Slashdot Log In
Internet Group Declares War on Scientology
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:03 AM
from the so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish dept.
from the so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish dept.
Darkman, Walkin Dude writes "An internet group calling itself Anonymous has declared war on the Church of Scientology, in the form of an ominous posting to the YouTube site. 'In the statement, the group explained their goal as safeguarding the right to freedom of speech. "A spokesperson said that the group's goals include bringing an end to the financial exploitation of Church members and protecting the right to free speech, a right which they claim was consistently violated by the Church of Scientology in pursuit of its opponents." The press release also claimed that the Church of Scientology misused copyright and trademark law in order to remove criticism from websites including Digg and YouTube. The statement goes on to assert that the attacks from the group "will continue until the Church of Scientology reacts, at which point they will change strategy".' It should be noted that Slashdot users have had interactions with Scientology in the past as well."
Related Stories
[+]
Scientologists Force Comment Off Slashdot 499 comments
Last Saturday a comment was posted here by an anonymous reader that contained
text that was copyrighted by the Church of Scientology. They have since
followed the DMCA and demanded that we remove the comment. While Slashdot is
an open forum and we encourage free discussion and sharing of ideas, our
lawyers have advised us that, considering all the details of this case, the
comment should come down. Read on to understand what this means.
[+]
"Anonymous" Takes Scientology Protest to the Streets 740 comments
This past Sunday members of the group "Anonymous" that has been running an attack on the church of Scientology took their battle from the tubes of the internet to the pavement of real life, staging a protest outside the central Phoenix Church of Scientology. "The protesters said they gathered Sunday in lieu of the birthday of Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist once cared for by church staffers. Her 1995 death sparked media attention and a civil wrongful death suit against a branch of the Church of Scientology. A wrongful death suit by her family was a public-relations nightmare for the church for years until it was settled in 2004. The Church of Scientology declined to comment on the Phoenix protests. It did provide a news release calling members of Anonymous cyber-terrorists."
[+]
Scientology Injunction Denied Against "Anonymous" 485 comments
Anonymous writes "A circuit court judge has denied the Church of Scientology's second request for an injunction against protests by the internet group "Anonymous." The Church sought to prevent Anonymous from protesting on the birthday of the Church's leader, the late Ron L. Hubbard. The petition filed by the Church listed twenty-six individuals allegedly affiliated with Anonymous, but "accidentally" included others who merely work near the location of the first protests held in February and did not participate in them, such as a Starbucks employee. Furthermore, the Church failed to show that any of those listed actually committed any wrongdoing."
[+]
News: Scientology's Credibility Questioned Over Video Channel 17 comments
stonyandcher writes to share that the Church of Scientology has come under fire for some items on their recently launched video channel. Most notably, claims have been leveled that dignitaries in one of their videos were faked and at least one of the people featured in the video is claiming their statements were taken out of context.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
RIAA (Score:5, Funny)
Re:RIAA (Score:5, Funny)
Unstoppable force, meet immovable object. Space DC-10's dropping atom bombs on volcanoes will be nothing compared to those fireworks
Re:RIAA (Score:5, Funny)
Where can I buy tickets to that event? I want front row seats!
Re:RIAA (Score:5, Funny)
Re:RIAA (Score:5, Funny)
Anonymous? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Anonymous? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Anonymous? (Score:5, Funny)
It's not a church (Score:5, Insightful)
I had dealings with them about 10 years ago. I ended up paying GBP30 for a course just to get out of the hard sell and even though I never did the course the often phoned and wrote letters of about 5 years after.
See the Operation Clambake pages for more details to their activities. http://www.xenu.net/ [xenu.net]
It's a money machine (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's not a church (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:It's not a church (Score:5, Interesting)
Agreed, but have you have noticed that Mormons tend to be really nice people? I'm serious. It's like Romney -- no one can really find fault with him except to say his hair is too perfect, that he's just a successful businessman, or that he's Mormon.
I have zero patience for the Protestant evangelical crowd and less for members of any cult, but Mormons, at least in my experience, tend to be shiny happy people that don't really bother anyone. Even the ex-Mormons I've met seem to have few bad things to say and if they do, you can't help but notice there's a certain lingering nostalgia in their eyes. That's not to say their beliefs aren't loony, but if members of cults were as benign as the typical Mormon, I wonder if anyone would notice, or care.
But I digress.
Back at you.
Re:It's not a church (Score:5, Insightful)
it did teach me a valuable lesson of telling anyone is the street trying sell anything is likely a con.
So you got your 30 pounds worth for sure.
Followed by (Score:5, Funny)
-
He's gotta do something until the mothership arrives...
Michigan Daily quote (Score:5, Funny)
Easy to start new religions? (Score:5, Insightful)
Trolls (Score:5, Funny)
Why not declare war on religion in general? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why not declare war on religion in general? (Score:5, Informative)
Scientology is pervasive (Score:5, Interesting)
I wish Anonymous well, but Scientologists and their cousins in the Landmark Forum are beyond reason. And fighting cults rarely works unless they're small and focused around a single charismatic leader. Both Scientology and Landmark are too big and widespread for that, and fighting them will probably only make them stronger.
Effectual? Irrelevant. (Score:5, Insightful)
Our usual media sources can't report on allegations of abuse because they've been very effectively muzzled by CSI hyper-litigation. They try to keep this fact close to the vest, but Anonymous' efforts are making it plain for all to see. This is a valuable service.
Also, any organization that exploits copyright law in order to silence critics should get a kick in the shins, even if that's all it amounts to. It's still a potent message: "We don't condone gag orders, and we'll fight back however we can, even if it is a David versus Goliath situation."
Glib as it may sound, raising awareness is key here. And an end unto itself.
Yours,
Cheeseburger Brown
Suppressive and Proud
Re:The war (Score:5, Insightful)
I have some dirt on Scientology here: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The war (Score:5, Insightful)
Which is to be expected. Anyone who actually supports individual freedom is sure to be popular among the unpopular and oppressed minority groups; they have the most interest at stake in protecting basic rights like free speech. Those who only hold and/or express popular opinions don't require such protection.
Re:Why bother? (Score:5, Informative)
The story posted after the comment was removed had a full disclosure, included the text of that comment and had _lots_ of anti-Scientology links, including Operation Clambake [xenu.net]. That was the best Slashdot could do, considering the threat of legal action.