Has Reliance Entertainment Blocked Websites Illegally In India?

Broadly speaking, websites blocking in India can be done either by a court order or by an order of competent authority of Indian government. There is nothing that allows private individuals or companies to block websites on their own and in their self interests. It is also now well settled that Indian government can and should block offending websites if they fail to comply with Indian laws.

Many US based websites and social media platforms are showing great reluctance to comply with Indian laws and requests originating out of the same. These include companies like WordPress, Google, Facebook, etc. Similarly, many Indian websites may be involved in copyright violations and other contraventions and may not be responsive to demands originating from US. Naturally, countries have no other option but to block such websites in their respective jurisdictions either by a court order or by enacting draconian laws like SOPA and PIPA.

However, such blocking of websites by any country must be done in a proper manner. According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of law firm Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India, Websites Blocking in India by Judiciary must be Just, Reasonable and Fair. There should not be an “Unreasonable” or “Casual Approach” towards Blocking of Websites in India by Indian Courts. If Websites are “Violating” Laws of India and they have been “Notified” to this effect and still they “do not Remedy the Situation”, then the Safe Harbour Protection under Indian Information Technology Act, 2000 is “Lost” and such Websites/Owners can be Prosecuted in India, informs Praveen Dalal.

Such Websites can be “Legally Blocked” in India if they fail to “Comply” with Court’s Directions or Directions of Indian Government Agencies like Computer Emergency Response Team, India (CERT-IN) that are duly ordered in this regard by a Designated Officer, informs Praveen Dalal.

In this background we must analyse the recent blocking of foreign websites in India. Recently, Reliance Entertainment has once again convinced the court to issue an order in its favour or at least it is interpreting it so. The broadband customers of Reliance were not able to access certain legitimate file sharing/hosting websites as Reliance blocked such sites. Hints have been given that CERT-In has not been involved in this process at all and Reliance blocked the website unilaterally. The same websites were accessible on the networks of other ISPs.

Naturally, the question arises has the Delhi High Court ordered such blocking of websites? The relevant portion of order of Delhi High Court reads:

“One can also not lose sight of the fact that film piracy in respect of such new release is not uncommon and judicial note of this fact can be taken. In the facts of this case as detailed above, in my view plaintiff (Reliance) has succeeded in making a, prima facie, case in its favour. Plaintiff has exclusive copyright over the film “DON2” which is yet to be released. For the forgoing reasons, defendants and other unnamed and undisclosed persons (websites), are restrained from copying, recording or allowing camcording or communicating or making available or distributing, or duplicating, or displaying, or releasing, or showing, or uploading, or downloading, or exhibiting, or playing, and/or defraying the movie “DON2” in any manner without a proper license from the plaintiff or in any other manner which would violate/infringe the plaintiff’s copyright in the said cinematograph film “DON2” through different mediums like CD, DVD, Blue- ray disc, VCD, Cable TV, DTH, Internet services, MMS, Pen drives, Hard drives, Tapes, CAS or in any other like manner”.

Obviously this is a simple order of temporary injunctions and not blocking of any website whatsoever. On what basis Reliance Entertainment, as an Internet service provider (ISP), blocked websites in question is still not clear. In fact, from the bare reading of these facts and order, it seems Reliance Entertainment illegally blocked such websites in India.

Cert-In must investigate this matter unless it has itself given permission to block such websites. However, this does not seem to be the case and now it is for the Reliance Entertainment and Cert-In to explain this unreasonable websites blocking and Internet censorship behaviour.

Modernisation Of Police Force Of India

This is a “Guest Column” by Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law and leading techno-legal expert of India. In this article, Mr. Praveen Dalal has discussed the requirements of modernisation of police force of India. He asserts that ambitious projects like CCTNS, Natgrid, NCTC, Central Monitoring System (CMS), etc requires techno legal expertise. Law enforcement agencies of India must be aware of both technical as well as legal requirements in order to derive maximum benefits out of these projects, asserts Praveen Dalal.

No time in the history of India we needed modernisation of police forces of India than now. Fortunately, there is no dearth of financial resources as even the proposed 2011 budget has provided reasonably good amount for the same. Home Ministry of India recently received a large sum of money from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The same would be used for many national security projects of India.

Some of the national security projects that are presently launched by Home Ministry include National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project of India (CCTNS Project), Central Monitoring System (CMS) of India, etc. It does not mean that Indian police force would be modernised and made more efficient immediately. Even there is no guarantee of the same for the next five years till these promises are supported by a political will to execute the same.

The indications are positive and so may be the outcomes. The need of the hour is to purse the commitment till the same is accomplished. Many crucial projects in India have failed because though they were started with the right planning and commitment yet till the end neither planning nor commitment survived.

India cannot afford to adopt this lax strategy at this crucial period of time when cyber crimes and cyber attacks, terrorism and cyber terrorism, organised crimes, trans border crimes, white collar crimes, etc are plaguing India.

With the active use of technology, these crimes have further been made difficult to trace as well as to be prosecuted. For instance, it took Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) four months to ascertain the basic level information about the attackers who defaced CBI’s website.

At this stage it would be imperative to mention the importance of suitable training to law enforcement manpower. The ambitious projects CCTNS, NATGRID, Unique Identification Project of India (UID Project), etc cannot survive in the long run in the absence of suitable Policies, Trainings and Legal Framework.

Equally important are the issues of Legal Empowerment of Law Enforcement Machinery in India. India is negligent in formulating good laws governing the law enforcement machinery. In the absence of good legislative provisions, the performance of police force cannot be expected to be good. It is only now that the Central Bureau of Investigation Act 2010 and Delhi Police Act have been drafted. They would be presented in the Parliament of India and may become enforceable law one day. Besides, political interferences in the day to day functioning of police forces in India must be minimised.

With positive hints being given by Indian Government, we can expect some good legislative steps by Parliament of India in the forthcoming session. A good law bringing transparency, accountability, flexibility and autonomy to police forces in India is the urgent need of the hour. I wish Indian Parliament all the best in this regard.