Popcorn for The Jio/Hotstar Drama

So! The Jio/Hotstar merger. Atu told me about it the other day. I was fascinated. 

I must admit right away that I am no authority on legalities and I have zero knowledge of international laws on domains. I barely can start up a Google spreadsheet. 

But from what I understand, Disney’s Hotstar and Jio Cinema is in talks to form a merger. Which, by the way, I support. I hope they have good movies.

Anyhoo, after it was officially announced, this one Delhi techie put up a note on the jiohotstar.com website saying that he bought this domain in advance when he heard rumours of a merger. And that he wants to study in Cambridge and all he wants is one crore INR for the site, which is nothing for Reliance. Which is true. 

But!

Ok so this is where it gets good. Jio already owns jiohotstar.in. But most corporations would like to co-op all versions of their sites so that people aren’t misdirected to the wrong one. So after his announcement, Jio came out saying that they have filed a legal case because this is domain squatting, which is illegal. 

I'm guessing if Delhi Boy was using his site for anything, then it’s still fine. Technical loophole and all that. But with his own announcement, he basically admitted to having bought the site specifically to get money from Jio. Sounds very extortion-y. I don’t think any mega corporation would want to look weak by caving to his demands. Even if the one crore was pocket change to them.

So instead of one crore, he got a legal case from a corporation that has bottomless money.

And then news broke that he has sold it through a third party to some other people in Dubai, which is now covered by international law. But people are saying that he could still be liable because the case filed against him happened before the sale!

It’s a lot of drama. Apparently his parents are also scared because they think he’s taking on the Ambanis and no one wants to do that. Also it seems he is facing a ton of hacking attempts on his site. Very stressful.

But this is what I’m thinking that one wants to support the underdog but some underdogs can be really stupid. Some people really can NOT keep quiet to save their lives these days!! It's like people need to know how brilliant we are. Or powerful. Or pretty. Or happy. Or rich. Or right. If anything happens to me, I seem to need to ‘tell my story’ which is usually code for ‘explain why I am right’. And social media has fed this narcissism like an IV injection straight to our veins. We all have our own platforms and we feel heard, like we have an audience, which is code in our heads for ‘fans’. 

Some people actually begin to think they are important. The idea that Pride goes before a fall has never been so universally applicable. Now that everyone has a platform, we all just keep falling off our own pedal stools. 

I don’t know how else to put it, honestly. What do you do when you want to support the Underdog but the Underdog is really stupid? Is it in the word? Because the response of an excited dog is to bark. Dogs don’t stay quiet. They aren’t like snails. Snails keep quiet. They don’t champion their ‘side of the story’ without thoughts of repercussions. More people need to learn this from snails.

I call it the Chengkawl Policy. I blogged about it last year too. I still consider it solid theory. Even when we are right, not all stories need to be told all the time. Some stories don’t need to be public. Some stories require a limited audience. Some stories need to brew for some time before they’re told. Some stories don’t even need to be told.

You know, returning to Delhi Boy, apparently domain squatting was made illegal after people started doing this during the early years of the dot com era. When big websites and tech companies were starting out. So tech boy did his research but not nearly enough. And he was bragging about his plot like he was Mojo Jojo or Voldemort. People had to know how brilliant he was! 

He didn’t apply Chengkawl Policy. He should have.

Of Prepaid SIM and Recharge Cards

My mother conversationally told me this morning that last Thursday, she could not call anyone because she didn’t have enough balance. For a few seconds, I didn’t comprehend. So I asked for clarification. And she casually explained that she recharges her SIM card by 2000 rupees with a one year validity. But that recently, she’d used up her minutes so all her system was off.

It took me back to a time when I had this number – 9891569852. It was Hutch, I think. I don’t know who has the number now. I don’t. It was my first mobile phone number. The SIM card of it rested in a sturdy perfect-for-a-horcrux (because nigh indestructible, of course) Nokia 3310. And then later in a Nokia 2100. Those were perfect vessels because I was in high school boarding at the time and was not allowed a phone hence oftentimes, the phone needed to dangle in a polybag outside toilets, perilously hanging off of ventilator locks and bolts. They could not afford to be delicate. And then for college, in a Nokia 3200 which Rose Tyler carried in Doctor Who 2005 reboot as well! Nokia 3200 could play music, was coloured and I could use my own photo as the back cover; made me feel cool as all hell.

Mid-college and a series of phone pranks with Mamu where I was scared straight and learned a particularly vehement Hindi curse word from a guy on the other line, I changed my number to a Vodafone one that I still use to this day. Never indulged in phone pranks again. Then later, I collected another Airtel number. Still have it. I once had a Jio number as well but no more.

Both my Vodafone and Airtel numbers are post-paid now. As a broke student in Delhi, I saw post-paid connections as luxury. U Rinpuii who was a doctor who had her own government living quarters in Defence Colony used to have a post-paid Reliance number; I’d thought she was so rich. Bourgie Broqé Adult Me has post-paid connections. So fancy!

My mother though. She still uses a pre-paid connection! HOW?! I didn’t even know pre-paid connections still existed. I asked her where they even sell scratch cards! My sister said no one sells cards anymore; she just has to pay through GPay. I said ok and nodded. Do you remember those scratch cards? Silver mat that turns to goo once you scratch it off with a coin revealing a number that you communicate to your service provider after some * and # and maybe like 191 or something… Also who uses coins anymore? Feck, the world has changed!

I used to have a Vodafone internet connection that comes prepaid in a dongle. Today I have WiFi at work and office. And the dongle I carry has my Digital Signature that is accepted by banks and the Treasury instead of really slow internet.

I can hear Karen Carpenter in my head cooing: So much has changed…