SUMMARY
- DoT has released a national notice that three URLs should be restricted to providers of Internet services.
- The original two advisories demanded that two different website URLs be prohibited.
- Thirdly, the entire WeTransfer website would be banned.
It banned the popular WeTransfer.com file sharing site from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The DoT mentioned the reasons for this national interest and public interest.
DoT issued a notice to Internet service providers throughout the country to ban three URLs, according to a Mumbai Mirror news report. The two first notes requested the prohibition on the website of two particular URLs, while the third was the prohibition on the whole WeTransfer.
WeTransfer is a popular website for web-based file sharing. It has millions of users worldwide, but in India during the ongoing lock-down days , the company became more popular.
The website allows users to send files directly to the email of the beneficiary without having to create a separate account. While the paid plan permits higher capacities to transfer files, most users work with the free scheme. This is the second reason why the website is so popular in the region, after being user friendly.
The reasons why the government restricted the platform and precisely what was considered to be unacceptable on the website are unknown, although several of the major ISPs have reportedly blocked WeTransfer's service for their customers.
Bans are not new in India. In India, many websites were prohibited.
The Information and Technology ministry showed that the number of blocked URLs in India had risen by 442% in one of the 2019 Lok Sabha meetings. These URLs have been described as malware or promote some form of pornography or a national security threat. The prohibition applies to the whole site. WeTransfer is a platform for file sharing that transfers files from one file to another and does not have access to file contents. WeTransfer is only a carrier, and for some of the content uploaded by its users it should not be prohibited.
Sure, you can use the Website to submit pornographic material, but again it is the users and not the Web site. That is the reason provided by DoT.
