Scientology and the Internet

[Raithe]

I thought this news article might amuse a few folks here..

 

BBC News - How Scientology Changed the Internet

 

What do Wikipedia, Wikileaks, Anonymous and copyright law have in common? The answer is they have all been influenced by the Church of Scientology International (CSI), as it took on ex-members and critics who took their protests on to the internet. As the Church successfully removes another website, just how big an influence has Scientology had on the internet we all use?

 

Last month digital rights activists at the influential Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF) placed the Church of Scientology into their hall of shame over what it says were repeated acts against internet freedoms.

 

It was just the latest twist in the Church's long-running feud with "negative" Scientology content online, one that has lasted almost two decades.

 

Back in May 1994, at a time when most major organisations were yet to figure out how exactly to deal with the relatively unknown power of the internet, the Church's Elaine Siegel had a few ideas, outlined in a leaked email to "all Scientologists on the internet".

 

"I would like to ask your assistance in getting each one of you to post positive messages on the internet (at least once a week, more if you like), about Scientology," she wrote.

 

"If you imagine 40-50 Scientologists posting on the internet every few days, we'll just run the SP's [ex-members] right off the system.

 

"It will be quite simple, actually."

 

Or perhaps not.

 

'Censorship innovators'

 

Unsurprisingly, the Church of today is keen to distance itself from Ms Siegel's email.

 

"It is ancient history in terms of internet development," spokeswoman Karin Pouw told the BBC in a series of emails about the Church's relationship with the internet.

 

"The email in no way reflects or represents the Church's current relationships with IT professionals or our use of the internet to provide information about Scientology to anyone who seeks it."

 

She's right - the Church has moved on, instead seeking new ways to have "negative" content removed from the web.

 

"They're kind of innovators in finding ways to censor the internet," said Dr Martin Poulter from the University of Bristol.

 

Dr Poulter is a lead trainer for Wikimedia UK, the British arm of the non-profit organisation that looks after Wikipedia, and often edits its Scientology pages - something the Church is no longer able to do.

 

"Scientology was the first organisation to be officially banned from Wikipedia," he says, referring to the landmark decision in 2009.

 

"There were several different accounts making very similar contributions and advancing pro-Scientology lines, or deleting anti-Scientology stuff."

 

Dr Poulter's first experience with the Church's actions online came in the early 90s when he was browsing a newsgroup called alt.religion.scientology, a place where critics and ex-members were posting information on the Church.

 

"The reaction from the Church of Scientology was that it went really berserk," recalls Dr Poulter.

 

With the help of local authorities, houses belonging to newsgroup users across the US were raided, with computer equipment being seized for weeks on end.

 

"The days of the internet as a cosy, private, intellectual ****tail party are over," technology magazine Wired prophetically declared in 1995.

 

'Encourage tolerance'

 

Scientology officials remember those early days with a slightly different perspective.

 

"The Church at that time had been a pioneer in religious website development," said Ms Pouw, but she admitted to the BBC that there had been concern about hate speech.

 

So much so, the Church took internet service providers such as Netcom to court over users who were posting copyrighted works online in order to attack Scientology.

 

Netcom retaliated, saying it could not be expected to screen everything its users were posting - a defence now frequently utilised by large sites like YouTube.

That row was one of several which led to the creation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a US law that gives copyright holders the power to ask for the removal of content to which they own the rights.

 

The DMCA is now widely used by the entertainment industry to have content removed from the internet.

 

For the Church, it was a tool that allowed them to go after ex-members and others who had posted "secret scriptures" online.

 

One such site, Operation Clambake, was a particular thorn. Set up by Andreas Heldal-Lund, the site not only hosted previously private Scientology documents but large amounts of criticism of the Church too. Because it had been set up in Norway, Xenu.net was beyond the DMCA's reach.

 

Google 'meeting'

 

So the Church did the next best thing: it made a request to Google for the site to be wiped from search results. Google complied, sparking strong criticism.

 

Faced with the backlash, Google came to what founder Sergey Brin would later describe as the "right compromise", removing the listings, but replacing them with links to another website - chillingeffects.org - which lists the details of DMCA requests.

 

Meanwhile, anti-Scientologists linked to Xenu.net from their own sites, thus pushing it up Google's rankings until it appeared ahead of the Church's official site.

 

Former high-ranking Scientologist Geir Isene, who left the Church in 2009, told the BBC the Church was so concerned about this that it put pressure on Mr Brin at a conference in the hope he would alter search results to down-rank, or remove, anti-Scientology material.

