Maharashtra government pulls 11 websites after complaints of pirated content

The Maharashtra government has pulled 11 websites down after receiving complaints from the entertainment industry that pirated content was displayed.

The Maharashtra Cyber Digital Crime Unit (MCDCU), started last August for systematically eliminating websites that upload pirated content, pulled down these websites.

Brijesh Singh, special Inspector General of Police, Maharashtra cyber cell, said the collective viewership of these websites was over 80 million.

The initiative, the first of its kind in the country, was launched by the Cyber Cell of Maharashtra Police following directions from the Home Department.

Laxman Kamble, the lone police inspector attached to the state government's Cyber Cell, said in a bid to contain piracy, a multi-stakeholder model has been created on a pilot basis.

Industry stakeholders and officers of the Cyber Cell are members, he told PTI.

Mr Kamble said the pilot project was started after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis received complaints from media conglomerates Viacom and Star.

He said that based on London metropolitan police's 'PIPCO' unit and according to conditions favourable in India, around 9,000 websites, through which piracy activities are taking place have been studied and 19 parameters have been applied to shortlist these portals.

Mr Singh, who is also the Director General of the State's Publicity Department, said top 11 websites were identified and a notice, under Section 149 of the Code Of Criminal Procedure was sent to the Domain registrar seeking action on these portals.

"Responding to our notice, the domain names of all these websites, that had a collective viewership of over 80 million, were suspended," Mr Singh said.

He added that an exercise to suspend 89 other websites, that have foreign based domains, but a large Indian viewership, is on.

Also, In January, websites that upload pirated music albums and movies will face action as the digital crime unit (DCU) of the Maharashtra cyber police has decided to crack down on such portals.

The police have already issued notices to 100 websites and will lodge FIRs against them if they are found uploading pirated content again.

The DCU was formed after Motion Picture Association of India and the film industry approached chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in October 2016 to complain about the losses they have to bear due to online piracy.

(With inputs from PTI)