Introduction:
Piracy is an act of unauthorized usage or reproduction of another’s work which should never be encouraged. Piracy in movies is the biggest threat to the movie industry since it can ruin the hard work and dedication of the entire crew. Nowadays, people are watching new releases of movies, web series and similar TV shows on their mobiles, laptop, computers, etc. There are a lot of viewers like this who are encouraging piracy directly by watching the movies released by the piracy websites. But, they do not understand how badly it can affect the movie industry. Sometimes, on such sites, the new movies, new TV shows or even new web series are made available even before its release. This sounds so bad and the hard work the team puts in the project for years together goes in vain with this one single act called piracy.
Piracy should neither be recommended nor supported. We can cut down the act of piracy in two ways. One is via laws from the government and the other is via the public. If the government can lay down strict laws for piracy, then it can be controlled. And the public should not encourage piracy by downloading and watching movies on websites such as todaypk. Once, the public fails to show interest in pirated movies, the piracy websites will be shut down automatically.
About Todaypk:
Some sites provide free download and watch online options for newly released movies. One such notorious site is Todaypk where the new movies of Bollywood, Hollywood, Tollywood, Tamil, Punjabi, Pakistani and many others are made available. it is because of sites like this, that people have stopped visiting the theatres and this brings loss for the production department.
Todaypk is one of the most popular websites which enables you to watch movies on the phone, laptop, tablet, computer, etc. This website initially started as a small one and later on, it developed itself as the most active website for pirated movies. This website provides the download of the movie within 1 week of release. Initially, the theatre print or low-quality print will be released and then, after a few days, a superior quality print will be made available. This site provides movies in different video qualities like 360p, 480p, and 720p. Movies belonging to different genres like romance, drama, comedy, horror, thriller, action, war, vampire, fantasy, mermaid, etc. are all available online on the site, Todaypk. There are several portals of this website where people can watch movies without any charges. This website is available 24/7 and it provides access even without asking for any login ID and password.
Movies leaked by Todaypk website:
Todaypk is like a movie library where all the new releases are made available within a very short period. Movies of several languages and several genres are made available on this site. Even this year, the site has released several movies. Bollywood movies like Chhapak, Love Aaj Kal 2, Pati Patni Aur Woh, Dabbang 3, War, Tanhaji, Bala, and Street Dancer 3D are available.
Tollywood movies include Hit, Ala Vaikuntapuramlo, Sarileru Nikevvaru, Shakthi, Jaanu, Ninnu Kori, NGK, Kanulu Kanulu Doochayante, Sahoo, Bigil, Dear Comrade and many more.
Hollywood releases include Aladdin, Men In Black International, Fantasy Island, Bad boys For Life, Train To Busan, Beyond White Space, Zombieland: Double-tap, Over The Hedge, John Wick, etc. This site had also released the most awaited film i.e. Avengers: End game which was very disappointing.
Kannada movies like Love Mocktail, Dia, Avane Sriman Narayana, 99, Pailwan, Kurukshetra, KGF, Odeya, Bharaate, Kiss, etc.
Apart from these movies, the other old movies are also being made available on this site. This site has been working to release the old movies and is continuing to do so.
Todaypk movies in India:
Piracy is never considered as legal neither in India nor in any other part of the world. Piracy is a punishable offense. In India, pirated movies like Todaypk movies are considered illegal. The Indian Government has blocked the Todaypk website. Though the Government of India has taken certain measures and has been making continuous efforts to ban websites like these but are constantly failing to do so because not only Todaypk but many other such sites have been actively creating various other domain extensions like .com, .info, .un, etc. in order to let their work continue.
List of similar websites like Todaypk movie download site:
Todaypk is not the only website producing pirated websites. There’s a huge list of websites for piracy and the list seems to increase day by day because of the profits gained from this business. So, here is the list of websites that make movie downloads available.
Tamilgun.
Movierulz.
Tamilrockers.
Filmyzilla.
Bollyshare.
Teluguwap.
Bolly4U.
9xmovies.
Moviesda.
Downloadhub.
Kuttymovies.
YTS.
RARBG.
Ssrmovies.
123movies.
Playtamil.
Jiorockers.
What is the government doing to stop piracy?
The government is constantly trying to abolish piracy from the movie industry. The government of India has amended the law “The Copyright Act, 1957”. According to this,
The government has also banned several piracy websites to stop their activities. Many websites like Movierulz, Todaypk, Downloadhub, etc. were blocked and were made unavailable to the public.
What will happen if I download movies Illegally in India?
In the olden days, where there was no digitalization, people used to go to theatres to watch newly released movies. That was completely a different thing, where a new movie release was like a festival for them. That was the time when movies used to run for several months together. Today’s movies hardly have a long run in theatres. They don’t even experience a run of 30weeks. This situation is because of the so-called “Piracy”.