 

The Church denies any discussions took place, while Google told the BBC it had no record of a meeting - but added that Mr Brin and other Google bosses would often meet webmasters and discuss matters relating to search at industry events.

 

The company strongly denies any suggestion it would have considered changing its search algorithms.

 

Mr Isene said his IT expertise was used by the Church to get under the skin of Mr Heldal-Lund, by posing online as a girl asking for advice after being brutalised by Jehovah's Witnesses.

 

Years later, when the Church asked Mr Isene how to combat their "Google problem" he told officials they could never pressure the company into change.

 

"They thought that was the most stupid thing Google could think - because obviously Scientology was going to save the world and Google was just a simple search engine."

 

When asked about the meeting, the Church of Scientology played down Mr Isene's contribution.

 

"He has joined a small group of former Scientologists who are trying to generate media stories about their former faith through exaggerated claims of their own importance," spokeswoman Ms Pouw said.

 

"He was one of many IT professionals we consulted at the time. Nothing more."

 

As the years progressed, Scientology's run-ins with the internet community would come thick and fast - mostly notably from the likes of Wikileaks, which in 2008 was still in "beta". It posted more scriptures, provoking the first significant legal challenge to the site's owner, Julian Assange. He ignored the Church's threat.

 

Superbowl stats

 

Today, the Church takes pride in its presence on social media and says it works with Google "almost daily" on web ad campaigns.

 

"The teamwork has resulted in exciting technology and user experience milestones like our rich media YouTube channel as well as the YouTube homepage interactive experience seen by 61,771,958 people in a single day in February of this year."

But that impressive traffic day, it must be noted, was largely thanks to a Superbowl advertisement costing several millions of dollars.

 

So while it may have embraced the internet for its own purposes, organisations like the Church of Scientology still face the internet's disregard for secrecy as a constant threat.

 

According to some measures, the Church is suffering from declining membership. Many who leave the Church are now more able to speak out - particularly with the help of blogs and social media, a threat that even the most intensive use of copyright laws struggles to touch.

 

"Founder L Ron Hubbard told them how to do everything in life," reflects Dr Poulter from Wikipedia.

 

"But he didn't leave any instructions on how to handle the internet."

 

In 2008, a leaked video of Tom Cruise showed the actor and prominent Scientologist energetically enthusing about the Church.

 

The Church moved swiftly to have it removed from YouTube, and in doing so helped inspire a new, as-yet unknown foe: Anonymous.

 

Until this point, Anonymous had been made up of mischievous frequenters of message boards like 4Chan, intent mainly on pranks.

 

But with Scientology in its sights, the group embarked on Project Chanology - a co-ordinated effort to use various hacking techniques to disrupt the Church in any way it could.

 

Chanology was the first "op" that mobilised the hacktivists in this way, recalls Wikipedia's Dr Poulter.

 

"Scientology gave them a target to organise around, and brought them off the internet and into real life.

 

"You wouldn't have people in streets around the world in V for Vendetta masks if it wasn't for Scientology."

[rjshae]

I remember once about reading a quote from L. Ron Hubbard that said, in effect, if you want to become a millionaire then start your own religion. Which he proceeded to do. (At the time, being a millionaire actually meant something.)

 

What's interesting (to me) about the history of early Scientology is how at least part of the science fiction writer community seemed to rally around the concept. John Campbell, a notable editor of Analog, was an early proponent of Dianetics.

[Walsingham]

I like the last quote. It sums up the whole sodding article.

 

Actually I think you'll find that without the movie V for Vendetta, there wouldn't be people marching around in those masks. You fething moron.

[Raithe]

Heh, the comment someone made that I've always liked was: "If you think about it, the Mormon religion was the Scientology of it's time. Now look where they are. Be scared of what the future may bring."

[Blarghagh]

V for Vendetta masks? Does no one know Guy Fawkes?

 

Anyway, bad article, good fight. Scientology is dangerous, using neurolinguistic programming to shanghai people into becoming free labour under inhuman conditions. The entire purpose of this supposed church is to funnel money towards the leaders.

[Walsingham]

Query: The interwebz seems pretty united against Scientology. But why? It's not as if anyone acting in their name has shot any schoolgirls for wanting to learn to read.

 

My personal view is that yes, they are a cult, not a religion. But I find it fascinating that we get all conflicted and debate-y about just about every other issue. But Tom Cruise rallied everybody at once.

