New Aonymous Video against Scientology

After a period of relative silence, Anonymous releases a new Anti-Scientology video to YouTube. The message brings nothing new to the public. Seems like a "we are still here" sort of thing.

From the speech, which was given, as usual, in a distorted voice: "You may have heard of us, or you may have not. We are a collective of people who gather on the internet and wage an on-going campaign against the Church of Scientology. We do not question its beliefs, but its methods that we deem both destructive and criminal".

Anonymous also invites more people to join the cause: "Become who we are and join our cause, fight against the Church of Scientology by educating yourself about it so you may educate others".

The end of the clip shows some flashes of news updates, where Anonymous was mentioned.

Scientology Fights Back?

Well, almost. Sort of. Kinda. LOL.

67 Celebrities that Follow Scientology

There's Tom Cruise and John Travolta, of course. Will Smith was the latest suspect, but he denied a connection with the Church of Scientology. They are not alone, of course. Many known entertainers are scientologists.

The Top Socialite brings you a list of 67 celebrities who are known scientologists. Some are very familiar, like Beck, Erika Christensen, Jason Lee, Jeffrey Tambor, Jenna Elfman and Juliette Lewis. Some are less known, but all of them are a part of the cult that is Scientology.

They are all over the place: Scientology Kindergartens Revealed in Tel Aviv

The Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot exposed at least three kindergartens operating in the Tel Aviv area that are affiliated with the Church of Scientology.

One of the kindergartens has over 90 kids in it and has been granted a license by Israel's Ministry of Education.

It appears that the Israeli government didn't know about the relations with Scientology of one of the kindergarten when granting a license.

An Education Ministry said that the kindergarten has since denied any ties to the Church of Scientology, but that its license will be reviewed thoroughly.

Judge Denies Scientology's Request for an Injunction against Anonymous Demonstrations

Another small win for Anonymous: Scientology can't have a court order restraining Anonymous protesters this weekend: "This court is mindful of the anxiety that may be caused by anonymous threats of violence, or as a series of seemingly unconnected incidents, be they on the Internet or otherwise. However, the jurisdiction of the court must only be exercised to specifically restrain those known individuals that are shown to have some reasonable nexus to the actual threats complained of in the petition."

The Church of Scientology tried to prevent Anonymous from protesting on the birthday of the Church's leader, the late Ron L. Hubbard. The lawsuit alleged that Scientology churches around the world have been bombarded with harassing phone calls, obscene e-mails, bomb threats and death threats by members of Anonymous.

Anonymous condemned acts or threats of violence that may have occurred and said they were not the work of Anonymous. They urged demonstrators this weekend to protest peacefully and legally.

Anonymous Announces Anonycon

Anonymous keep to their word. They promised another move against Scientology around the middle of March, and here it comes.

Anonymous announces Anonycon - a happening, gathering or what ever you want to call it, against Scientology.

The event will take place in Washington DC, on March 22nd. If Anonymous can gather the same amount of demonstrators as last time, I think it would be called a success.

>> Read more about the battle between Anonymous and Scientology

The Black Propaganda of Scientology

Wikileaks reveals 208 pages relating to Scientology's former "Office of Special Affairs" employee Frank Oliver.

According to Wikileaks, the documents are dated between 1986 and 1992, when, according to the file, Frank Oliver was declared a "suppressive person" and ex-communicated. Starting on page 107, the document shows that the Church of Scientology was actively engaged in black propaganda (especially concerning psychiatry), "fair game" and infiltration.

There's a PDF for download there, but I couldn't get it. I keep getting error messages, related to traffic problems of the site. I'll try getting the file later and see what it says.

Can this be True? Can Scientology delete Auctions from eBay's Database?

A post in "Reality Based Community" claims that the church of Scientology abuses eBay's VeRO program and deletes auctions it doesn't approve of.

According to the post, "The mechanism that permits the Church of Scientology (and others) such broad access and discretion is called the Verified Rights Owner ("VeRO") Program. Membership in VeRO is obtained simply by submitting a form to eBay explaining that you are an Intellectual Property rights holder".

