An Interview With Anonymous India - Part 3 - Their Views on Indians and Their Planned Protests

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 1 of this interview is here.
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.

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An Interview With Anonymous India - Part 2 - Their Views on Government, Censorship and Its Impact

Hello everyone. This is the second part of my interview with Anonymous India - #OpIndia. In this part, I continue with questions about Government and its policies, why they think the Government want control over the Internet and how the Government's policies would affect you and the internet.

Part 1 of the interview is here.
Part 3 of the interview is here.

The Interview with Anonymous India - Part 2.

Do you think the Indian Government wants to curb piracy? Government has not been involved in blocking the file sharing sites at least. It was a production company who got the orders.

Anon 1 : We do not support piracy but what we know is government’s concern is not piracy, it is control over the web.

Do you think Indian ISPs have acted amaturely by blocking the whole websites? Aren't they lazy to find particular links and block them?

Anon 1 : It is just as we told. You know what, youtube is hosting sex scandal videos of MPs it can be easily taken down, but not if torrent is used. This is the actual agenda behind all this. Corporations support government, and it supports back. No one cares about the people. But they forget that they are just the 1% and cant control the 99% once they are awake.

Anon 4 : A lot has been shared on facebook and twitter about the top politicians, which never comes to mainstream media. Kapil Sibal showed the *same* thing to Internet company's executives. And asked "How can you have such things" !

Anon 1 : In a democratic governments all decisions and all talks are to be videotaped and released to public then and there

Anon 4 : Democracy works well only when the public is well aware and not ignorant. Controlling messages, news, truth will kill democracy. Democracy dies when news channels become propaganda channels. And there is no passage for the truth. Which right now is Internet.

The Indian Government is more involved in blocking websites that hurts peoples' "sentiments". They want to bring down every voice that is against their wishes. How would you define this?

Anon 1 : Childish. As i told, information is like  - take what you want ignore the rest. System dont expect to make it be only what you like.

Anon 4 : Like they slapped Rs 100 Crore fine on Times Group?

Anon 4 : One thing, things that are not genuine and (are) fake, can't survive on social media. Social Media is the fastest self correcting medium. And second, all websites have self correcting mechanism where you can remove a certain content which hurts sentiments

Anon 1 : See can i ask. Lets say I hear a content ABC is hurtful to me, so I spend 10 mins downloading ABC, then watching it, and getting hurt? Then i need to be thrown in an asylum very soon. if you dont like it keep away from it.

Anon 4 : Funny thing is, not a single porn site has been banned yet.

Do you think the Government have any right to pull down someone from the internet because they think the content is "inappropriate" in one or other way for its citizens?

Anon 1 : NO they dont. Because government may think it is bad, but the people may not. People can take that decision online. They can press a button and that content (is gone) for ever from their eyesight. Sites have intelligent systems to keep what you dont like away.

Governments don't own the Internet. The why do you think, they are acting as if they did? Why they want control over the Internet?

Anon 4 : Let us get it straight. Government doesn't want to control the internet. Certain individuals in government want to control Internet. For their own purpose. Along with rich corporate people.

Me : By certain individuals you mean?

Anon 4 : Certain individuals who want to keep power and money in their control.

Anon 1 : It is like having the future mass media under their control, The parties can use it as they like to preach what they want. Without internet people will believe what the other media tell them, which are under gov control.

Anon 4 : Again, it is like hacking human brain. Brain wash it, using your own propaganda. Don't let the truth come to it. I will give you an example. how it can hurt India badly. You know a CAG report came in 2011, it told that Indian defences are too weak. Government controlled this news, people hardly came to know about it. People always thought they were secure. Later it was found that Indian defences are in a real poor shape. Now, this was a news, which should have been on front page for days. Isn't this anti-national? Isn't this treason ?

Anon 1 : Gov want to keep people ignorant. Here is a question, Law to protect copyright and help censor internet is made in days and passed with full support of every party. Things like poverty removal, infrastructure development etc never see and end from the red tape. Why is that so? Because the other laws wont help them get more power or make more money.

Related - Part 1 of this interview is here.
Related - Part 3 of the interview is here.

While out interview is going on, Anon 5 joins us again.

Anon 5 : Still interview is going on :o lulzz

I invite Anon 5 to the interview too.

Me : It would be good if you join in too.

Anon 5 : Go on man.. I am just too bored now.

Anon 5 seems like leaving and we continue.