Many movies are released on this website within a week of release or sometimes before the release date itself. And there are many viewers who happily download the movies and watch them without knowing what it could lead to. People do not have any idea of how these movies are made available to them. It is to be noted that these movies are available against rules i.e. illegally which could be punishable. Yes, these movies are pirated without any copyrights from an unauthorized dealer. It is definitely not an ethical act to download or watch movies online within a week of its release.
When you watch movies online or download them illegally, the two things that would result are warning and punishment.
Warning for the offense:
Whenever you watch any movie on piracy websites like Todaypk or Movierulz or so, you will be warned initially. You will receive a warning saying that “This is unauthorized and does not have copyright registration and it could lead to punishment (imprisonment and fine). When this warning appears on the screen, you have to understand that sooner or later action will be taken on you if you continue to do so.
The Copyright Act, 1957:
This act is not commonly seen because there are no complaints registered. Usually, what actually happens when a movie is pirated is that the URL link of the movie will be blocked legally. The production department of the movie does not know the source of the crime and thus there is no scope for them to file a case. Thus, the only thing that they can do is blocking the URL. This is why this act is not commonly seen. It is clear that the person who is involved in copyright infringement will be subjected to punishment.
The Bombay high court said that “The offense is not in viewing but is in distribution, public exhibition, sale or hire of the material without any permissions. According to this, the distributor is the main culprit but not the one who utilizes this chance. Thus, in India, the person who watches movies illegally will be warned regarding the crime and the distributor will be punished. The warning given to the viewer states that “viewing, downloading, exhibiting or duplicating any form of content like video, audio, is a punishable offense under section 63 of “The Copyright Act, 1957”.
Information technology Act, 2000:
Information Technology Act, 2000 is another measure against piracy in movies. According to this act, if a person tries to steal the data from the computer or gains access to it without prior permission and if he views, copies and extracts that content, then that person will be imposed a fine of minimum 1 Crore. This act also says that any person downloading the same content will be liable to the same amount of fine.
IT Act, 2000 is one potential way to reduce piracy. This is the result when you watch movies illegally. Once you are caught doing such things with complete proofs, this shall be the result.
Coming to piracy in other countries like the USA, UK, France, NewZealand, even there, the problem of piracy exists. In the US, if a person downloads the movie illegally for more than 10 times, the person will be subjected to imprisonment for up to 5years. In the UK, if people download movies illegally, letters would be sent to them advising them how to stop piracy. In France, mails and letters would be sent to illegal downloaders and viewers and may be taken to court if they continue doing the same thing. In New Zealand, a three-warning system is followed where a person is warned three times and then maybe subjected to imprisonment.
Ways to stop Digital Piracy:
Piracy has always been a controversial topic and it has become a dominant part of the internet. Some statistics say that 93% of online games are pirated ones. The one who has actually designed is in great loss and the one who did not invest even a pinch of hard work is getting benefited greatly. Even the movie industry people claim that they have lost some considerable amount of money because of piracy. Isn’t it a matter of concern? Yes, we have to find ways to solve the ever-evolving digital piracy and here are a few ways.
Watermarking:
The technology called watermarking is the potential way to stop digital piracy. This technology enables one to identify illegal downloading or illegal sharing of files. It also helps one to track the details. The principle behind this is that each file has its own watermark. Thus, a unique watermark for the original and pirated file will help you find the culprit.
Fingerprinting:
Fingerprinting is another technology that has the potential to combat digital piracy. Fingerprinting is completely different from watermarking and doesn’t contain any embedded information. Unique qualities in the content (music, video, games) are identified initially. Those unique qualities could be color, resolution or bitrate. By identifying these variables one can identify and stop piracy.
Streaming:
Streaming apps like Netflix, Hotstar or Amazon Prime are offering subscriptions at very reasonable rates. Now people can watch their favorite movies legally by paying a subscription fee every month and watch as many movies or series they want to.
Information rights management (IRM):
If you’re dealing with some sensitive information, then to protect your document you must have access to information rights management. IRM helps one to keep the status of the file. One can get to know who has created it, who has edited it, who has shared it to whom, who has published it. Thus, complete information will be recorded.
Display a copyright notice:
The intention of displaying a copyright notice on the website and products is to protect yourself against legal claims. Even if the person has pirated unknowingly, the person will be liable to charges under the law of innocent infringement. Thus, damage due to piracy can be prevented.
Conclusion:
The responsibility of eradicating and abolishing piracy does not lie only in the government’s hands but it is also the responsibility of every citizen of the country. Each citizen of the country has a role to play in preventing piracy. Though all the above-mentioned ways are put into practice by the government, organizations, celebrities, etc. it is the public who is the determining factor in this problem. The public has a significant role in preventing piracy.
Lastly, it is informed that this article aims to teach the public that piracy should neither be encouraged nor supported by any of us.
