Anonymous v. Scientology

[Viking]

Even though this project has given the shady buisness more bad PR, Tom Cruise already did a good job at just that.

[Lemur]

Coverage of the real-life protests ...

LA Times

Edmonton Sun

news.com.au

Scotsman

DCist

Daily Texan

St. Petersburg Times

And on and on and on. This thing seems to have gotten traction all over the place.

[pevergreen]

so many /b/rothers.

good to know more than me and ichigo.

[drone]

Daily Texan

I love how the Austinites wore V-style Guy Fawkes masks. Keep Austin Weird!

[TB666]

I wonder how they will do Fair Play on Anon ??

[lars573]

Sue Gen Y.

[Lemur]

Video of the protest in Milwaukee, where the high temperature was -4.

[Csargo]

http://www.whyaretheydead.net/

I stayed up for a while reading through the list of deaths they have on that site.

@Lemur:They've got videos on YT from most of the major city protests. In England, France, Germany, I think Belgium or The Netherlands, a lot of US cities, Australia, NZ. There are a lot from England cities as well, but I haven't watched them all.

[Lemur]

Update: Church of Scientology seeks a restraining order on Anonymous. Judge says no way, you been pwnzored.

Tuesday's suit, a petition for an "injunction for protection against repeat violence," was denied Wednesday afternoon by Circuit Judge Linda Allan, who ruled the relevant Florida statute does not apply to corporations.

Just hours before Allan ruled, the church filed a separate, nearly identical lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order. The second suit seeks protection under a different Florida statute. No decision has been made on that suit.

Both suits claim members of Anonymous "made repeated and explicit threats of attacks, raids, wars and assassinations upon" the Church of Scientology and its members.

The second suit names 26 people, many from Tampa Bay, who Scientology thinks are members of Anonymous, which describes itself as a loosely organized group united against the injustices perpetrated by Scientology. [...]

Matthew Dakan was one. A 28-year-old comic book appraiser from Sarasota, he is named in the lawsuits, but says he isn't a member of Anonymous.

Calling himself an Anonymous "sympathizer," Dakan said he doesn't know any members of group, but participated in the Feb. 10 protest after seeing information about it on Anonymous Web sites. He also said, "I personally have a problem with Scientology, I think it's very bad."

Dakan said he gave his name to someone who identified himself as a reporter and later saw someone photographing his license plate.

Bolding by Lemur. Why do I keep picturing the comic shop guy from the Simpsons?

[Mikeus Caesar]

Lemur - worst stereotyping ever.

If you get the reference, a cookie is your prize

Anyway, there's another bunch of big worldwide protests tomorrow, (Saturday) so if you live in a town with some scientology offices, there's a good chance of people showing up.

[TB666]

Both suits claim members of Anonymous "made repeated and explicit threats of attacks, raids, wars and assassinations upon" the Church of Scientology and its members.
?

Wars ??
Are they afraid anon will roll up on their doorsteps with tanks or something ??

[R'as al Ghul]

Tuesday's suit, a petition for an "injunction for protection against repeat violence," was denied Wednesday afternoon by Circuit Judge Linda Allan, who ruled the relevant Florida statute does not apply to corporations.

Epic failure!

[Mikeus Caesar]

I particularly like the way the Judge referred to Scientology as a corporation, not a religion.

And if they are actually taking Anon's threats seriously, and not just doing this to avoid yet more bad publicity, then they are more silly than anyone previously thought. As the motto of a certain board goes...

"The stories and information posted here are artistic works of fiction and falsehood.
Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."

[Innocentius]

I've been without Internet for a few weeks so I've completely missed this. Hilarious.

I love you Anon.

[Lemur]

Video covering the entire Anonymous/Scientology conflict. Surprisingly good, from a local Fox affiliate in LA.

-edit-

Video of Atlanta Police attempting to arrest the "leaders" of Anonymous. I guess they're unclear on the concept ...

[Lemur]

Update: The Church of Scientology has a new, fancy, anti-Anonymous web site.

[TB666]

Video of Atlanta Police attempting to arrest the "leaders" of Anonymous. I guess they're unclear on the concept ...