If this is true, this is really outrageous. According to Slashdot, this isn't new. Scientology abuse of eBay has began as early as the year 2000: "eBay has been yanking auctions of e-meters because of complaints by the CoS".

According to Wikipedia, an E-meter is a device that uses a Wheatstone bridge to measure electrical resistance, manufactured by the Church of Scientology at their Golden Era Productions facility.

If these claims are true, this is truly outrageous. Lately, there have also been claims that Scientology receives illegal tax breaks and that Philips and Dell have troubling links with the cult.

Add to this the story about Shawn Londsdale, an outspoken Scientology critic, that was found dead in his house, in what seems to be a suicide, and you get a pretty creepy picture.

In the mean time, Anonymous promises the protests will continue. The latest message speaks of the "Ides of March":

Stay tuned for further developments.

Anonymous Protests Around the World - A Summary

Anonymous, the Anti-Scientology group, was true to its word. Protests and demonstrations against Scientology were held all over the world, in Australia, London, Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans, Vancouver, Brisbane and much more.

Estimates say that around 9,000 people demonstrated against Scientology - worldwide. After all the noise, that's not a very impressive number.

Reports from the protests came online rather quick. First it was pictures and videos from Sydney, Australia. Then came live coverage from London. After that, reports from the USA.

Videos appeared on YouTube, depicting the Anonymous protesters carrying signs and wearing masks. There some reports of violence, but it appears that they were all false. The protesters were peaceful and many of them carried cameras to record the event.

According to Wikinews, London was apparently the place in which the demonstration was the largest - around 500 people.

Interesting pictures from the Anonymous "raids" appeared on Flickr, as well. A search of the word "Anonymous" yields a huge amount of photos from the protests.

Here is a slide-show from the protests in Manchester:

And a bunch of interesting links:

• Photo Essay: Anonymous Protest in Hollywood
• Anonymous in Canada
• Coverage of the protests in Boston
• Project Chanology

Live Coverage of Anonymous Demonstrations in London

Continuing my coverage of the anti-Scientology protests, here is another link you might find interesting - live video coverage of Anonymous' demonstrations in London.

Seems like the site updates about once an hour.

There are some clips from the protests in YouTube, as well.

Stay tuned for more updates!

First Videos from Anti-Scientology Protests Hit YouTube

Here we go - the action is starting. February 10th has finally come. Anonymous demonstrations against the cult of Scientology began in Australia, and the reports, pictures and videos started coming in.

Here are three of the freshest videos. Stay tuned for more, I'll be monitoring this story closely.

First Pictures from the Anti-Scientology Demonstrations

The Anonymous protests against Scientology have began. Today, February 10th, is supposed to be a great day for the underground organization. A global protest against the church of Scientology is supposed to break out.

It started in Australia (click here for the pictures) - about 150 people gathered at the Church of Scientology building in the Sydney CBD this morning, most of them carrying picket signs and wearing costumes or masks. The demonstrators handed out flyers accusing the church of financially exploiting its followers and suppressing criticism.

The Church of Scientology's Oceania branch spoke against the actions of Anonymous, described the group as "cyber-terrorists" and accused them of hate crimes.

You can find more details about the protests in Australia in this blog, called Anonaustralia.

Related links
>> Anonymous VS Scientology
>> Anonymous VS Scientology: A Call for Action in Boston
>> Everything tagged "Scientology" in my blog

Anonymous Expects 300,000 Protesters to Join Demonstrations against Scientology

NBC11 reports that Anonymous, the hackers organization that waged war on Scientology, expects some 300,000 people to show up for the protests scheduled for February 10th.

An Anonymous woman told NBC11: "We are having members of Anonymous from all over the world join the protest at their local church of Scientology at 11 AM local time". She also added that "Everyone in the world is invited".

Anonymous is trying very hard to look more serious to the public eye, and shake away the image that they are a group of "hacking kids".

Anonymous successes thus far include a DoS attack on Scientology internet sites, and a campaign of Google bombing that made the Church of Scientology the first hit whenever anyone enters the search string "dangerous cult". Are they going to have the same success in the "real world"?