[Blarghagh]

I think the main reason the internet is united against Scientology is because they tried to stop free speech on the internet. If anything, SOPA proved that this is the one thing that the internet holds sacred. That and cats.

Edited July 17, 2013 by TrueNeutral

[Raithe]

Query: The interwebz seems pretty united against Scientology. But why? It's not as if anyone acting in their name has shot any schoolgirls for wanting to learn to read.

 

My personal view is that yes, they are a cult, not a religion. But I find it fascinating that we get all conflicted and debate-y about just about every other issue. But Tom Cruise rallied everybody at once.

 

Which is weird because by all accounts of people who work with him or meet him, he's a generally friendly and sincere guy (if occasionally nuts). Although that could just be the hollywood system of not maligning a powerhouse who might take offence and blackballing you in the industry...  But would that really stop the likes of Jeremy Clarkson and Simon Pegg?

[AGX-17]

http://www.xenu.net/

 

Operation Clambake is the original, and best, amalgamator of evidence that Scientologists are brimming with ****. Note that the whole V for Vendetta Anonymous thing came well over a decade after said site's founding.

Edited July 17, 2013 by AGX-17

[LadyCrimson]

The only thing I know about Scientology as an organized group is that when I was 17, I walked into a small, newly opened local office of theirs out of curiosity (I'd read the book recently, then). Just some books and some people at desks, boring. I was there 5 minutes. But I did the mistake of putting myself on a mailing list ... I can't remember why. I used my parents address.

 

I'm now going on 45 and their mailings (constant, often huge and fortune-costing packages to mail I'm sure) have followed me the entire time, from address to address, with occasional breaks as someone forgets to check up on my change-of-address filings, I suppose. This indicates to me a level of obsession that I find rather scary. And a friend's mother was harassed by live people for several years.

 

So ... if the internet helps curtail some of their cult-like habits via them not being able to effectively hide/mask their semi-strong arm tactics anymore, then I'm all for it.

[Gorth]

V for Vendetta masks? Does no one know Guy Fawkes?

Yeah, homegrown English terrorist who tried to blow up the parliament with IED's

 

Completely tangential: The Pope is apparently offering up Indulgences for twitter followers.

 

As for Scientology, I prefer people to do their own thinking and making their own decisions based on that thinking. Don't need a demagogue for that.

 

As for the Mormon comparison, not sure how well it stacks up. For some reason I always compared Mormons and Sikhs, finding they had more in common.

[Raithe]

 

As for the Mormon comparison, not sure how well it stacks up. For some reason I always compared Mormons and Sikhs, finding they had more in common.

 

 

I think it's based more on how at the time the Mormon Prophet "discovered" those extra Commandments under his field and formed his wacky cult. That's how it was generally perceived by a lot of people of the time. One of those crazy nutjob things. Just like Scientology gets viewed by a lot of folks now. Not to have a crack at Mormons. I've known a few and they're quite devout and sincere in their belief and they generally don't try brainwashing and abusing folks in that manner.

 

It's just that shift brought about by time. What society at large in one time frame perceives as a crazy, minor cult... Come back a few decades/centuries on and it's an expansive and non-crazy world religion. Just like Christianity after Constantine decided to back it... If it hadn't expanded into the Roman Empire's state religion and sank hooks into the political movers and shakers, would it have become what it has?

 

One of the reasons its always hard to split religion and politics. Where influence and power goes...

[LadyCrimson]

Anyone else actually read Dianetics, the book? It's sorta interesting in a weird way. But it's hard to see it forming the basis for some cult like "religion." It's not that interesting.

[ManifestedISO]

 

 

As for the Mormon comparison, not sure how well it stacks up. For some reason I always compared Mormons and Sikhs, finding they had more in common.

 

 

I think it's based more on how at the time the Mormon Prophet "discovered" those extra Commandments under his field and formed his wacky cult. That's how it was generally perceived by a lot of people of the time. One of those crazy nutjob things. Just like Scientology gets viewed by a lot of folks now. Not to have a crack at Mormons. I've known a few and they're quite devout and sincere in their belief and they generally don't try brainwashing and abusing folks in that manner.

 

It's just that shift brought about by time. What society at large in one time frame perceives as a crazy, minor cult... Come back a few decades/centuries on and it's an expansive and non-crazy world religion. Just like Christianity after Constantine decided to back it... If it hadn't expanded into the Roman Empire's state religion and sank hooks into the political movers and shakers, would it have become what it has?

 

One of the reasons its always hard to split religion and politics. Where influence and power goes...

