Growing Harrasment and Surveillance of bloggers - A cause for concern

It seems our assessment sometime back that an increase in surveillance
and monitoring of the internet under India's undeclared emergency
will result in serious repercussions in coming days for bloggers
blogging on sensitive political issues has been proved right.

Anti-Raj blog lands north Indian techie in trouble

Beware bloggers. Never vent your fury on the internet, using abusive language. A Kandivili-based electronic and telecommunication engineer, hailing from north India, did just that, and Crime Branch came calling.

Rajat Trivedi (name changed), 27, spewed venom at Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, saying people like him “should be killed”, in a four-page blog - ‘Truth about the Kurla bus encounter’. It also accused Mumbai police of gunning down Patna youth Rahul Raj in a fake encounter aboard a BEST double-decker.

Sleuths of the Cyber Crime Investigation Cell came across the blog on November 6. The internet protocol (IP) address of the user was traced to Thakur Complex in Kandivili (East). Later, sleuths paid Trivedi a visit at his home and recorded his statement.

Asked whether Crime Branch was violating the freedom of speech and expression, guaranteed to people by the Constitution, by monitoring blogs and community websites, Maria said, “A person has the right to state his views on political issues. But, in this case, Trivedi is inciting people to resort to violence. He can’t do that.”

The blogger was forced to delete what he had posted and you can read
his edited post here.

Apparently the Mumbai Cyber Crime Investigation cell wants
bloggers to read their Cyber Laws..

http://www.cybercellmumbai.com/cyber-laws/



Just last week Karnataka Home Minister V S Acharya admitted that the extremists were way ahead of the police both in terms of technology and innovative techniques.

While Mr Yediyurappa the CM of Karnataka stressed on the need for legislation on cyber crime,

Newsarticle

It is not clear as to whom these esteemed and distinguished gentlemen are referring to.. :)



Harassment and surveillance is only going to increase in the coming days..

Red bloggers game for cyber cops

There are many discrepancies in this article , however there was one matter that
I wished to clarify.I don't know about the other blogs mentioned but this blog is not an
anonymous blog.

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Red bloggers game for cyber cops

Hyderabad, August 17: Within a few days after "someone" had hacked the blog of "Resistance India", the Maoist-friendly blogger has resurfaced under a new name, "Maoist Resistance," throwing the gauntlet at the security agencies who, in turn, are expected to intensify this "cyber war".

Resistanceindia.blogspot.com had been hosting information of Naxal groups, mainly the CPI (Maoist). The blog had even published press releases, party documents and served as a platform for revolutionary propaganda.

The blog was hacked on August 4. But, the people behind it got round the problem by simply changing the address to maoistresistance.blogspot.com. The blog explained the changed address by stating that "Resistance India" had been hacked by "someone" and hence, the new address.

Besides Resistance India, there are about 10 pro-Maoist websites and blogs, which propagate the ideology of the Maoists. They include Revolutionary Path, Indian Maoists, People's March, Naxal Revolution, Bastar, Lal Jhanda, the Naxalite Challenge and Parisar (a pro-Maoist student group).

These websites and blogs are updated regularly -- be they reports of attacks carried out by Maoists in different parts of the country or the the usual propaganda material.

The websites also host information about party ideology, inspiring speeches by leaders and issue press releases. They even have videos of conventions, meetings and conferences organised by the CPI (Maoist) and other ML parties.

The security agencies had blocked the People's March website last year. It is not only pro-Maoist groups that are running websites and blogs. Naxal Watch, an anti-Naxal website, has been vigorously condemning the actions of the Maoists and other groups.

It describes Naxalism as "pure and simple terrorism which disguises itself under terms like class struggle and social justice".

Understandably, the pro and anti Naxal blogs are attracting comments from various quarters day in and day out. More or less, they have become ready reckoners for those who wish to know the latest information as well the history of the ultra Left wing movement in the country.

--Agencies

Siasat

Tags: Intenet, revolutionary bloggers, maoist, naxalite, blog, CPI(Maoist), M-L, resistance india

United Nations Site Hacked By Political Activitists

New York: Sections of the official United Nations website had to be taken offline for a short period after being successfully hacked into.

Pages which usually show statements from the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon were replaced with messages accusing the US and Israel of killing children.

Screenshot of hacked page(click for larger pic)

The hackers, going under the name CyberProtest, breached the site on Sunday, leaving slogans such as "Hey Ysrail and Usa dont kill children and other people Peace for ever No war."

That section of the site was taken down, but the breach was rectified with in a few hours.

A UN spokesman confirmed the breach, saying: "We are very concerned that this happened and we are investigating. We will make security changes to prevent this from happening again."

Before the message the hacked UN page also contained the text: “Hacked By Keremy 125 M0sted And Gsy. That Is CyberProtest”

CyberProtest appears to be a group based in Turkey, with media reports claiming their agenda is to spread the message "that the powerful have no right to oppress the powerless."

Gulfnews

Tags: UN, website, hacked, break in, cyber protest, turkey

Police hacked a Maoists website ?

HYDERABAD : The State intelligence agencies working on anti-Naxal front have allegedly hacked a Maoist web site, which is publishing press releases and Maoist literature on-line। The blogger, on condition of anonymity, claimed that unidentified persons had stolen their password and said that they had lost the ownership of the blog.

