THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When the anti-piracy cell of the state police intensified their probe into production and trade of pirated CDs, little did they know that they would stumble upon tech savvy professionals, who had channelised their skills for uploading newly released films online which accounts to legal infringement, punishable under the IT Act and Copyright Act.Speaking to Express, a top official in the anti-piracy cell said that almost a dozen students, who were engaged in uploading pirated contents, had been identified.“We have gathered the information of those engaged in the act. Most of them are students and the list has names of a couple of plus two students. We learnt that they commit this act not for monetary benefits but due to pressure from the friends they meet in the social networking sites and sites that allow downloading facilities,” he said.The whole plot and modus operandi was untied when the anti-piracy cell laid their hands on Abhilash, a management graduate from Irinjalakkuda.The 24-year-old was engaged in ‘ripping’ when he was arrested from his house. He is currently out on bail. The modus operandi of the tech wizards is unique. They purchase original discs on the first day of their release and upload the contents online. The uploading is being done on sites such as ‘Mallu Dreams’, ‘Mallu Tubes’, ‘Kerala Tribute’ etc.According to DySP S Rafeek, these sites make use of the social psychology of the students by forcing them to upload visuals. “They lay down conditions such as constant uploading of pirated films to make them active members. The active members alone can access restricted zones and download the movies,” he said. Most of the web masters are using fake names such as ‘Reneees’, ‘Casanova Guru’, ‘Satan’, ‘Devils Advocate’ etc. The enforcers said that more than 10 computers were seized from engineering students who were under surveillance. The arrest of these people would be effected after obtaining their PayPal ID and e-banking details. Meanwhile, top echelons in the cell said that more youths, including professional students, are likely to be included in the list of the accused once the registration details of some of the illegal movie downloading sites are collected from the service providers.
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