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Is Tamilrockers real or fake?
What happens when a piracy website threatens to leak a superstar’s film? With only 10 days left for release, the film’s producers are in for a shocker and the movie biz predicts heavy losses. This sets up the premise of Arun Vijay’s Tamilrockerz, a SonyLIV original releasing tomorrow.
- In the series, the film industry races against the clock to track down the titular piracy group, and Arun Vijay’s cop takes over the case.
- While the series is fictional, the notorious piracy group TamilRockers, on which the series is based, is very real, and so are its threats.
- Take Vijay’s Sarkar, for instance, which was released on November 6, 2018.
A day before its release, TamilRockers threatened to upload a HD Print of the film. Through its unverified Twitter handle, the group wrote, “#Sarkar HD Print Coming.” Though their handles were suspended and TamilRockers soon denied any social media presence, Sarkar, among many other titles, eventually fell prey to piracy.
So who is behind this piracy racket and how do they function? Most film viewers are arguably familiar with TamilRockers. As per reports, TamilRockers was formed either in 2007 or 2011 by a small group of friends. Today, its members are spread across many countries. While a few from the team are said to be in charge of sourcing film recordings, a few handle uploading.
Either way, their tracks are said to be hidden, with their details strictly secured. Even before the entry of TamilRockers, there were around 3-4 websites that leaked films online. But the history of film piracy does not have its origins in the internet. In an interview with VoxSpace, Bhaskar Kumar, who was once an integral part of the TamilRockers group, revealed crucial details about the website. Bhaskar, who parted ways with the group following a fallout, noted that when several CD shops were raided and closed down in 2007, a few people came together to find an alternative on the internet.
And that’s how TamilRockers was born. Think DVD piracy in films and your mind immediately goes to the opening sequence of Suriya’s Ayan. For those who haven’t watched the film, here is what happens: Suriya’s character, who lands from a foreign country, smuggles a CD of a film that is scheduled to release the next day in India.
Along with his gang, he then makes different copies out of it and sells them to their dealers. This does not mean that films always get smuggled from abroad. Qube Cinema Technologies, a company that tracks the origin theatre of leaked videos, reportedly found that several Malayalam and Tamil films were leaked from Bengaluru, while Telugu titles were recorded at multiplexes in Delhi. Bhaskar revealed that many producers, distributors, and theatre owners are involved in this racket. He went on to explain the three ways in which pirated copies are sourced:
Film studio staff: For movies that have a premiere screening before release, the group is said to work with staff from the film studio. These collaborators are paid Rs 70K to 1 lakh to source the recording Theatre owners outside India: They are paid Rs 4 to 10 lakhs for prints Contributors: These are people who record films in local theatres and are paid Rs 500 to 1500 per print
Bhaskar also asserted that producers of competing films helped them pirate films on several occasions, to see more profit. Since piracy websites release new films online practically for free of cost, most people assume that it is a service. However, they are in it for a bigger business.
- The group earns big bucks from advertisements and pop-ups on their websites.
- Apart from ads, Bhaskar revealed that they make profits in different ways.
- They sometimes contact the producer and demand a ransom.
- If their demands aren’t met, they sell it to torrent host sites that pay them in bulk.
- Ollywood’s battle against piracy Initially, individual measures were taken to fight against piracy.
Directors or producers of particular films tried to tackle the issue in their own ways. For example, in 2015, director-actor Cheran released his film JK Enum Nanbanin Vaazhkai as a direct-to-video film on the internet, DVD, and satellite to avoid piracy.
- It was only in 2017 that the battle against piracy started as a collective measure.
- When actor-producer Vishal and producers Kathiresan, SS Durai Raj, and SR Prabhu won the Tamil Film Producers’ Council (TFPC) election, they took several measures to battle piracy.
- It began with the introduction of an Anti-Piracy cell.
TFPC President Vishal even went as far as raiding video shops selling CDs, He busted several shops within Tamil Nadu that were selling copies of latest releases at the time, such as Vijay’s Kaththi and his own movie Poojai. Vishal also registered complaints against local channels in Karaikudi that were telecasting films illegally.
The team of Massbunk Antipiracy, an anti-piracy organisation in Tamil cinema, was roped in as TFPC’s official anti-piracy wing. This Anti-Piracy Cell played a major role in wiping out illegal links and websites. The cell also helped arrest offenders. After its two-year tenure at TFPC, the organisation is now collaborating directly with different producers to curb piracy.
