HYDERABAD: In a bid to curb the menace of film piracy, the Telangana government has decided to block all online websites that promote film piracy.
Expressing his concern over the growing menace, IT minister K T Rama Rao asked the service providers to block online websites which upload pirated movies. Responding to the appeal by Rama Rao, the service providers urged the state government to give suitable instructions officially in this regard.
The decision was taken after a meeting of film personalities, service providers and IT officials convened by minister Rama Rao on online film piracy at the Secretariat here on Wednesday.
The film producers complained that the Telugu film industry was losing crores of rupees due to online piracy. “Online piracy is posing a grave threat to the film industry,” the producers said.
Members of the film fraternity briefed the minister about the measures taken by the governments of England and other European countries to curb online film piracy and wanted the state government to take similar measures.
Rama Rao assured the film industry that the State government would take all necessary measures according to the existing IT Act. The minister said he would also write to the Central government on the online piracy. Rama Rao suggested to film producers to create awareness about the menace of piracy.
Speaking to reporters later, leading film producer Daggubati Suresh Babu said the Telugu film industry has incurred a loss of Rs 350 crore during the last nine months due to online film piracy.
He said there were close to 200 websites promoting online film piracy. The film industry in the country has lost Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 2,000 crore because of online piracy, he claimed.