We missed this earlier. The Telangana government has asked internet service providers (ISPs) to block at least 200 websites which showcase pirated movies online, and plans to make a policy to keep piracy at bay, reports Deccan Chronicle. According to the report, Telugu film industry representatives said that they were suffering huge financial losses, to the tune of Rs 350 crore in the last 9 months, due to online piracy. About 1.5 weeks ago, IT Minister KT Rama Rao met with police officials, ISPs and Telugu film industry representatives and asked ISPs to block websites streaming movies. Rao said that he would also send IT officials to other states to study their anti piracy policies. However, the ISPs have sought norms and directions from the state government to block websites, citing that without norms, it will not be possible to curb piracy. MediaNama's take: We'll repeat what we said before for what steps the Tamil film industry took to stop piracy- stop releasing movies in the first place: sinking your own ship. And a knee jerk reaction. Defining a transparent policy with respective stakeholders might hold more productive than banning one site after another without a clear understanding of how online piracy operates. Find the multiple issues with banning like information asymmetry and cautious government approach here. With respect to online movie piracy, multiple John Doe orders have been filed in courts recently to curb piracy. John Doe (or Ashok Kumar) orders allow movie studios to push ISPs to indiscriminately block access to video sharing,…