Anon 4 : You can understand how people in power are scared of free information. Do you know the number of RTI activists murdered? Do you know the number of whistleblowers murdered?

Me : Not the exact no but a lot.

Anon 4 : Doesn't that scare you? These people are 'that' petrified by free information.

Me : of course it does, and that’s why no one will stand up for truth.

Anon 1 : This control will also will help remove threats like Wikileaks to the corrupt guys. The worst case is that it was proven that every perty and every politician was corrupt, and yet people expect them to make laws that will prevent corruption. Is that not a rubbish idea?

Anon 4 : Right now the penetration of internet is like 6% in India. Still, we have had episodes like Abhishek Singhvi, Patil's home etc. Imagine, what would be the case when penetration is 50%. People in power would lose control. So they want to control Internet NOW

Even USA, UK, Canada and other countries want to fight piracy and there has been attempts to create laws like SOPA, ACTA, and CISPA. But these countries never block someone's personal blog, where he may be putting his own views which may not match with the Government's. Then why Indian Govt is after it?

Anon 1 : Yes, that is what shocked us the most. They only hit big media groups, not individuals. The truth is Indian gov thinks, Indian people are IDIOTS. But time to change that and what is why we are acting the people to wake up.

Anon 4 : They know that biggies won't touch them. But small people would.

Do you think Indian Government is feeling insecure?

Anon 1 : Yes, so is many other governments. In reality governments dont have to fear. Because governments would be with the people. It is the ruling elite class that has to fear. It is the corporations and their slave politicians who have thing to lose and too bad they will too.

Anon 4 : Internet is going to change power flows.

The Indian media is not giving the censorship issue (much needed) proper attention. What do you do to get more and more people know about it?

Anon 1 : If they had fought the way we are doing when they were being censored, India would be a world power today and will be the best and the most loved nation for its good people. The world loves India, we all do. But it is this cancer within India that had been killing it. Time to rise up India.

Okay this is the end of Part 2. If you like this interview, please take a minute to share it. Also post comments if you like/dislike this interview.

Part 1 of the interview is here.
Part 3 of the interview is here.

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An Interview With Anonymous India - Part 1 - What is Anonymous? What Are They Fighting For? And Why?

Hello everyone. As you may know, I am a free speech supporter and I am a good observer. Since last year, I am following updates from Anonymous - A hactivist group of individuals from all over the world. Anonymous has become famous for their hactivism by opposing censorship and favoring free speech. Anonymous has been a part of many peaceful protests globally. And now the ideology of Anonymous is spreading in India too. I took an interview of Anonymous India last night to get more, and true - not misleading information about them. It was a three hours(!) long interview and it was worth it. Here I present my Interview in three parts. Below is the preface, you can skip to interview directly bellow.

Part 2 of the interview is here.
Part 3 of the interview is here.

Preface :
A few weeks ago, Indian ISPs started blocking a number of websites – most of them piracy related. ISPs were asked to block specific URLs that pointed to a number of movies so that their piracy can be stopped. But ISPs went a step further and blocked the whole websites.

Now this has got attention of Anonymous. Being a supporter of free speech and free internet, they started their operations in India called - #OpIndia. They have attacked a number of websites – most of which are Government websites, in protest. Though most of these “attacks” were not intended to cause permanent damage at all. Anonymous wants the blocked sites to be unblocked and want to let the people of India know that censorship is not something that could be tolerated. They want that people of India rise up and get involved in fight against censorship.

While most of the people take Anonymous as “bad guys”, it would be surprising to know that they did not affect any website permanently and fatally (like deleting the database, stealing user information etc). Anonymous want their message to be spread via this as the Indian media is (strangely) not paying attention on issues like censorship. There are mainly false, misleading and incomplete articles and information about Anonymous in India. It would be good to know that they have a strict policy of not to target education and media related websites. They also don't want to attack public interest sites as they don't want them to suffer.

To spread out the truth, Anonymous India have started a special chat room, where the people from media can join in and interview them. So the misleading info could be stopped.

I have been in #OpIndia rooms since a few days, observing them. I have also seen some of interviews taking place, which are not by the mainstream media, but by the bloggers and free lancers mainly. Yesterday night – at about 10:30, I joined in #OpIndia and asked about an interview. I introduced myself and gave my blog link, and one of the "anon" told me that he/she knew of my blog! And without much a-do, they decided who will handle the interview and we were in the "press room" next moment, ready for the interview.