The blogger has asked the ‘secret’ writers to send mails to an alternative ID, hushmail, to prevent spying on the net। Intelligence agencies see this as a threat as Maoists and their sympathisers and revolutionary writers are communicating through hushmail.com. "The sniffer software helps track the mails. It is difficult to decode the encrypted mails. Hushmail is a big security threat," said a senior police official, working on anti naxal front.

The website also published interviews of Maoist leaders and developments on Maoist front in Andhra Pradesh। Earlier the police officially stopped the extremists’ web site, but it resurfaced again on google pages.

The blogger said, "We lost the ownership of the blog as somebody hacked our blogger password। We have decided to move to another blog." He asked the writers not to respond to the gmail account and to contact only through hushmail.

Hushmail is a web based e-mail service offering PGP-encrypted e-mail and instant hush messaging. "It has many added security features like hidden IP addresses in e mail headers," said a cyber forensic expert. However, state police intelligence agencies said that the blogspot was not hacked by them.

Maoistresistance

Tags: Maoist, naxalite, website, hacked, blocked, Intelligence, IB, email, hushmail, biggest internal security threat

Maoists extremist (Naxalites) are now trying to bring ideological revolution through the internet.

New Maoist activities: Why West Bengal lags behind?

Maoists extremist (Naxalites) are now trying to bring ideological revolution through the internet. Their effort is to induce urban youths in armed revolution and to give a strong foundation to their organisation. After strengthening their presence in rural areas of Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand and in Orissa they are now aiming at urban areas of the nation. They are using the means of e-mail and internet and other networking facilities to spread their mission. Bull Shit Meter

In all prominent cities of India, they are sending e-mails to the youths to associate with them. The organisation has made many groups in the Yahoo portal. Naxal literature, information about armed activities and plans for future attacks are being reached to the targeted people. According to their plan, Universities and colleges of Delhi and other places are being included in the Naxal movement. Through the medium of the net, the organisation is also engaged in collecting funds. By taking the support of Nepal youth they may have got the strength to overthrow the Nepal King.

Through the medium of the net, information is being spread regarding the armed struggle and agitations against the governments. Hence the democratic institutions should mull over the issue and come out with solutions. The Communists have been ruling West Bengal for the last 30 years but not much has been achieved in the name of development. It seems the government machinery there runs under the threat of terror and pressure. Progress does never mean that we keep moving backwards. If the Communists had faith in development then West Bengal would have been on the top today. Hence all the political parties need to become aware of the new designs of the Naxals.

Central Chronicle

The Vatican Threatens to Sue Indymedia

The Vatican Threatens to Sue Indymedia

The photomontage at the heart of the trial is a satirical composition published on the Italy Independent Media Center site in April 2005. IMC, or Indymedia, is a global network of open publishing websites, where readers can publish news and opinion, established in 1999 to cover the protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle. The photomontage is an anonymous contribution by one of the site users and puts the face of the Pope Benedict XVI to the body of a Nazi officer. The picture is accompanied by following comment, which the Italian Public Department considered offensive: "Nazi pope - happiness to all the faithful. After the anti-communist reactionary, now comes the ultra-reactionary Nazi."




The satire is clearly a composition that ridicules and criticizes persons and institutions by means of funny exaggeration. The right of satire is one of the foundations of the freedom of expression and press, and is what guarantees that all papers and magazines carry cartoons and caricatures on their pages every day. As an exaggeration, satire is always based on some elements of truth that are then maximised, aiming for a funny effect. In the case of the Pope photomontage, the truth element is that Pope Benedict XVI was member of the Hitler Youth in Germany when he was 14, as well as the fact that his politics, as Mayor of the Faith Doctrine Congregation during John Paul II rein, was considered ultra-conservative. The cartoon does not have as its object the Catholic faith but, rather, the political orientation of the person in charge of the Papacy, as highlighted in the comment.

Despite the fact that the photomontage contains all the elements that qualify as a satire and, therefore, should be protected by the laws that defend the freedom of expression, the Italian Public Department used an article of the Italian penal code that criminalizes the "contempt of a minister of the Catholic faith", Catholicism being the "state religion" there.

However, the jurisprudence established in Italy already regards as outdated and illegitimate the argument that fuses State and Religion. That means that the core argument that substantiates the solicitation of the letter of request is questionable in its own country of origin.

Although Indymedia is not the author of the post concerned, the maintenance of the page where it is published is to us a question of principles. We believe that the photomontage is a satirical criticism of the political positions assumed by the Pope during his ecclesiastical career and that attorney Salvatore Vitello is criminalizing a publication based on outdated articles of the Penal Code, especially that this very Penal Code has recently had substantial changes to its writing.

The letter of request sent to the STJ is based on a judicial agreement of mutual cooperation between Brazil and Italy which limits this cooperation to predicted cases in the legislation of both countries and to crimes that are not of a political nature. However, the Brazilian law does not offer special protection for the ministers of the Catholic faith. Further, the letter of request, although claiming the trial is not of political nature, does highlight that the Independent Media Center website is the "expression of the information circuit of the antagonist left".

It is pretty obvious that the trial is going to restrict the freedom of expression and is politically motivated. It is trying to silence satirical criticism, published on a leftist site, about the political positions of the new pope. We expect the Minister entrusted by the trial in the Superior Court to have the same understanding. We also expect that the Brazilian civil society, as we as the international community, would express their opposition to this attempt by the Italian attorney to silence any criticism of the controversial political orientations of the Catholic Pope.

Recently, the request for filing the case was sent to the Italian Judicial authorities by the Italian Public Department itself. However, the request letter sent to Brazil is still being processed by the Federal Justice.

Indymedia