The hacker-group Anonymous has struck again in India. This time the victim is the MTNL website. The group posted on their website, saying, ”We are against Internet Cencorship. Instead of blocking few URLs the ISP blocked the whole domain of various file sharing websites. The HC Madras, DoT didn’t isssue any list of websites to be blocked still ISP supported internet censorship.”
Yes they did get the spelling of censorship wrong on their site. We think they were trying to make some sort of statement against the word itself.
MTNL officials, when quizzed about the logic behind such a blanket ban, appeared clueless. Both the General Managers in charge of broadband services in Mumbai –M K Purohit and Bhavna Om – requested for some time to look into the matter. Purohit said, “These sites are generally blocked due to court orders or directives from the Telecom Department. But I cannot say for sure.”
Attempts to log onto the MTNL site gave users an error message saying the requested URL could not be retrieved.
Screengrab of Anonymous website.
So why is Anonymous so angry? Well its because the Indian government has blocked access to file sharing websites like PirateBay, Vimeo and other torrent websites arguing that this is being done to stop privacy and copyright violations. This web censorship hasn’t gone down too well with the hacker group Anonymous who have asked users to organise protests against “web censorship” in India on 9 June.
As part of the protests, Anonymous has also asked all citizens to wear Anonymous’ (Fawkes) mask, dress completely in black and step out on the streets to protests.
The aim: to target public places like malls, markets, and houses of politicians in order to get maximum impact.
The group has also put out a cut-out of the Guy Fawkes, mask on its website which users can download, print, cut and put together to wear to the protest on 9 June.
