'Anonymous' launches nationwide protests against Internet censorship in India

Members of an Internet group 'Anonymous' have announced an 'Occupy' campaign in 16 cities across India to protest Internet censorship in the country.

Protestors gathered at Mumbai's Azad Maidan sports ground with their face covered with Guy Fawkes masks, the hallmark of Anonymous.

According to the BBC, protestors have demonstrated against India's Internet laws for freedom from censorship.

"I'm here for Internet freedom. There are restrictions on speaking online. That's why I'm here," the report quoted 19-year-old Amisha, a student who was one of around 100 protesters in Mumbai, as saying.

"India is following China and Iran. They don't want the right information to reach people," 20-year-old Nishant told the BBC.

Anonymous India are protesting against the Internet rules for the unfair blocking and banning of file sharing sites by Indian Internet service providers (ISPs), such as Reliance Communications and Airtel.

Last month a number of Indian ISPs blocked access to file-sharing sites, including Vimeo, Pastebin, Piratebay and Dailymotion after a court order was passed aiming on the issues of Internet copyright, the report said.

The court order was aimed to protect the copyright of music, films and other content and passed an order to block the access to file-sharing and torrent websites that prompted Anonymous India to hack into more than 15 sites, including the Indian Supreme Court, two political parties and the Indian telecoms providers.

Moreover, Anonymous India is also protesting against Indian Government's IT regulations that came into effect last year, which forces the websites to remove objectionable posts within hours of receiving a complaint from their web pages.

-With inputs from ANI