Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




INTERNET SPACE
'Anonymous' hackers to protest Indian Internet laws
by Staff Writers
New Delhi (AFP) June 9, 2012


Global hacking movement Anonymous has called for protesters to take to the streets in 16 cities around India on Saturday over what it considers growing government censorship of the Internet.

The call for demonstrations by the Indian arm of the group follows a March 29 court order issued in the southern city of Chennai demanding 15 Indian Internet providers block access to file-sharing websites such as Pirate Bay.

The order has resulted in access being denied to a host of websites that carry pirated films and music among other legal content, including www.isohunt.com and www.pastebin.com.

On Wednesday, the Anonymous forum fired an opening shot by attacking the website of state-run telecom provider MTNL, pasting the logo of the group -- the mask of 17th century revolutionary Guy Fawkes -- on www.mtnl.net.in.

In an open letter the same day, the group accused the government of trying to create a "Great Indian Firewall" to establish control on the web and issuing a "declaration of war from yourself... to us."

Internet users and supporters have been asked to join peaceful rallies in cities including the capital New Delhi and the tech hub of Bangalore, with detailed instructions issued online to participants.

Tech website www.pluggd.in reported the demonstrators have been asked to wear Guy Fawkes' masks, download a recorded message to play to police, and are to chant "United as one! Divided as zero! We are Anonymous! We are legion!"

Concerns about Internet freedom in India go beyond the court order in Chennai, however, and stem from an update to India's Information Technology Act that was given by the IT and communications ministry in April last year.

The new rules regulating Internet companies -- providers, websites and search engines -- instruct them that they must remove "disparaging" or "blasphemous" content within 36 hours if they receive a complaint by an "affected person".

Groups such as the Center for Internet and Society, a Bangalore-based research and advocacy group, have waged a year-long campaign for amendments to the rules, which were quietly released in April.

Industry groups have also objected, saying they are unclear on the changes which are in any case impossible to implement when it comes to acting on individual complaints about specific content.

"A lot of education is required in this field," secretary of the Internet Service Providers Association of India S.P. Jairath told AFP.

The government has also become embroiled in a row with social networks after Telecoms Minister Kapil Sibal held a series of meetings with IT giants Google, Yahoo! and Facebook last year to discuss the pre-screening of content.

The minister was said to have shown Internet executives examples of obscene images found online that risked offending Muslims or defamed politicians, including his boss, the head of the ruling Congress party, Sonia Gandhi.

Since these meetings, 19 Internet firms including Google, Yahoo! and Facebook have been targeted in criminal and civil cases lodged in lower courts, holding them responsible for content posted by users of their platforms.

Anonymous is a secretive "hacker-activist" network and is thought to be a loosely knit collective with no clearly defined leadership structure.

It has claimed dozens of online attacks on sites ranging from the Vatican to Los Angeles Police Canine Association, but is increasingly the target of law enforcement agencies who have arrested dozens of members.

.


Related Links
Satellite-based Internet technologies






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








INTERNET SPACE
New Internet standard gives global network room to grow
Washington (AFP) June 6, 2012
A new Internet standard giving the global network more room to grow came into effect Wednesday, a move that users probably won't notice. The switch occurred at 0001 GMT Wednesday, when Internet operators switched to a new standard called IPv6 that allows for trillions of "IP" numbers or addresses, up from the current 4.3 billion. "To ensure the Internet can continue to grow and connect b ... read more


INTERNET SPACE
UA Lunar-Mining Team Wins National Contest

NASA Lunar Spacecraft Complete Prime Mission Ahead of Schedule

NASA Offers Guidelines To Protect Historic Sites On The Moon

Neil Armstrong gives rare interview - to accountant

INTERNET SPACE
NASA's Mars rover zeroes in on August landing

Russia May Join Mars Orbiter Project in Nov. - ESA

Robotic Arm Gets to Work on Veins of Gypsum

Odyssey Orbiter Puts Itself into Standby Safe Mode

INTERNET SPACE
US scientists host 'bake sale for NASA'

XCOR Appoints Space Expedition Corp As General Sales Agent For Space Tourism Flights

European Union launches latest space regulation efforts

CU-Boulder students to help NASA develop plant food production for deep space

INTERNET SPACE
Two Women For Tiangong

Shenzhou 9 Ready For Manned Mission To Tiangong-1

China to launch manned spacecraft this month

What will China's Taikonauts do aboard Tiangong 1?

INTERNET SPACE
Strange Geometry - Yes, It's All About the Math

Capillarity in Space - Then and Now, 1962-2012

Dragon on board

SpaceX Launches Falcon 9 Dragon on Historic Mission

INTERNET SPACE
NuSTAR Arrives at Island Launch Site

Another Ariane 5 begins its initial build-up at the Spaceport

Boeing Receives DARPA Airborne Satellite Launch Study Contract

Sea Launch Delivers the Intelsat 19 Spacecraft into Orbit

INTERNET SPACE
Tiny Planet-Finding Mirrors Borrow from Webb Telescope Playbook

Astronomers Probe 'Evaporating' Planet Around Nearby Star with Hobby-Eberly Telescope

Venus transit may boost hunt for other worlds

NSO To Use Venus Transit To Fine-Tune Search For Other Worlds

INTERNET SPACE
Lawrence Livermore research identifies precise measurement of radiation damage

Hologram developers raise real cash for virtual stars

Smooth moves: how space animates Hollywood

Skeleton key




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement