Update: We have been informed that the block has been imposed following a John Doe order taken by Copyright Labs, Chennai, from the Madras High Court, for preventing piracy of Tamil Films Dammu and 3. Copyright Labs CEO, Harish Ram, has confirmed the same to MediaNama and we’ve requested him for a copy of the order. We had reported about the John Doe order taken by the producers of 3.

After Reliance Communications, which had blocked video sharing sites Vimeo and DailyMotion, torrents sites like thepiratebay, text and code sharing platform Pastebin, and bookmarks sharing site Xmarks, Airtel has also joined, and has started blocking the above mentioned websites, in addition to a large number of Torrent search sites.

However, instead of the ambiguous and incorrect “The site has been blocked as per instructions from the Department of Telecom” message, the landing page to which users are being redirected categorically mentions “Access to this site has been blocked as per Court Orders”.

At the time of writing this post we were not able to access the following websites on an Airtel Delhi connection:

Torrent sites:

Isohunt.com

thepiratebay.org/thepiratebay.se

torrentz.eu

kat.ph

torlock.com

kickasstorrents.com

torrentfunk.com

fenopy.eu

Video sharing sites

Vimeo.com

DailyMotion.com

Others:

Xmarks.com

Pastebin.com

Interestingly, all of these sites are still accessible on BSNL Bangalore, however, MTNL Delhi has only blocked Torrentz.eu and DailyMotion. We are getting reports that MTNL Mumbai has also blocked major torrent sites.

We believe that the block is to comply with Reliance Entertainment’s recent John Doe order from the Delhi High Court directing all Internet Service Providers to block video-sharing websites, not just for one film this time, but most big budget films. This explains why many of our readers have reported that they can’t access torrenting site The Pirate Bay, but more worryingly, sites like Vimeo, DailyMotion, Xmarks and PasteBin. Update: We’re not sure that the block has been imposed to comply with Reliance Entertainment’s John Doe order. Reliance has restored access to all sites that had been blocked, last week. So it could be due to another similar order.

Report The Blocks To Us

If you know of any other ISP which has blocked these websites, do let us know in the comments below. Please mention your location and ISP, and add a screenshot of the blocks for The Pirate Bay and Vimeo.

Related Articles

– Need Specificity In Court Orders On Online Copyright Violation In India, Transparency From ISPs

– DailyMotion Blocked In India On RCOM; Airtel & RCOM Block Bookmarking Site Xmarks

– Reliance Communications Blocks The Pirate Bay & Vimeo

John Doe orders on File sharing websites

– Reliance Entertainment Gets Order To Block Piracy Of “Bodyguard” On File Sharing Sites

– Files Sharing Sites Blocked In India Because Reliance BIG Pictures Got A Court Order

– Producers Of Tamil Film ’3′ Get Court Order Making ISPs Responsible For Checking Piracy

IMI Music Block

– Indian Music Industry Gets Court Orders For Blocking 104 Music Sites

– List of 104 Music Sites That The Indian Music Industry Wants Blocked

– Songs.Pk Relaunched As Songspk.pk; Ad Networks?

– Songs.pk Banned By Calcutta High Court: Report

– Music Block Update: 68 Indian Music Piracy Sites Down

– Indian Music Industry Offers Internet Licences To Illegal Music Websites; Silent On Pricing

T-Series Cases

– Carrot & Stick: T-Series Gets Radiomaska.com MD Arrested; Takedown Notices To Dishant.com

– Guruji Shuts Music Search

– YouTube & Music Label T-Series Reach Out Of Court Settlement

– Execs Of Sequoia Funded Guruji.com Arrested Over Alleged Copyright Violation In India

–T-Series Argues IT Act Doesn’t Prevent Courts From Terminating Copyright Infringement

Also read

– Hyderabad Police Arrests Torrent Uploaders

– Anand Audio Gets Google To Remove Search Results For “Anna Bond MP3″