Worst Countries to Download Torrents in
The digital platform has increased the appetite for on-demand content, in particular among the youth. There is an increase in the number of countries trying to stem digital piracy; however, despite the efforts to deal with this epidemic, many people are finding new ways of circumnavigating the laws in place. This has not dampened the efforts of countries around the world to thwart the stealing of intellectual property. The vice of downloading torrents is accelerated by the lack of available content on legal streaming sites.
Countries such as the Netherlands and Switzerland permit torrent downloads for personal use only but illegal for financial gain, but there are no stringent measures to oversee that the material is not distributed. However, countries are making strides in banning and censoring certain torrent sites in a bid to stem digital piracy, but the consumer is getting cheekier when it comes to accessing the on-demand content. Here are the countries with stringent laws against downloading torrents.
Japan
This country in the Orient has one of the most stringent anti-piracy laws, and if found guilty of downloading torrent, you could face a 2 million Yen fine and up to 2 years in prison for the download. Uploading of torrents carries a much larger jail term of 10 years. However, VPNs are legal in the country and websites to advise torrent downloaders to use VPNs to change their geolocation.
Germany
The European nation comes in a close second for having some of the most stringent anti-piracy laws on the planet. Downloading torrents in the country attracts a penalty of anywhere between 300 to 1000 Euros for downloading a single movie via torrents.
India
Downloading torrents in India could land you in jail for at least three years and a fine as high as 4590 USD. Presently, internet service providers have started putting up warnings to internet users who go to torrent sharing sites. The ISPs warn against viewing, duplicating, downloading, or exhibiting an illicit copy of the content from the torrent sites. The laws are under Sections 6, 63-A, 65, and 65-A of the Copyright Act of 1957.
There is new proposed legislation in the USA that would see anyone found guilty of downloading torrents of copyrighted material without the necessary permissions for more than ten times in six months could face up to five years in jail. Countries like the UK, Spain, among others, are trying to educate their citizens on the legal ways of accessing content online.
In conclusion, despite there being stringent laws against piracy, torrent downloaders are getting smart and devising ingenious ways of accessing the torrents. With VPNs and proxies, there is an uphill task of actually finding the downloaders and prosecuting them.