My aim for the interview was to get as much information about them and their operation as I could. My aim was not to get to know them personally and I had prepared a list of questions before joining in. I was more interested in knowing what are their views on various topics. I am satisfied with the interview and through this interview, I came to know them much better. All of them knows why they are doing what they are doing. They have knowledge of the situations and they love India. They are not a bunch of kids whose only goal is to spread mayhem. Here I present my interview with Anonymous India, #OpIndia. I hope I could present it well as I thought it to be.

The interview with Anonymous India - #OpIndia - Part 1.

We will be knowing each member by Anon 1, 2, 3 etc. This is the first of the three parts.

How will you define Anonymous?

Anon 1 : Anonymous is not a party, group, association, organization. It is a collective, and the name can be used by anyone. We are an idea and represent only that. Anonymous is often misunderstood as a group, but we are not. We have no leaders, set rules, or set agendas. We are just a collective of ideas put together under a common name.

How long has Anonymous been active in India?

Anon 2 : I'm sure there has been Anonymous in India before #opindia

Anon 1 : To answer that question we will have to start from the origins. In 2001, a site was launched called 4chan.org , where people could share and post images and ideas without any form of restrictions. There anyone who did not use a user name was given a title "Anonymous". It began from there.

We were just an internet prank group in the beginning. Then in 2010-2011 it all changed, a revolution began where we found a new purpose, to use our skills to the advantage of the world. And hence was born the anonymous movement.

And to clearly answer your questions, yes there were many anons in India long before OpIndia, but in the true sense of Anonymous today it would be from 2011 we had a huge Indian team within the anonymous international.

So what became the first trigger for Anonymous movements?

Anon 1 : The actual beginning of this revolution was in 2011 when the church of scientology was exposed to be a very evil cult. That was nothing but a spreader of hate and a monetary sponge. Anonymous hackers took it upon themselves to destroy this cult system and began a war against them. Most of the methods we use today were made up during that fight. Then began the Occupy movement to protest against the unfair economic system and anti-free speech laws by USA. Then the movement spread with that idea of protest far and wide, and then protecting free speech operations like wikileaks became a mission too.

A church spreading false information got Anonymous this far?

Anon 1 : It was not the Christian kind of church, it was a cult organization.

How will you define the ongoing censorship saga in India? The Indian internet scene never used to be same before.

Anon 1 : Nonsense! That is what is the best way to define it.

Anon 3 : The walls are closing in. There is always censorship, but the internet has kicked up the desperation. The speed of the internet makes for little room for evasion. You can't have no censorship, however who should do the censorship and how it should be implemented are important. We censor ourselves all the time, when you don't tell your friend's mom that food was ghastly, for example, censorship of religious content started after partition riots probably saved countless lives. The question is if that suppression of free speech achieves something useful. But when you block a website over potential pirated content... what is the trade off? What does it achieve? For whom? It is not the existence of censorship that is the problem, but arbitrary applications for profit.

Anon 1 :  Internet is the last surviving medium common people have to communicate freely and exercise free speech. The attempt to control that too is draconian idea and can't be forgiven. Internet is like diamond. It only has it's value because it is made to believe it is valuable. Any form of censorship was always and will be misused to suppress free speech. The ideology of anonymous is zero censorship. If you find something offensive don't read it. Same way we support censorship like protecting children from bad material. But We think adults are to have the maturity to moderate themselves, than asking for favorite service only.

Information is a buffet, you take what you want, don't force them to change menu for you.

Anon 4 : There has been few instances where people in power were affected. Example Abhishek Singhvi, and President Patil. After this, the desperation has spiked. You know that main stream media did not cover the Abhishek Singhvi case for weeks, even though the court had stopped only the distribution of video, not any news about it.

India has its own movie censorship board. Do you think having something called "censorship board" for movies clears the mentality of India? They want to censor everything they are not comfortable with.

Anon 1 : In a movie censorship it can help by not allowing one group to attack another. But same can't be  done with news and information. Who are the ones who will profit from the website blockade? Maximum 10 people The company owners and the producer. And for that lakhs have to be denied a free means of sharing information. For example - Bit torrent technology is used to share Linux operating system in a cheap way as it is free licensed. what explanation or solution does they have for disrupting that.

