Anonymous hackers take on the Church of Scientology
A group of vigilantes calling themselves Anonymous have posted a video explaining the recent attacks against the Church of Scientology.
A copyright violation claim by the Church of Scientology against the posting of one of its videos to YouTube has prompted a full-on assault by a group calling itself Anonymous.
The video, in which Tom Cruise proclaims, in part, that Scientologists are the only experts on the mind, was pulled by YouTube over the weekend at the request of the Church of Scientology as part of a long-standing effort to keep copyrighted material from appearing on the Internet. Other sites have since posted the Cruise video in full.
In response to the take-down of the Cruise video, a group of vigilantes--calling themselves Anonymous, or Anon--have retaliated against what they consider to be Internet censorship. The group includes computer experts capable of Internet mischief. In recent days, local chapter sites for the Church of Scientology have been defaced, and in some cases denial of service attacks have also prevented access to the same sites. Real-world attacks have included fax-spamming those same offices.
As an explanation for these attacks, Anonymous posted its own video to YouTube. In the video, a computer-generated voice speaks over a rolling cloudscape, effectively putting the Church of Scientology on notice:
"Over the years, we have been watching you, your campaigns of misinformation, your suppression of dissent, your litigious nature. All of these things have caught our eye.
"With the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation, the extent of your malign influence over those who have come to trust you as leaders has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed, for the good of your followers, for the good of mankind, and for our own enjoyment.
"We shall proceed to expel you from the Internet and systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form."
The video ends, with the following statement:
"We are Anonymous
We are legion
We do not forgive
We do not forget.
Expect us."
A Web site called Project Chanology details present actions and those in the works by Anonymous and others.
The Church of Scientology, founded in 1953 by L. Ron Hubbard, is not without previous controversy on the Internet. In 1996, it sued Internet service provider Netcom (now a part of EarthLink) over copyrighted texts posted to the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. In 2003, the Church of Scientology attempted to sue a Dutch woman and her ISP over similar writings but lost. The Dutch case, had it ended differently, could have changed the way ISPs handle third-party links by its customers. In 2007, writer Keith Henson was arrested as a fugitive. Under a California law that criminalizes any threat against someone else's "free exercise" of religion, Henson was convicted in 2001 for making a comment on the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup about sending a "Tom Cruise" missile to destroy the Scientology camp.
Update at 3:15 p.m. PST January 25: Anonymous has since posted two new videos.
As CNET's resident security expert, Robert Vamosi has been interviewed on the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, and other outlets to share his knowledge about the latest online threats and to offer advice on personal and corporate security. Listen to his podcast at securitybites.cnet.com or e-mail Robert with your questions and comments.
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$128,560 is the cost to attain the state of "Clear". "Clear" people (according to L. Ron Hubbard, the "Source" of
Scientology) don't get colds, don't need glasses, and have perfect memories (none of this has been scientifically
proven).
$159,160 is the amount of money you will pay up to and including the OT III course. All this money to learn that all your
problems are caused by the spirits of murdered space aliens attached to your body. No objective, scientific proof
these claims has ever been offered, anywhere. Would you be feeling ripped off by now if you were an OT III aduate? Many people have. That's why there are so many ex-Scientologists criticizing Scientology.
$277,010 is one estimate of the cost to go from a non-Scientologist up to OT VIII, the highest level that Scientology
fers (fee for courses only, materials not included). This figure includes the previous amounts. These costs
ready include the discount for membership in the "International Association of Scientologists". To be an IAS mber, you need to pay $300 US per year, minimum. This total number is somewhat flexible - people have paid anywhere from $50,000 to reach Scientology?s OT7 (out of 8 OT levels), to about $360,000 to go through the full mut of Scientology courses.
You may also need some "repair auditing" (in the event that Scientology messes up your "case"), so you'd better tack on a few thousand dollars to this total. There are also some extras, which you may end up buying if
you join Scientology.
I hope that explains what scientology is about.
