Hello everyone. This is the 3rd and the last part of my interview with Anonymous India - #OpIndia. In this part, I got to know their entry in India, the support they are receiving, about people of India and their plans of 9th June protests across major cities of India.
Part 1 of the interview is here.
Part 2 of the interview is here.
How do you stay in touch with people?
Anon 1 : IRC and twitter.
Do you think the support Anonymous India has got is colder than Anonymous has got globally? People don’t seem to know much about you.
Anon 1 : We were not known anywhere. To people who say - India is not america, many dont use internet here. We say -> Try to find out how many use internet in egypt and see what we could do there.
According to most people's knowledge, Anonymous is just a group of "pimple-faced" hacker kids, who do it for the "lulz". Do you agree?
Anon 1 : No
Anon 4 : Kid ! I wish I was a kid :P
Anon 1 : Majority know us as a group, which is wrong. But the rest is medias creation Many people have been scared of us, but now it is changing as they learn what we really are and what we do.
Anonymous has been seen as a revolution all around the world. Is the response in India the same?
Anon 1 : We have not (been) there , but in each new person who reach us, we can see that burning flame in their words, in their hearts and in their actions.
Anon 4 : Actually, #OpIndia is a bit late. There is already a very effective anonymous. And they don't hack. Have you heard about RTI Anonymous? RTI is the way of getting information from the government. Now as you know a lot of killings of the people who used RTI happened, what these kids from IIT Kharaghpur did that they asked people to give them the RTI queries, and they themselves file it under RTI Anonymous and then pass on the information to the people who wanted it. Thus giving a layer of abstraction and saving lives of RTI activists. And I tell you, a LOT of government people have lost their jobs by them.
Anon 1 : "An epidemic starts in a small proportion .. once its roots dig in .. it spreads like a madness and sweeps everything under its shadows .. similarly Opindia has just started .. patience will lead to wonders".
Anon 4 : The idea of Anonymous would spread for sure.
Anon 1 : A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories.
Anon 1 : When people come here we tell them this is a dangerous game, but they tell we dont care most of the time. That shows the fire that is starting.
I have heard plans of 9th June protests in some major Indian cities. Are you getting support? And is the support enough?
Anon 1 : Yes. As of now Delhi seems to be leading with some 200+ votes, but that is just the beginning. Once something is sparked of this form, it will catch the hearts. Then there is no turning back. Looking for "us" in numbers is a weak way to judge our strength .. we could gather as 5 or as 5000 but that isnt crucial, what matters is that we dont follow like silent sheep, we think for ourselves and we wont let anyone think for us.
Anon 4 : We all know how IAC started ... don't we ... though it is not our role model.
Me : IAC?
Anon 4 : The 2011 revolution by 'India Against Corruption'
I think Indians gather on streets when its not needed (for example cricket world cup or IPL win). But when they actually need to gather on street, they don't. What's wrong with them according to you?
Anon 4 : Dude, Indians do come to the streets. They are angry and they are desperate to fix things. If Indians understand what is happening to them and how it can be fixed, you knwo what happens. 500,000 Indians marched in Mumbai last year, remember? It was a 5KM long rally .. against corruption.
The "Occupy" movement has seen huge success in USA and other countries. Thousands of people protested peacefully on streets. Do you think that could ever happen India?
Anon 1 : Yes it will
Anon 4 : I think more than that has already happened in India last year. And it will happen again
Anon 1 : There isnt anything wrong with indians when it comes to mass gathering. It is the moral policing that makes us think otherwise .. tell him how fucked up it is that we need to beg for police permission to protest our rights being openly raped .. but how easy it for a wedding procession to block and jam roads at any instance in the city
Now I was reaching towards finish.
Do you know about Sabu?
Anon 4 : ? Chacha Chaudhary one?
Anon 1 : Yes I do.
Anon 4 : I don't.
Anon 1 : What you wanna know about the traitor?
How would you be able to sniff out a traitor?
Anon 1 : We cant. Though we have technical means to identify them.
Anon 4 : Why do traitors need us? We have our strict guidelines, we won't go out of it
Anon 1 : But the rule is simple - stay anonymous. We ask them not to even give us their personal details
I am not sure if Anon 1 or Anon 4 said this : We aren't doing what we do for our personal gains .,. we are doing it for the betterment of society .. we let people join us or leave us ,, if someone wants to stab us in the back .. so be it ,, it wont stop us from fighting for ours and others rights .. BUT we wont go easy on a traitor if we find him.
Do you know about Topiary and Jeremy Hammond?
Anon 1: Yes. They gave away too much information and got social engineered.
Related - Part 2 of the interview is here.
Now my questions were finished and I was about to leave.
Me : I think I should end here.
Anon 1 : :D
While I am about to leave, Anon 2 comes in and ask if he/she should deface right now or wait.
Anon 2 : Should I deface now or in 2 hours? Lol.
At first I didn’t understand what Anon 2 was talking about, so I said to continue.
Me : You should right now lol.
Anon 2 : Ok, I will. Stay a little longer for the deface!
Me : What deface?
Anon 2 : Of aitmc.org. Re defacement.
Then Anon 2 defaces the All India Trinamool Conress website and gives the link. I visit it. I see www.aitmc.org home page is defaced and is replaced with a message from Anonymous India.
Everyone cheers it up in the press room as well as their other rooms.
Anon 2 : http://aitmc.org. Defaced, Again. You should be happy, I think you're the only reporter who has been here when we have defaced a site.
Me : Yup i am. I am thinking of throwing a cocktail party ;p
Anon 2 : P*
Then Anon 1 asks me a question.
Anon 1 : Bro, can i ask a question?
Me : Yeah sure
Anon 1 : Who elects our leaders?
Me : We, the people.
Then Anon 6 joins us in and continues the question.
Anon 6 : I’ll carry on the question for bit. If that's okay with you ?
Me : Okay, just getting dizzy a bit (it was 01:15 at night).
Anon 6 : The question is posed as : who elects our leaders? We do right? For what purpose? To serve our needs, protect us etc? We give them power to rule us. So what gives them the belief that they can drown our voices? That they can shut us up, snatch our rights and expect us to keep quiet?
Me : I think its we the people, we don't oppose.
Anon 6 : Exactly why the birth of Anonymous. To oppose, but not be pin pointed and targeted later or attacked by vicious methods and be made to keep quiet .
Me : Okay. I hope you all succeed in the favor of free internet, and free speech.
I finish my interview wishing them best of luck and they finish by saying “JAI HIND”.
Okay so this is it. I finish my interview here. This was the third and the last part. I hope it has been informative to you and I hope I could get more interviews like this in future.
Part 1 of the interview is here.
Part 2 of the interview is here.
If you like this interview, please take a minute to share it, and post comments. Will be back with more articles.
