Illegal `hub` a problem for entertainment, IT sector
Rajesh S Kurup / Mumbai
Shalini loves to watch a just-premiered Hollywood
movie, listens to the latest English music and sifts
through volumes of restricted data, and even copies
and distributes them to her friends from the comfort
of her Mumbai residence.
She is not a geek, but a teenager and knowingly logs
on to what is termed a hub using a normal Internet
connection.
The entertainment industry is not amused by her
activities, neither is the IT sector since it has
given rise to a new breed of e-criminals (piracy is a
crime according to the Indian Cyber Act 2000).
Moreover, system administrators abhor her existence
since her downloading clogs their corporate networks,
weakens their firewalls besides disseminating
unregulated content.
Welcome to world of DC++ which teenagers are using as
the underworld of cyberspace. DC++ is a free,
open-source, peer-to-peer file-sharing client, that
can be used to connect to the Direct Connect (DC)
network. It has been developed primarily by Jacek
Sieka, nicknamed arnetheduck.
There are similar hubs across the world and they use
peer-to-peer software (mainly open source) like
SolarSeek, FrostWire and LimeWire. However, while
figures
are hard to come by, most of the hubs in India and
abroad are believed to be using DC++.
Peer-to-peer networking refers to communicating with
different computers on a network.
The files are either stored on the network or users
hard disk, and it works much like grid computing. The
hubs provide a download speed of up to 1 GB,
much higher compared with a 64 kbps connection, where
the speed could be around 15-20 kpbs. A movie can be
downloaded from the hub in around 60-90 minutes.
A rough estimate says there would be around 1,000 hubs
or so in India itself, with 20-25 hubs in each metros.
The industry is aware of its existence. There are a
lot of people logging on to such hubs and downloading
files, using peer-to-peer technologies, said
Vijay Mukhi, a pioneer of Internet in India.
Mukhi, also the president of Federation for Internet
Security and Technology (FIST), adds that bootlegging
on the Net is becoming bolder as people know
that cyber laws are not strong enough to nail them.
Sadly, its the film industry that becomes an easy
prey. While piracy will kill the film industry,
these hubs result in creating a new breed of
e-criminals. The industry has to act immediately to
stop this.
A Chief Technology Officer with a leading IT firm said
on condition of anonymity that hubs are set up by the
Internet Service Providers (ISPs). These have
Internet protocol (IP) addresses, which are provided
to people by word of mouth. The users have to download
a program file (.exe) to begin using the hub.
Internet Service Providers Association of India
(ISPAI) founder and board member Amitabh Singhal
opines: The recent hub culture is a part of
Internets
evolvement, which is a place for a lot of innovations
and possibilities. The DC++ suite and hubs are not
illegal, but like every technology it can also
be misused. Its impossible to monitor every user
(ISPs are responsible as per the IT Act 2000 for
content that passes through their networks).
Not a single ISP responded to email questions sent by
Business Standard on this subject. A cyber crime
lawyer said: In the US, there have been instances
of music companies filing piracy suits against the
hubs and courts levying penalties. In India, the cyber
laws have to evolve, but self-restraint is the
best method to be adopted.
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