'Anonymous' to hit road for Web freedom protest

A worldwide group of Web hacking activists, working under the banner of 'Anonymous', will hold protests across major cities in India, including here, against what they claim as 'growing censorship of internet'.

The protest in India is being spearheaded by 'Save Your Voice' and would take place today at various historic monuments in 16 cities, including at Jantar Mantar here.

A convenor of the campaign Alok Dixit told PTI over phone that around 100-200 masked protesters were expected at Jantar Mantar alone, while many others would support online through various forums like blogs and social networking websites.

As per a Facebook page of the protesters, "it is a campaign against Web censorship in India". It alleged that the Indian Government was "attempting to control Internet space through unlawful means".

The 'hacktivists' have also threatened to disrupt websites of various government departments in their protest.

Earlier this week on June 6, the website of state-run telecom company MTNL was disrupted by 'Anonymous' to protest against "censorship" of the internet. MTNL's corporate website could not be accessed for over

four hours, following the attack, but its individual city-specific websites (for Delhi and Mumbai) remained unaffected.

A post on the Anonymous Operation India Web page that day claimed responsibility for the hacking saying "we are against Internet Censorship".

That day itself, the group had asked netizens to wear 'Guy Fawkes' masks, which have become synonymous with Occupy Wall Street protests, during a fresh round of peaceful protests to be held on June 9.