Anonymous is planning another large protest - two days after church founder L. Ron Hubbard's birthday - on March 15th.

Subscribe to my RSS feed in order to get the latest news about Anonymous VS Scientology and much more.

Anonymous Launches a "Stop Scientology" Application for Facebook

Anonymous, a hackers organization that has declared war on Scientology, launched a new tool to aid them in their battle - a Facebook application.

"Show that you DO NOT support Scientology" is all the information that can be found on the application, which isn't very impressive. It contains a badge and some links about Scientology and Anon. I would have expected something far more sexy from a group of hackers. Of course, there's always the option that this isn't really Anonymous's work. After all, these guys are getting an awful lot of attention these days, you might find someone who wants to ride their wave of glory.

Above all, allow me to state that Facebook protest is even lamer than no protest at all.

More to follow, when there are interesting developments. I intend to cover this battle scene as much as I can - you are more than welcome to subscribe to my RSS feed in order to get the latest news about Anonymous VS Scientology and much more.

Related links
>> Anonymous VS Scientology
>> Anonymous VS Scientology: A Call for Action in Boston
>> Everything tagged "Scientology" in my blog

Anonymous Sets the Rules Against Scientology

The latest news regarding "Anonymous VS Scientology" relate to an Anthrax scare. No, this in not the Gulf War all over again. Still, envelopes containing white powder were sent to 19 different Scientology locations in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas.

In case you worried - initial tests indicated the powder was harmless.

In the mean time, Anonymous has posted another video, setting rules for those who plan to join the demonstration. The first rule is "Stay Cool", which sounds almost funny, until you hear the rest of the instruction given in the video. Anonymous forbids violence, alcohol or vandalism during the protest, and gives some general advice to those who intend to come. Anonymous also advises to the protesters to bring water and to document the demonstration in any way possible. The demonstration against Scientology is supposed to take place on February 10th.

Have fun storming the castle, boys...

Anonymous VS Scientology: A Call for Action in Boston

Here we are - yet another video by Anonymous (although the YouTube user isn't the same one as in the previous videos). This time the call for action is less cryptic and more to the point.

I wondered what is the meaning of February 10th, and Anonymous provided an answer. They invite "Boston area residents who are affiliated with Anonymous. Mark the date of February the tenth on your calendar. On that date we will congregate at 448 Beacon Street, Boston Massachusetts, at eleven a. m. to participate in the worldwide protest of Scientology".

Anonymous recommends bringing masks - thus protesters can avoid being identified. The demonstrations are supposed to be worldwide. I sincerely hope this is not a publicity stunt by some very sophisticated large company.

It also has been said that the Scientology cultists have struck back and that the main Project Chanology site is now down. Hard to say which is the MAIN site, because there are several interesting references to it. You can see one here.

Anonymous VS Scientology: Act II

No time to rest. The first video of Anonymous attacking Scientology barely managed to sizzle through the net, and now they have another one:

Seems like the guys of Anonymous feel the need to further explain themselves, and to put an emphasis on their threats to destroy Scientology: "It has come to the attention of Anonymous that there are a number of you out there who do not clearly understand what we are or why we have undertaken our present course of action", they say.

"We want you to know about Lisa McPherson. We want you to know about former members of Scientology's private navy, SeaOrg, who were forced to have abortions so that they could continue in service to the church. We want you to know about Scientology's use of child labor and their gulags", states Anonymous.

They also give a date of action: "Be very wary of the 10th of February". What will happen that day? Let's wait and see. This is going to be very interesting.

Anonymous VS Scientology

This creepy-yet-cool video has popped up in YouTube, following a massive onslaught on Scientology and its sites.

The video has been recorded by a group calling itself Anonymous, who seems determined to wage war against Scientology. In the clip, Anonymous is bashing Scientology with sayings as "Your methods, hypocrisy, and the artlessness of your organization have sounded its death knell".

What exactly is planned by Anon is unclear, but the battle has obviously began. The first step was probably the distribution of the Scientology secret files (click here for torrent). The second step was the DOS attacks on Scientology sites. This clip is the third step. I'm curious to see what would come next.