By U SUDHAKAR REDDY 
Hyderabad, Dec. 30: The cyber duel between the police and the Maoists has turned into a cat and mouse game. Every time the police gets a website or a blog closed, Maoist sympathisers set up another one and continue as before.
The cyber catch-me-if-you-can hotted up last week after the police got People's March, the most popular pro-Maoist site, blocked through Central agencies. Its editor Govindan Kutty was arrested in Kerala.
The website used to carry interviews with top Maoist leaders, including Ganapati and spokesperson Azad. It was blocked a year ago but emerged again and was blocked last week.
The Special Intelligence Branch says People's March and other websites act as communication links between the underground cadres and sympathisers.
The service provider has left a message stating that the action was taken for violation of programme policies.
Following this, however, Maoist sympathisers set up maoistmovementinindia.com. The new site carried a warning to the police to release Kutty or he would go on a hungerstrike.
A senior police official said, "Maoists are using the Internet to propagate their ideology. The network is big." The Maoists are under pressure in Andhra Pradesh with the police evicting them from most of their bases.
The Internet offers a safe way to get the Maoist message across. "Several Maoist sympathisers from AP are writing columns using pennames," the official said.
The state police suspects that Maoist leaders in hiding in Andhra Pradesh frequently visit Kerala, where most of the pro-Maoist bloggers are based.
Sources pointed out that Maoist leader Raji Reddy was picked up in Kerala earlier this month. Following this, the Revolutionary People's Front complained to the Kerala government which resulted in the police announcing Raji Reddy's arrest.
Pointing to the close links, the police noted that the AP Revolutionary Writers Association had condemned the arrest of Kutty of People's March.
Sources in the police said the bloggers have close links with Maoist sympathisers and this has been detected by sniffer software.
Resistance India.blogsot.com, a Maoist blog, was hacked in August, and the role of the law enforcing agencies is suspected. Following this, the Maoist sympathisers created maoistresitance.blogspot.com. The police has also blocked Naxal revolution.blogspot but expect another blog to replace it.
From the police side, www.naxalwatch.blogspot.com, an anti-Maoist website supported by AP-based police officials, is a popular anti-Naxal blogspot.
Hyderabad, Dec. 30: The cyber duel between the police and the Maoists has turned into a cat and mouse game. Every time the police gets a website or a blog closed, Maoist sympathisers set up another one and continue as before.
The cyber catch-me-if-you-can hotted up last week after the police got People's March, the most popular pro-Maoist site, blocked through Central agencies. Its editor Govindan Kutty was arrested in Kerala.
The website used to carry interviews with top Maoist leaders, including Ganapati and spokesperson Azad. It was blocked a year ago but emerged again and was blocked last week.
The Special Intelligence Branch says People's March and other websites act as communication links between the underground cadres and sympathisers.
The service provider has left a message stating that the action was taken for violation of programme policies.
Following this, however, Maoist sympathisers set up maoistmovementinindia.com. The new site carried a warning to the police to release Kutty or he would go on a hungerstrike.
A senior police official said, "Maoists are using the Internet to propagate their ideology. The network is big." The Maoists are under pressure in Andhra Pradesh with the police evicting them from most of their bases.
The Internet offers a safe way to get the Maoist message across. "Several Maoist sympathisers from AP are writing columns using pennames," the official said.
The state police suspects that Maoist leaders in hiding in Andhra Pradesh frequently visit Kerala, where most of the pro-Maoist bloggers are based.
Sources pointed out that Maoist leader Raji Reddy was picked up in Kerala earlier this month. Following this, the Revolutionary People's Front complained to the Kerala government which resulted in the police announcing Raji Reddy's arrest.
Pointing to the close links, the police noted that the AP Revolutionary Writers Association had condemned the arrest of Kutty of People's March.
Sources in the police said the bloggers have close links with Maoist sympathisers and this has been detected by sniffer software.
Resistance India.blogsot.com, a Maoist blog, was hacked in August, and the role of the law enforcing agencies is suspected. Following this, the Maoist sympathisers created maoistresitance.blogspot.com. The police has also blocked Naxal revolution.blogspot but expect another blog to replace it.
From the police side, www.naxalwatch.blogspot.com, an anti-Maoist website supported by AP-based police officials, is a popular anti-Naxal blogspot.
(Published in Deccan Chronicle, Asian Age on December 31st 2007)
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