Internet group ‘declares war’ on Scientology

WEBSITES associated with the Church of Scientology were intermittently unavailable yesterday after an internet group calling itself Anonymous declared war on the controversial organisation.

In a statement posted on YouTube and through various internet sites, Anonymous claimed its actions were designed to safeguard the right to freedom of speech against assaults by the Church of Scientology.

It also wants to curtail what it claims is the financial exploitation of Scientology members and aims to “systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology” in its present form.

Anonymous justifies its actions by alleging the Church of Scientology has misused copyright and trademark law in censoring criticism against the church. The campaign was sparked off by the church’s attempts to remove a video featuring Scientologist Tom Cruise from YouTube. The clip features a video from Mr Cruise’s freedom medal ceremony from late 2004 in which the actor speaks about the responsibilities of being a Scientologist.

After the Church of Scientology lodged a copyright infringement complaint YouTube pulled the video, but the material has resurfaced on Gawker.com, which has stated it will not remove the video.

Anonymous also called on its members to make nuisance calls, host Scientology documents the Church claims as protected by copyright and also to fax black pages to the Church’s fax machines in an effort to waste ink.

The Church of Scientology has a long history of conflict with internet groups. In 1995, lawyers acting for the Church of Scientology attempted to get the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup pulled from Usenet. The bid backfired and popularity of the newsgroup increased.

Although the church is known for playing hardball with those who challenge it, long-standing Scientology critics have decried Anonymous’s tactics.

Andreas Heldal-Lund, the founder of Operation Clambake, a non-profit organisation critical of Scientology, said it was hypocritical to uphold freedom of speech while denying it to the church itself.

“Attacking Scientology like that will just make them play the religious persecution card. They will use it to defend their own counter-actions when they try to shatter criticism and crush critics without mercy,” he said.