In a bid to ban the very idea of torrents, Indian government has criminalised visiting torrent websITES_Company with a 3 year jail term and a penalty of 3 lakh.
The torrent offence includes viewing a torrent file, or downloading a file from a host banned in India, or viewing an image on a file host like Imagebam.
A warning will pop up on the screen when a URL that showcases banned content is hit:
"This URL has been blocked under the instructions of the Competent Government Authority or in compliance with the orders of a Court of competent jurisdiction. Viewing, downloading, exhibiting or duplicating an illicit copy of the contents under this URL is punishable as an offence under the laws of India, including but not limited to under Sections 63, 63-A, 65 and 65-A of the Copyright Act, 1957 which prescribe imprisonment for 3 years and also fine of upto Rs 3,00,000/-. Any person aggrieved by any such blocking of this URL may contact at urlblock@tatacommunications.com who will, within 48 hours, provide you the details of relevant proceedings under which you can approach the relevant High Court or Authority for redressal of your grievance"
The warning is vague at best as it overlooks the legal uses of torrents, independent artists and businesses primarily use torrents to distribute and transfer their content.
Ubuntu, an open source Linux operating system, uses torrent as a primary source for distribution. This move, in theory, makes legal download of Ubuntu illegal.
The issue was reported first by India Today, no official announcement has been made.