Anon 3 : You know what is interesting about the film censor board? It is the only medium that gets censored BEFORE publication/release. Do you know what these blocks achieve? Control - not over piracy - plenty of that is there. But control over unpredictability. Vimeo and youtube both share videos. Vimeo gets blocked. Youtube doesn't. why? You can no longer have a youtube account without your phone number attached. The control isn't over piracy, but over the actions of the people. ALL actions of people. I can show you live examples of piracy on youtube right this minute. Accessible to you and me and god and everybody.  If Vimeo goes to one of those govt meetings, and agrees to cough up privacy info on users, it will be unblocked in a minute

Anon 4 : Control over press and social media and information would do the worst ... hack people's mind.

Anon 1 : Facebook was not required to censor over piracy. Vimeo is used by 100s of free and small film makers in India. They went without job for weeks. No one cared about that. The government here was a partial supporter of the profits for the big corporates ignoring the needs of the millions. Another reflection for the corruption.

Related - Part 2 of this interview is here.
Related - Part 3 of the interview is here.

Don't you think someone who know law well, should file a PIL (against blockage of websites)?

Anon 1 : There are, but their court orders are never execute. And remember, Courts can't do anything once a law is made. If law says for this reason it can be censored, court can only work by that.

But there is no law which can order you to block a website right?

Anon 1 : There are laws. Our IT Act can. Our IT rules - applicable since last year are worse

Anon 3 : As per the IT rules, if I don't like a post you make on FB, all I have to do is send a signed email or registered letter or such to FB, and they ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE IT DOWN IN 36 HOURS. They don't have to tell you. And your post can be about the new T-shirt you bought. no one cares. And in any case, all existing public content regardless of medium can be blocked by courts

Anon 4 : People are already suffering due to this... and they are powerless, moneyless and contact-less.

While I am interviewing them, another anon joins us. The anon announces that their Twitter account @opindia_revenge, which was suspended a week ago, is back.  Everyone in the room seems very happy about this.

Anon 5 : opindia_revenge account is back!!!

Anon 3 : WTF!!!

Anon 3 : YAY!!!!!!

Me : Well that's a good news.

Anon 5 : :)

Anon 1 : Wow good news, hats in the sky

Anon 4 :  Yup ... another win for us :)

Anon 3 : hahaha... now we have two :D

Anon 1 : So they can do listen. Now lets hear the apology.

After being witness of their joy, I continue with the questions.

Do you think Government should decide what website one should visit, or what movie one should watch? Can't citizen think and decide themself? And i don't mean only piracy sites.

Anon 1 : Yes exactly. "Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself .. it is the hallmark of a failed government .."

Anon 3 : I think the govt should block websites that are harmful for citizens in specific ways. Security, child pornography. But it has to be specific. Not blanket. And it has to be minimal

Anon 1 : The best thing is to warn them and let them decide. If there is a site with phishing pages, for example, you protect people by blocking access to it, or child porn doesn't need any encouragement. As I told information is a buffet , you are not to change the menu.

Anon 3 : Though a button, like google has, would be better. This site is harmful, proceed at your own thing.

Anon 1 : We anonymous are against child pornography like water is to fire, we  hate it more than censorship or even terrorism.

Do you think Govt is under heavy lobbying?

Anon 3 : Of course. Not under lobbying, it is sold and inside pockets. Though it would be fairer to say that there is a symbiotic relationship

Anon 1 : Yes it is brother. I will ask your question. Who was the only group that had permission to run mobile services in india. It was only BSNL. Reliance started of with mobile service as if law was bull shit to them. Court asked them to pay a huge compensation to BSNL. Suddenly from nowhere a law came allowing private parties to enter mobile business. What the hell is that suppose to mean?

Anon 3 : I don't know if you saw our video. Govt sites were under attack from 11th to 14^th - Nothing (happened). Reliance got attacked, our govt made history by getting the first Anon account ever deleted - says it all. Reliance, for that matter operates outside laws very often.

If you look carefully at how the government or corporates operate, think back a bit. Even the censorship thing. Sibal's unthinking demand for prescreening. It got him thoroughly trashed everywhere. He said he didn't mean censorship and no censorship would happen. Then, a journalist comes out of the blue and gets a court order to ban exactly the same content.

Anon 4 : And then judge talks about making India as strict as China ! And now, Gol (Govt?) is planning to stop SSL and HTTPS totally in India.

Anon 1 : As if china is success full  in what it is doing.