Their initial measure was a wipeout campaign wherein they tried removing infringed links and videos on Facebook, YouTube, and Dailymotion. They also ran campaigns for advertisers to not play ads on such sites. Theatre owners were requested to install CCTV cameras to keep an eye out for audiences who were recording films.
When Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Ippadai Vellum (2017) was leaked, the anti-piracy cell filed its first FIR against TamilRockers. Production houses began taking such matters to court to get illegal domains suspended. Between 2017-19, several people behind TamilRockers were arrested. These arrests were made possible with the police tracking their bank account transactions with advertisers.
Fighting piracy with technology With the help of watermark technology aka forensic watermarking on the censor copy, organisations such as Qube and Massbunk began locating theatres where piracy took place. For instance, w hen Suriya’s 24 was released in 2016, the film’s pirated version was released on internet sites and then sold in the form of CDs and DVDs in Bangalore. But COVID hasn’t made matters any easier. Film piracy is said to have increased with the advent of the sudden lockdown in 2020. Even films releasing on OTT platforms have not been able to escape the threat. Zee5 Original Lock Up was released on TamilRockers a day prior to its release date,
Such releases have largely affected the producers and individuals involved in the films. Over the years, several actors, including Aishwarya Rajesh and Vijay Deverakonda, have spoken up, with fan clubs aiding them by reporting pirated links. And what’s more? This fight against piracy doesn’t end just with TamilRockers as platforms like Tamil Gun, Tamil Storm and Tamil Blasters, among others, are joining the race.
Thanks to Telegram, such groups have now multiplied in numbers and even own several groups on the social media platform. Star vehicles such as RRR and Beast and new releases Sita Ramam and Raksha Bandhan are just a few recent examples of films that have fallen prey to piracy,
Is downloading movies from Tamilrockers safe?
As a result, downloading and streaming videos from Tamilrockers can be considered an act of piracy, which is illegal. Another downside of using Tamilrockers is that the quality of the videos can vary greatly, with some videos being low resolution or containing glitches.
Does Tamilrockers have an app?
Tamilrockers Movies is an entertainment app developed by samu tech.
Who is the owner of Tamilrockers?
Q: Who founded Tamil Rockers and when? – TamilRockers was founded by 4 men in Tamil Nadu in 2011 who the internationally recognized Pirate Bay inspired. Their names are Prabhu, Karthi, Suresh, and Johnson. Prabhu is the owner of the site and he also funded this site.
Is free movies online safe?
How to Watch Movies Online for Free – You may have heard of free movie sites like Lookmovie2.to or Putlocker that offer all the newest movies for free in HD, Sounds enticing, right? Wrong. These websites are illegal (which is why they will also keep changing as authorities work to remove them), and although you are unlikely to be prosecuted or fined, you may be exposing yourself to online risks.
- While some sites, for a period, may appear to make money through annoying pop-up adverts, their big income is provided by illegal activity.
- Ultimately, when accessing illegal websites, you are leaving yourself open to being hacked or having malware installed.
- Because of this, it is probably not a good idea to watch movies online for free.
Personal information including log-in details to email and social media sites, personal online banking or credit card information is worth big money. In the underworld of online crime, your information could be on the market! Do you really want to risk having your personal information sold on to criminals? They may want to rob or defraud you! Do you want your computer to be part of an illegal network of bots aimed at spying on sensitive commercial or government websites? Can you afford to have your PC, tablet or smartphone overrun with viruses or malware? These may corrupt all your files and make your equipment unusable! This may sound far-fetched, but it is the reality of internet crime in the 21st century.
Any connection to criminal activity can put you, and your equipment at risk. In the UK and many EU countries, the major internet service providers (ISPs) have been required by the authorities to sign up to schemes designed to identify and prevent illegal activity on the web. Along with security services such as GCHQ, commercial organisations such as ISPs can quickly detect if you are using illegal streaming or download services.
Individuals known to be using illegal services will initially be contacted by their ISP with a written warning to desist from the illegal behaviour. If they do not comply, the ISP can then withdraw internet services and optionally also report offences to the authorities.
This can all happen just for wanting to watch movies online for free! Even worse than possible sanctions from the courts or ISPs, is the simple danger of connecting to illegal websites in the first instance. It’s rather like dealing with counterfeit suppliers of tobacco, alcohol or perfumes. Do you really know what you are getting from the criminal you are dealing with? If you are “lucky” you may get genuine products which have been stolen.
However, you could be consuming counterfeit goods which are dangerous or poisonous. As the authorities have cracked down on illegal operations using the law, the pirate download sites and illegal streaming sites have increasingly been forced into areas of the web where criminal activity is even more rife.
