Over the last month, the Church of Scientology and a newly formed Internet based group have been clashing over doctrine and alleged practices of the Scientology church.
    There is a group that has recently been formed and it is calling itself “Anonymous.” In the last month, this group is alleged to have performed denial of service attacks, hacking attacks against Scientology web servers and protests at the Church’s various offices and buildings throughout the world.
    “Anonymous” is accusing the Church of Scientology of being anti-free speech and a money making company that uses its tax exempt status for the wrong reasons.
    This whole fiasco seems to me a non-news worthy event, except for showing how groups are starting to use computers, network and the internet to attack organizations and individuals. In the past, rival groups would need to spend money to disrupt their opponents. In the Internet Age, significant damage can be done with little or no outlay of money.
    The “Anonymous” group is able to gather members and resources through Internet Relay Channels which are basically places to post and review messages. This shows how easy it is to gather a group of individuals together to wreak havoc on organizations.
    This country was built on religious freedom. The founding fathers didn’t outline which religions where legitimate and which religions were not. I know many people have a problem with the Church of Scientology because they claim it is not really a religion and the organization is run more like a business than a religion.
    I would have to say many of the organizations who claim to be religions are not and don’t deserve to be tax exempt. But as a nation, we have agreed to allow churches to be tax exempt and the Church of Scientology is as legitimate as many of the others.
    I am sure the IRS has audited the church many times in the past and as a tax payer and citizen, I must believe the government is doing its job. If the government considers Scientology to be a legitimate religion, then who am I to argue, “Anonymous” might also accept it.
    As far as religions go, I don’t subscribe to the Church of Scientology’s beliefs, but if others want to participate, then don’t feel it is my place to stop them. There are always going to be cults and there are always going to be wacky religions. As long as they don’t trample on my rights and freedoms, or the rights and freedoms of others, then I think they are fine.
    This gets back to my argument on personal responsibility and personal choices. People need to be aware of what they are doing and not accept things blindly. If you join a church, any church, I would hope you would check out the doctrine, the people, the finances and everything else about the church.
    People assume that every church is legitimate and good for you. I would bet there are a lot of churches that are shady and can be run by bad people. Just look at the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the most respected churches on the planet, but it has had its share of bad priests.
    Over the years there have been other churches that have perverted religion to control people – the Branch Dividians, and Heaven’s Gate are two recent ones. These cults in my opinion were a lot worse than the Church of Scientology.
    The Church of Scientology has been accused of limiting free speech by suppressing videos or replacing comments with a warning that it is copyrighted material. I think freedom of speech is crucial to a free society. If people can’t speak their mind or voice their opinion, then we will soon lose that freedom and other freedoms like it.
    If the Church of Scientology is removing copyrighted Church of Scientology material posted by others on Youtube then I think that is within their legal rights. If the Church of Scientology is removing other user’s comments or opinions then they are in the wrong. We are a society of laws and if we disagree with a law, we can try to get the law changed. We can’t just ignore the laws because we disagree with them.
    In regards to the use of copyrighted material, the “Anonymous” group is in the wrong for using it without permission. If the Church of Scientology is suppressing comments from other users, then it is in the wrong too.
    My suggestion to the group “Anonymous,” if you think the Church of Scientology is illegally removing videos, why don’t you challenge it in court? There are always lawyers who want to make a name for themselves and the ACLU is supposed to be a champion of free speech. They should be willing to take on the case if they feel it is legitimate.  
    “Anonymous” has also been accused of unethical and illegal acts such as Denial of Service attacks and defacing of Church of Scientology websites. No matter how much “Anonymous” is against the Church of Scientolgoy, they do not have the authority or the right to do damage to the Church of Scientology’s property.
    In my opinion, no matter how noble the cause, the group has lowered themselves down to the level of other terrorist organizations and has turned itself into a terrorist organization. Why else would they resort to damaging the Church of Scientology’s property instead of working through legal channels? There are enough illegal activities and malicious uses of the Internet and this group is not doing anything to help make the Internet a better place instead of using it to hide themselves and their activities.
    Any type of disruption of the Internet in my opinion is a major offense. There are organizations and people who depend on the stability and availability of the Internet. By disrupting those services, they are putting other people at risk and damaging others not just their intended victims.
    By their actions, “Anonymous” is making the Church of Scientology look like the good guys. If they want to take on the Church of Scientology, I would suggest they find a better approach that takes the high road instead of lowering themselves down to the level of terrorist.
    The Church of Scientology does provide some good benefits to society. They may have some practices that people disagree with, but again it might be beneficial for “Anonymous” to meet the Church in an open forum to bring those bad practices out into the public’s awareness.
    I am not defending the Church of Scientology in any way, nor am I defending the group “Anonymous.” What I am defending are the principles on which this country was founded.
    I think everyone should have the ability to practice whatever religion they want – even if I disagree with it. I think everyone should have personal choices on whether they want to belong to a cult or not. I don’t think people or organizations should be attacked or persecuted because of those beliefs. Every person in this country should have the right but also the responsibility to make informed choices and their own decisions. I don’t like any group who assumes they can make that choice for me.