We are Anonymous
We are Legion
We nevar Forgive
We nevar Forget
The Church of Scientology has (for years) gone on a personal rampage to eliminate anything and anyone who exposes their "secrets" online. They have proven themselves to be the antithesis of free speech and free expression.
Sometime dear readers, you should google for "Operation Clambake". I'd save you the trouble and post the URL, but I know it'll result in hordes of CoS adherents demanding this post be flagged and deleted... so I'll let you google the term.
Long story short? I have zero sympathy for either side of the debate. None. Zip.
In case anyone out there is dumb enough to think it: I am not, nor do I ever want, any part of the "anonymous" crap going on @ You Tube. If that's what they want to spend their time on, fair enough for them. But I'm afraid I just cannot bring myself to give a damn for the CoS' current dilemma.
/P
Anonymous is the sick bastard that's inside all of us. Anonymous giggles at incidents and cackles at tragedies. Anonymous is humanity when the spotlight is shining elsewhere...
Anonymous is your grocer. He is your doctor and your friend. Anonymous is not to be feared, but to be respected and ignored. Anonymous wants to be left alone.
Anonymous does not forgive.
Anonymous does not forget.
Over 9,000 strong, Anonymous is legion.
Church of Scientology can remove all space cooties, body thetans,
and sundry demons from your infested corpus. Just send them all
the money you will ever earn, and they will perform that miracle for
you, too. Then you and Tom can be King Dog Supremo Thetans
together, forever and ever, and all the world will eventually bow to
the will of ElRon. Yeeehaah! Airplane doors!
I am disgusted at anyone taking advantage of human misery and weak minded people for their own benefit. But rest assured, I am not impressed with any religion for that matter, the difference lies in the ruthless and mafia like methods used...
I usually don't condone vigilante initiatives, but when the system is manipulated by the criminal to protect him, someone has to do the dirty work no matter how sucessful it will prove to be... Wished I was a hacker to give my grain of sand to build the hand that will wipe them away.
Read my words, if Anon is prosecuted before the CoS, we can REALLY start to worry about the judicial system...
What on earth are you talking about?
Protest? The Corporation of Scientology is not just PROTESTING, it is using any means necessary to destroy those who oppose it.
Why would a RELIGION need copyrighted property, by the way?
Meanwhile, I feel my bran muffin kicking in, so I must go release a few engrams. Hey- I'll be more enlightened then, won't I?
I have been fighting hackers for many years. They always give some noble motivation for their acts, but in reality these are slimy unscrupulous characters who do it for personal gain or simply for the thrill.
The journalist should not voice any agreement with them. It is exactly like glorifying a rapist or a murderer.
Dr. Aharon Friedman
Founder - Fortress Technologies, Inc.
When someone states their credentials, especially an association to a company, I'm curious about their background. It helps in accepting expertise, and appreciating their opinions.
From what I was able to search on Google, you do happen to have a good background in network security. However, there is also someone by your name that is a Scientologist. Maybe it is a different person...
Anyhow, I can see how your profession would help you be an expert in this matter, but your possible association in another way leaves me a bit suspicious. I'm not suspicious because you might be a Scientologist, but that (if you are) you chose not to disclose it.
PERIOD
Also, Scientology is NOT Christian Science. They are two very unrelated things. Christian Science is a metaphysical cult created by Mary Baker Eddy.
True faith in God in the Christian sense does not require debasement or subjugation of the self to any other human being; it does require service towards your fellow human beings, loyalty to God above all else (and not towards any Man, or Men...), and a sense of humility... but that's it.
Now [i]organized religion[/i] is a different story, because it is an attempt to organize the divine by any given faulty and deficient human group. Modern Christianity has a great big fail-point by invariably demanding and organizing around a central authoritative body... You can thank the Romans for that one.
Judaism IMHO has worked out their collective dogma long ago, though only by dint of being forced to do so by the Roman Diaspora, and from subsequent centuries of antisemitism.