Anon 3 : Reliance got a court order. Technically, they are supposed to have the injunction so that they can act fast against illegal urls. They used it to block entire sites, and no one opposed it. It just happened. What is more, ALL ISPs did that.

Anon 1 : But that is not necessary. URLS are not time bombs. People should learn tolerance

Anon 3 : Then, our hack of the reliance server (happened). We found urls blocked that had no call to be blocked. No court order, nothing. Reliance had blocked them, because it could. And while we got the list from the reliance server, it isn't too far fetched that each ISP has their own lists. Our issue with the govt is that it is the job of the govt to protect our rights. Which it is not doing. It is simply catering to whatever the powerful people want

Anon 4 : Government controlled media is not covering the fact that Reliance blocked URLs illegally.

End of Part 1.

Part 2 of the interview is here.
Part 3 of the interview is here.

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India, Piracy, Censorship, Government and Media : Where India Is Going?

Hello everyone, in this post, I wish to share my views about India, piracy, censorship, Indian Government and Indian media.

As you may know, the hactivist group Anonymous has launched an operation called #OpIndia against the recent website blockage in India. Some ISPs have blocked major file sharing websites including The Pirate Bay along with Vimeo and Pastebin. This move has sparked controversy once again and this time, it has caught attention of Anonymous. Anonymous have started DDoSing a number of Indian websites and have temporarily disabled them. They have also threatened to attack more websites.

While Anonymous kept attacking websites and brought them down since yesterday, the Indian Media acted immaturely. While a number of sites were being DDoS'd, the Indian media was busy reporting Shahrukh Khan and IPL. Even major news channels didn't pay attention on website being attacked and more importantly, why they were being attacked. The news channel also didn't care about the ongoing internet censorship saga. While a few big entertainment companies anyhow convinces the Government to order blockage of the file sharing websites every now and then, the Indian media is keeping mum on this matter.

This is the same media which was praised for reporting and helping in some of the high-profile cases such as Jessica Lal murder case. The media was considered to be mature since then, as they helped citizens to raise their voice against the injustice. the website blocking and internet censorship also a major issue to talk about. It is also violation of human rights and free speech as citizens are forcefully stopped from what they feel, is right to do.

Since last year, Indian Government is acting weirdly regarding internet censorship. First they threatened some big social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google to make them stop their operations in India if they don't remove "questionable" content and start governing all the content on their sites. Then a few ISPs started blocking a number of file sharing sites as per Department of Telecom (DoT) orders. There was no notification made public about this order and why there were blocking the sites. ISPs kept showing messages upon visiting the blocked websites that the site was blocked as per the DoT orders. Upon being asked, they denied any site being blocked. Now once again, they have started blocking a few websites as per "court orders".

You can download the court order from here or view online here. The court order does not mention to block any website anywhere.

It seems like India is on its way of becoming the next China and Iran on internet censorship issue, and all the media is busy broadcasting useless IPL and other news. They are busy showing who scored what, what happened on the ground, how cheer leaders danced, who wore what, who attended what party etc. But they don't even consider internet censorship an even more major issue to talk about. If the internet censorship saga continues, the results would be unexpected.

The Indian Government needs to re-think about their internet censorship views. While a large part of India is not even connected with internet, and ISPs are constantly failing to provide stable and high speed internet connectivity to its customers, they are more concerned about piracy! Piracy may be an issue but while the citizens have no access to a stable internet, do you really think it is more important to think about the piracy through internet? How many of you are going to download a movie which will take five or six hours to complete on a 256 kbps (broadband!) connection? Most people buy pirated movie and music from the street vendors. These vendors are not underground, they can be seen anywhere - on any cross road, near a public garden or even movie cinemas! If the Government and entertainment industry really cared about piracy, why won't they nab those vendors and find out who is behind them?

It is true that piracy hurts economically and it is not good to "steal" ethically, but the even more important thing is to think about why piracy happens? What is the reason that leads the citizens to pirate? Why would anyone have to "steal" anything if they have access to it freely? If you wanted to watch a movie in a cinema, you would have to spend 300 to 500 RS per ticket, excluding food you may buy during a movie. While it may not seem a big amount to many of those who are living in metro cities like Mumbai, it is still a big amount for the majority of the Indian citizens. If a family of four wants to watch a movie in cinema, they would have to spend about 1500 to 2000 RS. Not everyone could afford it. Those who can't afford it, considers buying a pirated DVD from a street vendor, who have all the latest pirated movies available right after their release. A pirated DVD costs about 50 RS and people think it is far more economic. Though those pirated DVDs will never give them a good movie viewing experience, who cares about it at all?