-Bill Weaver 

“If you want to make a little money, write a book. If you want to make a lot of money, create a religion.”
    ~L. Ron Hubbard
    On January 21st, the collective known as Anonymous declared war against the Church of Scientology.  This article will not be about Scientologists themselves. While I personally think their beliefs are irrational, I also think the people in my political party advocating a liberal for the republican nominee are far more irrational, so there you go. No, this will be about the hack-tivists of Anonymous versus the Church of Scientology.
    The Church of Scientology was created in 1953 at Camden, New Jersey, further proving that nothing good has ever come from Jersey. L. Ron Hubbard, a mediocre science fiction author, established this church. Throughout the history of the church, the church has been known for its countless scandals and litigious nature.
    One of the first major projects taken on by the church was Operation Freakout. This was a plan to get the author Paulette Cooper imprisoned or committed to a mental hospital as revenge for a scathing book she had written on the church some years ago. This plan included exposing her sex life, impersonating her to make it appear that she made death threats against the President and various other nasty things.
    The event that exposed this was Operation Snow White, which sought to break into over 130 government agencies to steal unfavorable information about the church along with the attempted frame of the then Mayor of Clearwater, Florida. A lot of this was spurred by the creation of the “Fair Game” concept in 1965 by Hubbard.
    Fair Game refers to the policy of not having to use Scientologist ethics in dealing with individuals. This policy went through many variations. “A Suppressive Person or Group becomes fair game. By FAIR GAME is meant, may not be further protected by the codes and disciplines or the rights of a Scientologist.”
    Later it was reissued to include, “The homes, property, places and abodes of persons who have been active in attempting to: suppress Scientology or Scientologists are all beyond any protection of Scientology Ethics, unless absolved by later Ethics or an amnesty ... this Policy Letter extends to suppressive non-Scientology wives and husbands and parents, or other family members or hostile groups or even close friends.”
    It was also extended to government agencies along with the most damning statement of all, “SP Order. Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued, lied to, or destroyed.”
    Shenanigans like these continued with the death of Lisa McPherson in 1995 while under the “care” of the church. To top it all off, the “pious” creator of the church was estimated to be worth $200,000,000 in 1982 by Forbes. Guess he was right.
    Anonymous has had a much less colorful history than the aforementioned “church.”.They have been called, “hackers on steroids, treating the Web like a real-life video game, sacking Web sites, creating chaos and disrupting innocent people’s lives.” While it is impossible to understand Anonymous without knowing the internet, they are best described as a random group of bored people simply looking for “lulz.”
    They have no morals, they have no taboos, with exceptions, and they are chaotic neutral in nature. They have helped the FBI catch predators and have exposed bomb threats.
    On the other hand, they are highly racist, going so far as to accuse Jews of attacking the world trade center and closing things in the name of African Americans due to AIDS. Most recently, the Church of Scientology has accused them of being under control of the German Secret Service.  But we will let Anonymous speak for himself, “Anonymous is legion. Anonymous does not forgive. Anonymous does not forget. Expect us.”
    The war between Anonymous and the Church of Scientology started when the church pulled an absurd video of actor Tom Cruise talking about how super special awesome Scientology was.  After this pull, Anonymous released a youtube video issuing a declaration of war.
    Most people would find it absurd to declare war for such simple reasons, and they would be right. Anonymous is made up of people raised on the Internet. The very idea of information not being free is appalling to them, and the existence of a religion that makes you pay to learn about it, they find especially vile.
    Anonymous unleashed a slew of expected attacks with black faxes, prank calls and DDOS attacks. This was followed up by a worldwide protest on February 10 where thousands of Anons protested outside of Scientologist buildings clad in Guy Fawkes masks to prevent the Church from knowing their real identity and harassing them.
    This is part of an overall strategy to bleed the Church dry monetarily. The next step in their plan is to get the Church’s tax exempt status revoked which they acquired under dubious circumstances followed by the infiltration of the Church itself. Their battle plan and willingness to commit to long term plans hints that, unlike most things on the internet, this won’t blow over quickly.
    Rumors from inside the Church suggest that these unprecedented events have left them completely baffled. Recruitment efforts have dwindled and the lack of someone to litigate has left them powerless and ineffective in any rebuke.
    This war hinges entirely on Anonymous’ ability not to get bored. Once that happens, this war will be over, and whether or not the Church still stands, will be anybody’s guess. Many eyes are watching this battle though. If Anonymous succeeds, they could be a powerful force for anyone who can convince them to go after a new target. An invincible legion of unnamed and unaffiliated individuals would be a mighty force for even the most influential of groups. After all, what better way to keep your hands clean?
    The Ides of March are coming along with the next worldwide protest that hopes to have over 9,000 Anons in attendance. I personally urge these brave unnamed individuals to continue in their quest, tear down this cult, and let great justice shine through. The Ides of March, beware them.

-Jonathan Taft