diff --git a/data-access/servlet/src/main/java/cutout/webapi/ServletCutout.java b/data-access/servlet/src/main/java/cutout/webapi/ServletCutout.java
index 630cb6c6942056b52d33c1a25661b64746121e6f..846fb166a8d8b0b18ec39acf620b3e7195b8831c 100644
--- a/data-access/servlet/src/main/java/cutout/webapi/ServletCutout.java
+++ b/data-access/servlet/src/main/java/cutout/webapi/ServletCutout.java
@@ -263,6 +263,13 @@ public class ServletCutout extends HttpServlet
             Pol    pol  = Pol.parsePol(params);
             String pixels = SingleStringParam.parseSingleStringParam(params, "PIXELS");
 
+            // disable complete file/hdu download
+            if( (id!=null) && (pos==null) && (band==null) && (time==null) && (pol==null)
+                && (pixels==null))
+				{
+               throw new IllegalArgumentException("At least one of filtering args must be given.");
+				}
+
             String respFormat = sodaReq_getResponseFormat(request, DEFAULT_RESPONSEFORMAT);
 
             LOGGER.finest("responseFormat: " + respFormat);