Tamil Rockers
Type of site
Torrent index, magnet links provider, Peer-to-peer
Available inEnglish
Headquarters
India
Area servedWorldwide
RevenueAdvertisements
RegistrationOptional, free
Launched2011; 12 years ago (2011)
Current statusActive
Part of a series on
File sharing
File hosts
Video sharing sites
BitTorrent sites
Media servers
Technologies
File sharing networks
Academic
P2P clients
Anonymous file sharing
History and societal aspects
By country or region
Comparisons

Tamil Rockers is a torrent website based in India which facilitates the illegal distribution of copyrighted material, including television shows, movies, music and videos.[1] 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.[2] Tamil Rockers is the tenth most popular torrent site in TorrentFreak's Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2020 list.[3]

In India, ISPs have been ordered to block access to the website.[4][5][6][7] The website continues operation by switching to a series of new web addresses.[8] 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.[9][10]

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.

On March 14, 2018, three men said to be behind the site were arrested. One of the men was believed to be the site administrator.[11] On 23 May 2019, more members of Tamil Rockers were arrested in Coimbatore.[12]

On October 19, 2020, the site went offline but came back online after a while; it was speculated that Amazon intervened by issuing several DMCA takedown notices.[13]

Legacy

Unofficial clones

Since the official Tamil Rockers went offline, there has been two prominent clone websites called TamilMV and Tamil Blasters, which are also been targeted by ISPs to block them. In May, 2022, Disney Star, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, filed complaint with police in India, targeting Tamil Rockers, 1TamilMV, and Tamil Blasters.[14][15][16]

In popular culture

The Tamil Rockers name has made cameo in many Tamil movies, including a Tamil movie named after the website starring Premgi Amaren released on December 31, 2021.[17][18]

On July 2, 2022, SonyLIV released a web series named Tamil Rockerz, which is about online piracy and cybercrime, it stars Arun Vijay and Vani Bhojan, directed by Arivazhagan.[19][20]

References

  1. ^ Prabhakar, Siddharth (29 November 2018). "Tamilrockers: How does the website work? Who are uploading movies?". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 12 June 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  2. ^ "Tamil cinema and TamilRockers: An insider view of the never-ending piracy battle". The News Minute. 27 August 2020. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2020 * Best of TorrentFreak". Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Actor Vishal meets Chief Minister, seeks action against Tamilrockers". News Today. 5 February 2019. Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  5. ^ Shekar, Anjana (12 January 2019). "How Karthik Subbaraj's 'Petta' team is fighting Tamil Rockers". The News Minute. Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  6. ^ "Block TamilRockers and piracy websites: Delhi High Court to Internet Service Providers". India Today. Press Trust of India. 12 August 2019. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Delhi HC Directs Internet Service Providers to Block Tamilrockers for Unauthorised Movie Screening". News18. 12 August 2019. Archived from the original on 14 September 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  8. ^ "2.0 leaked: Why is it so hard to stop the Tamilrockers?". Oneindia. 1 December 2018. Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  9. ^ "MPA Adds 1XBET and Baidu to Latest Piracy Threat Report". TorrentFreak. 13 October 2019. Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  10. ^ "MPA's full report" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  11. ^ "Kerala police arrest 5 for piracy: 3 from Tamilrockers and 2 from DVD rockers". www.thenewsminute.com. 15 March 2018. Archived from the original on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  12. ^ "TamilRockers: Members of piracy website Tamil Rockers arrested". The Times of India. 30 August 2019. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  13. ^ "TamilRockers domain blocked, but the piracy website can come back anytime". The News Minute. 20 October 2020. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  14. ^ "Piracy: Disney Files Police Complaint Against Tamilrockers & Pikashow * TorrentFreak". Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  15. ^ "Indian OTTs might lose $3 bn to piracy this year as leaked content sites see 62 mn footfalls". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  16. ^ "'Pirates' robbing entertainment giants back in focus as Disney Star files FIR on leaked shows". ThePrint. 3 June 2022. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  17. ^ "Premgi's new film titled after the infamous piracy movie website - Times of India". The Times of India. 15 June 2021. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  18. ^ "Tamil Rockers Movie: Showtimes, Review, Trailer, Posters, News & Videos | eTimes", The Times of India, archived from the original on 25 June 2022, retrieved 25 June 2022
  19. ^ Desk, Online. "Arun Vijay to star in Arivazhagan's web series 'Tamil Rockerz'". DT next. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  20. ^ "Arun Vijay's Tamil Rockerz first look out". Cinema Express. Archived from the original on 2 July 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
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