Producers Association have welcomed the Anti-Pyracy Cell’s move for an effective legislation. “Online piracy is a big concern for us.
The industry is losing crores owing to the illegal trade of films,” said M Renjith, the secretary of the Producers Association.