9 June 2012
Last updated at 16:15 GMT
By Rajini Vaidyanathan
BBC News, Mumbai
Activists say Indian internet legislation amounts to censorship
Members
of the internet hacking group Anonymous have been staging protests
across 16 cities in India, against what they say is internet censorship
in the country.
Mumbai's Azad Maidan sports ground is often packed with
children playing cricket, but the bowlers and batsmen were joined on
Saturday by a sea of Guy Fawkes masks.
The costumes are a hallmark of the internet "hacktivist"
group Anonymous which organised a series of protests in Indian cities,
including Mumbai.
"I'm here for internet freedom. There's restrictions on
speaking online. That's why I'm here," says 19-year-old Amisha, a
student who was one of around 100 protesters in Mumbai.
Holding banners calling for freedom from censorship, the group were protesting against India's internet laws.
"India is following China and Iran. They don't want the right
information to reach people," said 20-year-old student Nishant, whose
face was hidden behind a scarf and sunglasses.
"There are some sites they've blocked for information which
is relevant to us. Information which is useful to us as citizens of this
country," he added.
Speaking to the BBC via their internet chatroom, members of
Anonymous India said they were representing the "common man" and were
simply ordinary internet users trying to make a point.
Hackers attack
Anonymous India organised its Occupy campaign against what it
believes is the unfair blocking and banning of file sharing sites by
Indian internet service providers (ISPs) such as Reliance Communications
and Airtel.
It is estimated that as many as 121m Indians are internet users
"We are protesting arbitrary, extra-judicial censorship, where
not even the government knows - or cares - who controls what," said
@anamikanon from Anonymous on the group's chatroom.
Last month a number of Indian ISPs blocked access to
file-sharing sites including Vimeo, Pastebin, Piratebay and Dailymotion
following a court order which centred on the issue of internet
copyright.
A Chennai-based film company, Copyrightlabs, called on big
Indian ISPs, including Reliance Communications, MTNL and BSNL, to
prevent access to websites which allowed users to illegally watch two of
their Bollywood movies, Three and Dhammu.
The court order, known as an Ashok Kumar order, is like a
John Doe order in the United States - designed to protect the copyright
of music, films and other content.
The blocking of access to file-sharing and torrent websites
prompted Anonymous India to hack into more than 15 sites, including the
Indian Supreme Court, two political parties and the Indian telecoms
providers.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
I can understand the need for them to take action... But I'm against taking down websites”
Nikhil Parwar
Digital industry blogger
The group carried out a number of "Denial of Service" (DDOS) attacks, which can temporarily suspend connection to a site.
It also claims it was able to enter the servers of Reliance
Communications, and in a press conference in May, presented a list of
the file sharing sites it alleges the ISP had restricted access to.
Reliance Communications refused to comment on claims they are
restricting access to sites, but pointed the BBC to a statement from 26
May, in which the company said it had the "strongest possible IT
security to tackle unwarranted intrusions," adding that their servers
could not be hacked.
'Negative impact'
Anonymous says it is not supporting piracy, but that many
file-sharing sites are used in a perfectly legitimate way, for example
to share photos or software code.
"File sharing is the lifeline of the internet, that's why it
came into being", said tomgeorge, also from Anonymous, via the chatroom.
The group is also protesting against Indian government IT
regulations that came into effect last year, which force websites to
remove objectionable posts within hours of receiving a complaint.
Some internet campaigners who agree with the view that the
internet is too regulated in India do not agree with Anonymous's method
of attacking websites.
Anonymous India has been behind "denial of service" attacks on several websites
"I can understand the need for them to take action - because
frankly, one feels quite helpless right now, and there needs to be more
awareness - but I'm against taking down websites," says Nikhil Pawar,
the editor of Medianama, a blog covering the digital industry in India.
"There are a number of organisations trying to help the
government understand the negative impact of their rules, but when you
start attacking government websites, it ends up having a negative impact
too."
Mr Pawar says he believes attacks on these sites are
counter-productive because they inevitably encourage politicians to
bring in stricter rules to prevent them happening, which defeats the
object.
The government stands by its belief that sites do need to be
regulated, so that offensive and blasphemous content is not posted. As
for copyright, it maintains that court orders exist to protect film
makers from piracy.
But members of Anonymous say they will continue their actions until restrictions are lifted.
"The government can't stop piracy in a country by just
banning sites. This is a country where you have people selling pirated
CDs on trains in streets... it is actually too much to expect," says
Anon3x3Kalki, another member of the group.
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