The Indian public is the most attached to only two things - Cricket and Bollywood. They are obsessed with movie stars. They are blind by the Cricketers' and movie stars' lifestyle, the fortune they have, the hospitality, they reputation they get, the facilities they get etc. Every second teenager in India thinks about being Cricketer or movie star. This attachment leads the people to reach their destination anyway, anyhow. A large amount of people go and watch live cricket matches everyday. A large amount of people watch movies every week, or even same movie more than one time a week. People would cross any limit for cricket and movies. But those who have desires but can't watch movies just like others do, would simply turn to piracy, just like bribing someone to get tickets anyhow for a cricket match.

As I said before, they can't afford the movies due to their high cost, but at the same time , they can't refrain themselves from watching a movie. It doesn't mean that if they can't afford it then they won't watch it. They would just buy a pirated DVD and watch it with their friends and family just as they would watch in a cinema! They don't even feel what they are doing might be wrong or unethical. They just use the resources available within their reach. They have both the choices available and they go for the one they feel right.

If the Indian Government and movie industry really wants to curb piracy, they need to re-think. Make the resources available to people at a price they could afford. Encourage them to go for what is ethical. Educate them, turn them to the right way. I would have to add that watching movies and buying movie or music DVDs would be affordable for the most, but you need to think about those for whom it isn't. People need to be educated. They need to be convinced about what they are doing is wrong. They should not buy a pirated DVD even if they can't afford the original. If you simply block the file sharing websites, it won't stop piracy at all. If you ban your children from doing something, do you think they will stop? They will just find another way. Why? Because they are children. They can't spot the difference between the right and the wrong. They need to be educated about what is wrong and right. Just banning them from doing something will make them rebel. The more you tie your children, the more they try to go free. The same goes for all the citizens. Censorship would turn citizens against the Government.

Indian citizens aren't well educated about their rights. When they are stopped from speaking, they will say "It's my right to speak, I am living in a free country." The same thing apply to censorship. Being stopped from visiting a website is also the violation of your right. If you really think you are living in a free country then how could you sit duck, doing nothing about different sites being blocked every now and then? Why would the Government have to block a website and create an atmosphere like we are living in shadow of fear?

The Government needs to understand that they do not own the internet at all. It is true that they provide infrastructure for internet and make it available to public, but they take fees for it. Internet is free, but internet access isn't. The customers pay a price to access the internet. And as a customer, it is their right to have access to all the resources they are paying for. They cannot be stopped from visiting a website you don't like. Leave it up to the customer to decide what to view and what not to. And while internet has become a part of people's life all over the world including India, how could you think about censoring it instead of taking it as a big platform for people and the country itself and making it freely accessible? Every invention have two sides - good and bad. Just because some are going the "bad" side, it doesn't mean to stop all those who are going the "good" way too.

And the Government need to think that if the censorship saga continues, how many of foreign companies will be pleased to enter the Indian market? If you would keep stopping them, they would never consider entering Indian market. The Government's target should be making India a free country, not a censored one. This could help India growing even faster. India is a very big market and everyone knows it. Why not use the available resources to something more important?

Let's hope the Indian Government would re-consider its plan to censor the internet. Let's hope that the Indian media will give more attention to this censorship issue. Let's hope that India stays a free, liberal country in every manner.

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Unidentified Girl's Body Dumped At New Delhi Reailway Station

The body of a young woman aged around 22 was found stuffed in a bag at New Delhi railway station. The bag was dumped allegedly by an unidentified couple. Witnesses said the couple came in an auto-rickshaw, dumped the bag that looked like a cricket kit bag near the taxi stand on the Paharganj side and left without either being challenged or caught on CCTV.

Despite (claimed) tight security at the railway station, the bag laid unattended for more than half an hour before a quick reaction team constable opened it.

"The woman was around 22 years old and appeared to be from a well to do family. She was about 5''2' tall and was wearing a black sweater and black trousers. She had a peacock quill tattooed on her belly and a ring on her navel. Her hands were tied and there were injury marks on her neck. We did not find evidence of sexual assault, and e are awaiting the postmortem report" A police official said.

Till late at night, the body was not identified. "There are no CCTV cameras facing the parking bay. We have to rely on eyewitness accounts," said a senior railway police officer. He said despite repeated requests, no senior Northern Railway officer came to the spot.