Islam still has a lot of growth to encounter. It has the advantages that Judaism has by not pointing to any central authoritative body of people, but it has the disadvantage of having fallen greatly from its once noble past... by way of being perverted by its more extremist elements (see also Wahhabism).
--
All that said, faith is not slavery. I can just as easily ask you why atheists have this need to constantly re-affirm their non-belief in public in order for them to feel "valuable and free"?
PS: "Christian Science" is not the "Church of Scientology" - they're two different organizations entirely.
/P
I have "Lurked" and I've seen nothing about them talking about 'money', the only indication of that I heard was a suggestion about having a general fund which was responded with:
"/in before 'Running off to Mootixco'" (Whatever the heck that means)
I fear that since these Anonymous Bandoleros *are* right regarding the Cos, they just may prevail. Oh then what a mess we will be in! They will infiltrate our forces and convince us all that spelling, grammar, and various other communication skills are *bad*!
No moar will people need a point to their arguments.
Then soon I shall find myself worshipping they fli-ing spugedi monstoar.
"am higly offended"
"higly"
/P
http://www.xenu.net/
Operation Clambake, it is so called because Scientologists seem to think that human beings evolved from clams. They also think that evil alien ghosts called Thetans possess people and cause mental and physical illnesses. That some Evil Space Lord called Xenu, had murdered Thetans millions of years ago on Earth using atomic bombs on top of volcanoes and that we are the new Thetans. That Xenu used Psychologists to mind control Thetans, and only Dianetics can cure them.
I mean, how stupid can we be as a species? How can a species capable of placing robots on Mars also be so easily brainwashed into believing total garbage straight out of a science fiction writer's warped mind? How is such nonsense capable of bypassing a working mind's bull$#!t filter? I'm not talking specifically about Scientology, but ALL religions.
I'm just glad many of us (most, I hope) have our heads on straight enough to somehow manage to dismiss such nonsense.
Some of us easily dispose of such nonsense. Some of us wrestle with it before finally dismissing it, and some of us allow ourselves to be consumed by it. The latter scenario is very disturbing.
Perhaps the introduction of school courses that teach kids from grades 7-12 how to spot, decipher, and discard brainwashing programs that have the potential to deeply influenced some of them as young adults is a better idea than attempting to deprogram them after the fact. It's usually too late by then. People like Tom Cruise are goners!
Dick Sutphen's "The Battle for Your Mind" site is a great place to visit, whether you are on solid ground or up to your neck in quicksand. http://www.the7thfire.com/new_world_order/mind_control/battle_for_your_mind.htm
Donbury
http://www.klipizlesene.net
You call Scientologists legitimate? Have you examined the history of Ron Hubbard and where he got the ideas injected into the "bible" of this brainwashing program?
I'd need much more proof than the "Dr." preceding your supposed name to actually believe it belongs there upon reading your distorted diatribe!
I've got news for you: Not one religion is valid despite the "legitimacy" of it. In fact, some religions are downright destructive. Scientology fits that description. It's among the very first of a long list of brainwashing programs intelligent minds should be trying to wipe off the face of the earth (and other actual and fictitious planets)!
Fortress Technologies, huh? I get the impression the "fortress" between your ears has been infiltrated. Garbage in, garbage out!
Donbury
- What do you mean "takes on"?
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by chuck_whealton
January 26, 2008 8:31 AM PST
- Personally, I could care less EITHER WAY about the Church of Scientology.
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Reply to this comment
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by krosavcheg
January 28, 2008 3:48 PM PST
- "Take on meee, take on me, take me ooonn, I'll be gone.." Oops.
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See all 86 Comments >>But your article says the anonymous hacking group "takes on" the Church of Scientology.
How do you get "takes on" from illegal activity? You're making it sound like it's alright for groups to deface web sites of those they don't agree with and to post material which may be copyrighted. You're almost making it sound like they're good guys for what they're doing.
Any particular reason why?
Charles R. Whealton
Charles Whealton @ pleasedontspam.com
Well if you paid attention and read any of the info.
If you go up against Scientology legally, they will Lawyer you do death.