- As with illegal hacking operations, illegal streaming and download sites now often operate out of countries such as Russia or China.
- Generally, these websites are beyond the reach of the UK authorities.
- Despite the fact that changes have been made to the internet, it is still the “wild-west” with dangerous criminal gangs and outlaw organisations roaming free.
Many believe that people operating illegal movie downloading and streaming websites work closely with criminal gangs. These gangs don’t just work online as well, some are real outlaws who deal in drug running or illegal weapon smuggling. These people are not interested in customer service in the traditional sense.
Is Tamilrockers illegal?
Is TamilRockers legal? – No, TamilRockers is an illegal website. It operates by infringing on the copyrights of movie and TV show creators and owners. Distributing copyrighted content without permission is against the law in many countries, including India and the United States. Accessing or downloading movies and TV shows from such websites is also illegal.
How does TamilRockers get movies?
How does TamilRockers operate? – The movie piracy website reportedly has contributing members from all over the world, mainly expatriate Tamils. TamilRockers record the movie print in some local theaters and then upload the same on the website. Every member gets paid for the work based on the number of times the print has been downloaded.
What is the story behind TamilRockers?
History – Tamil Rockers was a bootleg recording network which was founded in 2011 and later became a public torrent website that links to pirated copies of Indian films, particularly Tamil, in addition to Hollywood films dubbed into Indian languages along with the original English audio.
Is Tamilrockers still there?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Type of site | Torrent index, magnet links provider, Peer-to-peer |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Headquarters | India |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Revenue | Advertisements |
| Registration | Optional, free |
| Launched | 2011 ; 12 years ago |
| Current status | Active |
Tamil Rockers is a torrent website based in India which facilitates the illegal distribution of copyrighted material, including television shows, movies, music and videos. The site allows visitors to search for and download copyrighted material with the help of magnet links and torrent files, which facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing,
It also operates multiple Telegram channels and groups with thousands of subscribers. Tamil Rockers is the tenth most popular torrent site in TorrentFreak ‘s Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2020 list. In India, ISPs have been ordered to block access to the website. The website continues operation by switching to a series of new web addresses.
Aside from its traditional list of pirate sites, apps, and hosting providers, the movie industry group Motion Picture Association (MPA) lists Tamil Rockers as one of the notorious markets,
What happened to Tamilrockers admin?
Explained: Who were Tamilrockers, the piracy group that became a headache for the Tamil film industry? ‘Action Star’ Aditya has a big Diwali release: Garuda. The film promises to be paisa vasool for the fans of the actor and a money spinner for its producers as it checks all the boxes for being a mega hit.
- But there is one hitch.
- A film piracy group, the, is threatening to release the film online before it hits the big screen.
- The above description neatly encapsulates the premise of a new web series, Tamilrockerz, set to release Friday.
- But the drama it projects on screen tallies closely with real-life scenes that played out sometime around 2018 ahead of a big ticket release of a Tamil film star.
Tamilrockers was a piracy website that was run by a group that came to be known by the same name. The origins of the group are largely unknown, but if some reports are to be believed, they came into existence around 2011. This was a time when torrent sites like Pirate Bay were the go-to platforms to download pirated content for free.
Initially, the group was relatively unknown as they would upload only Tamil films on their website. Their popularity rose when they expanded to bootlegging pirated content from other regional languages. The size of the group still remains a mystery. However, the extent of their operation indicated that they had a presence outside India.
How did cops tackle the menace? In March 2008, Kerala Police arrested three persons allegedly connected to Tamilrockers on piracy charges. Karthi, allegedly the brain behind Tamilrockers, was arrested in Villupuram, Tamil Nadu, along with two of his aides, Prabhu and Suresh.
- The police made these arrests acting upon several complaints from filmmakers saying their films were uploaded on illegal torrent sites within days of their release.
- The group allegedly leaked the Mohanlal hit film Pulimurugan online, and are also said to be behind the leak of Pranav Mohanlal’s debut film, Aadhi.
According to one media report, a police probe into bank transactions made by the accused revealed that they must have made more than Rs 1 crore through the illegitimate business. See | The site, if reports are to be believed, is now defunct. They are said to have ceased operations in 2020.
Is Tamilrockers website banned?
Q: What is the current URL of the Tamil Rockers website? – Tamil Rockers is an illegal website in India and the government has banned this website therefore the administrators update their domain names along with their extensions. The new URL for Tamilrockers is tamilrocker.page and tamilrockers.ws.