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CBI Arrests Ex Indian Telecom Minister A Raja

A. Raja, DMK leader and former communications minister, was arrested by CBI on Wednesday after CBI questioned him in connection with the the 2G spectrum scam for the second time this week.CBI has also arrested his aides RK Chandolia and Siddharth Behuria.

A Raja has been arrested under sections 120B, 13(2), 13(1D) of Prevention of Corruption Act on the charges of criminal misconduct, violation of policies and favoring some specific companies during the grant of 2G spectrum licenses.

"Based on the fact so far in the investigation in 2G spectrum scam, CBI today in the case of unified access license and irregularities in spectrum arrested A Raja, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behuria and RK Chandolia, personal secretary to Raja. Earlier CBI registered a case against unknown officials of Department of Telecom and private persons," said CBI DIG Mr. Anurag.

More arrests are expected in the case with sources saying that former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Pradeep Baijal and Raja's brother AK Perumal are also under CBI's radar.

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All India Mobile Number Portability Rollout Today : Would You Go For It? And Why?

Mobile phones... One of the greatest inventions of last few decades. They are everywhere, just everywhere. It changed the way we communicate with each other, anywhere, anytime. Same way the landline phones did, but it was a bit different. You could not take the fixed line phone in your toilet (or anyone's toiled for that matter :P), you could not talk on phone while you were in cinema or in a mall. While mobile phones are handy. You could take it anywhere in your pocket. These small thumb-sized cell-phones are really really helpful. I can't imagine world without mobile phones now. Today when the Mobile Number Portability facility is going to be available all over India, I would like to talk about mobile phones, it's initial stage in India and the current state. Read on then.

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Kasab's Photos Taken On 26/11 Were Morphed : Ajmal Kasab's Lawyer

The only terrorist caught alive on 26/11 Mubai Terror Attacks - Mohammed Ajmal Kasab today claimed photographs showing him and his slain companion Abu Ismael at Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Terminus (CST) and Cama Hospital during the 26/11 attacks were 'morphed'. He also denied his presence at CST and Cama Hospital - targets of the attacks. "Kasab was not at CST or Cama Hospital when the places were attacked by terrorists and his photographs produced in the trial court were morphed," lawyer Amin Solkar told justices Ranjana Desai and R V More of the Bombay High Court who are hearing arguments on confirmation of death sentence awarded to him.

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India's Nicole Faria Is The Miss Earth 2010 : Pictures Included

India's 20 years old girl from Banglore Nicole Faria has been crowned Miss Earth Talent 2010 after beating 17 other contestants in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Faria won the title at the talent show with a scintillating belly dance that combines Oriental and Middle Eastern style. "We are ecstatic and overjoyed although we expected it," Faria's father Ian said in Bangalore.

The event raised 100 million Vietnamese Dong, which will be transferred to the local Red Cross to support flood victims in the central region of Vietnam.

Read more for pictures of Nicole Faria - Miss Earth 2010

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Death Plus 10 Years In Prison For Pedophile And Murderer Of 10 Year Old

A sexual offender and murderer was sentenced to death by a local court on Monday here at Nagpur for sodomizing and killing a 10 year old boy in January 2008 and disposing of the body in a well. Anthony Arick Swamy Joseph, alias Anil, was also accused in two other murder cases in the past but was acquitted in both.

Principal district and sessions judge SB Shukre had convicted Joseph of murder last week. He pronounced the quantum of sentence on Monday. The death sentence is subject to the confirmation of the high court. A fine of Rs 10,000 was also imposed on Joseph.

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2 Years Passed To 26/11 Mumbai Attack : What Now and What Next?

26th November, Year 2008. Just a normal days for the Mumbaikars. Everything was going as it was used to be. But the night was not going to be the same for the Mumbaikars. A big, very big terrorist attack was already been planned and was going to take place any moment. People all over the city were not aware of the black night coming to them, which would change their life once again after the 1993 attacks. The night, no one ever imagined, how scary would it be. Everything was fine, just fine. But the time came at last.

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Crude Bomb Explosion in Bihar : Seven Dead

At least seven people are reportedly killed in a crude bomb explosion in Aurangabad district of Bihar at early morning today on 21st November. At least 12 other people are reported to be injured, four of which are said to be critical. Reports suggests the dead included five children too.

