The menace called Tamilrockers

It barely takes days for Tamilrockers to get a film up for download on its website. Bollywood films like Badhaai Ho and Namaste England, which released last week can already be found here. Hollywood movies like First Man and Venom, along with regional ones like Kayamkulam Kochunni, Sandakozhi 2, Aravindha Sametha and U Turn are also available for free download on the website.

Films aren’t the only content Tamilrockers caters to. Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane’s Netflix show Sacred Games was also illegally ripped, just like its other show, The Haunting of Hill House.

A screenshot of the home page of Tamilrockers website.

All the times Tamilrockers made headlines in recent times

Tamilrockers made big news after Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam 2 got leaked. When Dhanush’s latest film Vada Chennai also became a victim, the fans of the actor-producer had to urge others not to watch the pirated version. The website recently faced the wrath of Rajinikanth fans too when Kaala was leaked within a day of its release.

Action taken against Tamilrockers

Although the URL itself is blocked by the government, Tamilrockers can be easily accessed by proxy servers. The Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) has an Anti-Piracy Cell that regularly posts lists of domains which it keeps blocking to stop piracy. Tamilrockers’ name is omnipresent.

TFPC had on October 20 shared a list of domain names on Twitter which it has suspended, including Tamilrockers, after it leaked Veda Chennai and Sandakozhi 2. Even Twitter regularly tracks fake accounts of Tamilrockers for sharing links of the leaked movies. Though it has brought temporary relief to filmmakers, it won’t be surprising if Tamilrockers returns soon.
https://twitter.com/TFPC_Antipiracy/status/1053569399691440128
https://twitter.com/TFPC_Antipiracy/status/1050985322949967872

Are theatres enabling piracy?

According to a report in The Hindu, several theaters in south India are indeed enabling piracy of Tamil films by either working hand-in-glove with the pirates or not doing enough to stem the rot. Its reports states, “The Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC), which has been vocal about ‘isolating’ theatres that routinely enable piracy, released a list of nine theatres — mainly in Tamil Nadu, with and some in neighbouring states — last week. While urging Qube Cinema Technologies, one of most well-networked digital distribution companies in South India, to not supply equipment such as projectors to these theatres, TFPC also asked its members to not release new movies in these theatres.”

Netflix show Sacred Games and Tamil film Sandakozhi 2 also got leaked on Tamilrockers.

Read this news in Malayalam

Tamilrockers keeps coming back

Despite every kind of action against the piracy website, Tamilrockers continues to return with a new domain name. From http://tamilrockers.hn/, it recently became http://tamilrockers.by/.

In a country where piracy is rampant, the authorities have been unsuccessful in stopping the tide of illegally ‘ripped’ content. So, which Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bollywood, Hollywood or Netflix title is its target next?