219 websites blocked for broadcasting FIFA World Cup
Close to 219 websites have been blocked in India under a new order and that Google websites are not a part of this.
The Delhi High Court has issued an order calling for the blocking of 472 websites and urls in India as part of anti-piracy measures against the FIFA World Cup.
The order was based on a complaint filed by Multi Screen Media Discovery Limited. MSM Discovery LTD is the distributor for Sony’s channels in India and has the rights to broadcast the FIFA World Cup in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka View, according to a license agreement with FIFA.
The order had to be implemented within a week. According to Medianama’s Nikhil Pawa — who first reported the story — on 4 and 5 July “file-sharing sites like Luckyshare, Bitshare, Terafile, freakshare and letitbit were blocked on ISP’s such as Airtel.” You can view the full order here.
The appeal of MSM Discovery then goes on to say, “the various websites are indulging in hosting, streaming, providing access to, etc. of infringing the exclusive rights and broadcast and re-production rights of the plaintiff. According to him, the acts of infringement is not only causing the plaintiff loss of substantial revenues but will also take away the legitimate revenue to the Government through service tax etc…”
Most shockingly there are two Google URLs in the list as well. These are: Google Docs and Google Video: docs.google.com and googlevideo.com.
Why Google docs is blocked is not clear at all. As a part of Google Drive, users can upload video files on Google docs and these can then be shared as link. But calling for a ban on Google docs just under the assumption that it will be used to support FIFA World Cup piracy is wrong. Not all Google docs users are uploading FIFA World Cup matches on their Google Drive.
Source: First Post