The explosion is said to be caused by a cylinder bomb which was found last evening in Pachokhar village during the sixth and final phase of state Assembly Elections. However, the security personnel who found the bomb did not defuse it yesterday, leaving the explosive device unattended on roadside.

Additional Director General of Bihar police, PK Thakur said that senior officers have reached the site, and the site has been cordoned. Thakur, however, sought to absolve the security forces of blame for the serious security lapse, saying the forces had left the bomb on roadside to defuse it today. He also said that a watchman had been deployed at the site to ensure no one comes near the bomb.

This incident suggests how poorly the officials react on such issues. If the cylinder bomb was found yesterday, then why they waited till today to defuse it? It shows that we does not care to show precaution and prevent the incident, but we wait for the incident to happen. It's like we like to see our people die. Unless someone is dead and injured, we don't like to take it seriously. If the bomb was defused yesterday, this could be prevented and life of these people including children could have been saved.

God save India.

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Welcome To India Mr Obama : Hope You Get To See The Other Side Of India

The US president Mr Barack Obama is coming (or has come) to India. Welcome Mr Obama. May the trip to India be useful for both USA and India. This trip will be more "business trip" or "political trip" then "visit". And you would definitely not see what's India all about. So I feel great pleasure and take this opportunity to introduce you the real India.

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Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab Kicked Out : IPL Terminates Contracts

The Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council terminated the contract of two teams - Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.

"The Governing Council of the IPL met today to discuss and decide on the breaches committed by three of the franchisees, K.P.H. Dream Cricket Pvt. Ltd., the owners and promoter of the Kings XI Punjab cricket team, Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt. Ltd and the unincorporated joint venture holding the Kochi franchise," the IPL Governing Council said in a statement.

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In Pictures : Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony, New Delhi 2010

The 19th Commonwealth Games Hosted by New Delhi, India had a grand opening ceremony today on 3rd October here in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Here we present CWG opening ceremony pictures. Have a look.

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Ayodhya Verdict Finally Comes : A Wise Verdict From High Court

So finally the Ayodhya Verdict from Allahabad high-court has come. The Lukhnow bench of high-court made of three judges has ruled out that the place where Lord Ram's idols are placed at the moment, is the birthplace of Lord Ram, and the idols will not be moved from there. The bench has also declined the plea of the Sunni Waqf Board saying they were too late to plea.

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Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010 : Will It Happen?

Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010. The biggest sports event ever hosted by India. A thing to take pride of for Indians. Hundreds of elite athletes will land in India soon. What a moment it will be when so many international players will be showing their talents and fighting for the medals. What a moment it will be when the participants will say "Wow! India has been a great host". India will be in top lead for hosting such events. The world will recognize India has a brilliant host. The world will remember the hosting India has done.

But wait! Will this ever happen?

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Train Collision In MP : 10 Feared Killed and 50 Injured

At least 10 people were killed and 50 injured in collision between a goods train and a stationary passenger train at Badarwas railway station in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district today. The accident took place when it was heavily raining at 04:45 in the morning according to railway officials.

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Ayodhya Verdict Imminent : What Do You Expect?

As everyone knows, Allahabad High Court's verdict on Ayodhya Verdict is due on 24th September. The Central Government has appealed people to stay calm and retain peace post verdict. As this case is regionally and even more, politically very important, the country is expecting something to go wrong after the verdict. As this verdict is imminent, what do you expect as a Hindu, as a Muslim or simply as an Indian citizen?

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RIM Agrees To Monitoring Of Services And To Set Up Servers In India

Image Source - BlackBerry

Faced with tomorrow's (31st August) Government deadline, BlackBerry mobile phone maker Research In Motion (RIM) today gave in promising access to Indian security agencies to monitor all its services with immediate effect.

Nearly two months after insisting that it does not have the provision to grant access for such monitoring, RIM made certain proposals for lawful access of BlackBerry Enterprise Services (BES) and BlackBerry Messenger Services (BBM) by the law enforcement agencies.

RIM's response came after the Home Ministry made it clear that Blackberry will have to shut down its operations in the country from September if it fails to provide access to monitoring of its messenger services.

"RIM has made certain proposals for lawful access by law enforcement agencies and this would be operationalised immediately. The feasibility of the solutions offered would be assessed thereafter," a Home Ministry statement said.

The Ministry has made it clear that any communication through the telecom networks should be accessible to the law enforcement agencies and all telecom service providers including third-parties have to comply with this, it said.

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