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

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.