 

 

You are amazingly astute, for not having grown up in mormonism, unfortunately as I did. The power of money and politics is quite far-reaching in Salt Lake City, measured in millions and even billions, when considering all of their "holdings." The real tragedy, however, is the vast gulf between how the church actually started, and the history it tells the members. Oh, and the disintegration of families, from within and without, due to an unreal foundation.    

[Walsingham]

A mate of mine has married an LDS girl, and I am obliged to say that I think they're perfectly nice.

 

If I may venture an opinion, without offending them (so to speak), I would say that it vindicates my faith in people more than their faith in their church.

 

OK, that was a bit rude.

[pmp10]

Query: The interwebz seems pretty united against Scientology. But why? It's not as if anyone acting in their name has shot any schoolgirls for wanting to learn to read.

Those recent outbursts are just spill-overs from the 4chan/anonymous fighting removal of some compromising videos from the web.

That and scientology aggressively combats it's opponents unlike most other religions that are just punching-bags for militant atheists.

Edited July 20, 2013 by pmp10

[Walsingham]

 

Query: The interwebz seems pretty united against Scientology. But why? It's not as if anyone acting in their name has shot any schoolgirls for wanting to learn to read.

Those recent outbursts are just spill-overs from the 4chan/anonymous fighting removal of some compromising videos from the web.

That and scientology aggressively combats it's opponents unlike most other religions that are just punching-bags for militant atheists.

 

 

Hah. There is that.

[Raithe]

 

Those recent outbursts are just spill-overs from the 4chan/anonymous fighting removal of some compromising videos from the web.

 

That and scientology aggressively combats it's opponents unlike most other religions that are just punching-bags for militant atheists.

 

 

What is a militant atheist? Do they go door to door and say "Have you welcomed science into your life?"

Or wave guns at you telling you not to pray?

 

Sorry, I can get people being aggressively atheist. Or even aggressively anti-organised religion. But I think it's hard to justify calling someone militant unless you accurately compare it to various militant <insert x religious belief> behaviour...

[Walsingham]

Well, maybe not violently atheist. But it's not hard to recall incidents of very bigoted atheism.

 

And by, not hard I mean, involving me as the bigoted fethwit. 

 

You can debate atheism versus religion as much as you like, but the debate for me ended when I realised that there were a good many 'faithful' people who were smarter than me. More generous than me. More humble than me. More determined than me.

 

Whether you think that's true for you is your own business.

[Raithe]

Belief is a personal thing. And there are a lot of scientists who discovered a belief in God (or some idea of Deity) through their science. Although hm, thinking about it, from the people I know ..  the physicists are more likely to be believers in a deific concept, while the chemists tend to be more science without a god. Which is a little quirky.

 

There are a lot of genuinely good and sincere people in many religions. There are just as many annoying and bigoted fethwits as my colleague Wals says. There's the fairly same split for agnostics and atheists.

 

As time goes by, just remember, your choice of religion or not-religion is not a sexual organ. I would not want you to try shoving it down the throats of any children I might have in the future.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Raithe

[pmp10]

 

 

Those recent outbursts are just spill-overs from the 4chan/anonymous fighting removal of some compromising videos from the web.

 

That and scientology aggressively combats it's opponents unlike most other religions that are just punching-bags for militant atheists.

 

 

What is a militant atheist? Do they go door to door and say "Have you welcomed science into your life?"

Or wave guns at you telling you not to pray?

 

You start by calling the beliefs of others 'The root of all evil'.

And it only gets worse from there - trust me.

 

Trying to discuss papacy/crusades or the inquisition is difficult enough even in historical circles.

Doing so on the internet almost invariably ends with invasion of someone keen to remind us how terrible they are/were.

[Walsingham]

as my colleage Wals says.

 

m'colleague

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdol18SVS7A

 

(note: 'the future' was 2010)

[licketysplit]

Scientology. Weird ****.

[Orogun01]

Scientology. Weird ****.

You have have encapsulated the concept of religion.

Although Scientology sounds more like a Sci Fi comic than a religion

[ravenshrike]

 

 

Those recent outbursts are just spill-overs from the 4chan/anonymous fighting removal of some compromising videos from the web.

 

That and scientology aggressively combats it's opponents unlike most other religions that are just punching-bags for militant atheists.

 

 

What is a militant atheist? Do they go door to door and say "Have you welcomed science into your life?"

Or wave guns at you telling you not to pray?

Well, I suppose that's ONE way to describe the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Seeng as the official 'religion' of the USSR was atheism.