Well that's clever.
Make a random arrest and hope one of them is the leader.
That said, some of those anon chicks are hot.

[drone]

Video of Atlanta Police attempting to arrest the "leaders" of Anonymous. I guess they're unclear on the concept ...

I find it slightly alarming that the cops were pulling over people that honked. I don't remember DeKalb cops being that fascist when I lived there.

[Vladimir]

I find it slightly alarming that the cops were pulling over people that honked. I don't remember DeKalb cops being that fascist when I lived there.

Atlanta is a zoo and the cops are like that Australian guy who got a stinger through the heart (pretty sad I've forgotten his name already).

[Adrian II]

My reflex is to applaud the anons, even though experience tells me that the nature of such groups, once uncovered, is often rather disappointing. Let's be honest, for all we know they may be neonazi's...

After all, I think I prefer a fair fight, even if Scientology leaders have been known to wear horseshoes in their gloves, hit below the belt and buy off the referee.

And I am absolutely opposed to any sort of ban on Scientology. The reasons people give for such a measure (they are not a religion as we know it, I don't like them, etcetera) are invalid. These Scientology types are probably mad, and greedy as well. Most religious leaders are either one or the other, sometimes both. We had the same sort of issue in The Neds with a bunch of followers of an Indian guru, Swami Whatshisname. It was allowed to peter out. In the end people have the right to believe what they want.

[CrossLOPER]

Let's be honest, for all we know they may be neonazi's...

hahahhahahahaahahahhhahhahhahahahahahahahaha

oh wow

um... whatever would give you that idea....

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Big_John]

And I am absolutely opposed to any sort of ban on Scientology. The reasons people give for such a measure (they are not a religion as we know it, I don't like them, etcetera) are invalid. These Scientology types are probably mad, and greedy as well. Most religious leaders are either one or the other, sometimes both. We had the same sort of issue in The Neds with a bunch of followers of an Indian guru, Swami Whatshisname. It was allowed to peter out. In the end people have the right to believe what they want.

i agree. scientology is no less valid a religion than any other. that said, i applaud anon and hope they destroy hubbard's scam asap.

[Xiahou]

i agree. scientology is no less valid a religion than any other.

Yeah, actually it is. But nonetheless, people should be able to believe whatever stupid stuff they want so long as they aren't hurting others.

[Mikeus Caesar]

Yeah, actually it is. But nonetheless, people should be able to believe whatever stupid stuff they want so long as they aren't hurting others.

That's the thing though - they are hurting others. More specifically, their own members, or people who try to leave.

[Big_John]

yup, there is certainly evidence that scientology, as an organization, has a history of hurting people. same could be said of many religions, no doubt.

Yeah, actually it is.

nope. it's a belief system born out of implausible stories like most any religion. people should be allowed to believe it, sure. and other people should be allowed to ridicule its nonsense.

[Husar]

Uhm, yeah, the catholic church may ask for a bit of money from it's followers, Scientology requires a lot of money from it's followers, often to the point of making them bankrupt. The catholic church may tell you you go to hell when you leave them, Scientology may forcefully put you into some camp when you want to leave and brainwash you to stay.

The ex-director of Scientology in Austria, Wilfried Handl was on TV once and talked about how they ruined his bank account, his life etc. and his website underlines that, note that while the website is german, he also links to and talks about the anonymous efforts, the german part also talks about the SeaOrg and their internal correction camps etc. As a person who was in the organization for 28 years, and feels very sorry about that now, I give him quite a bit of credibility, he should know what he's talking about and he doesn't say it's like any other religion at all.

[Big_John]

Uhm, yeah, the catholic church may ask for a bit of money from it's followers, Scientology requires a lot of money from it's followers, often to the point of making them bankrupt. The catholic church may tell you you go to hell when you leave them, Scientology may forcefully put you into some camp when you want to leave and brainwash you to stay.

The ex-director of Scientology in Austria, Wilfried Handl was on TV once and talked about how they ruined his bank account, his life etc. and his website underlines that, note that while the website is german, he also links to and talks about the anonymous efforts, the german part also talks about the SeaOrg and their internal correction camps etc. As a person who was in the organization for 28 years, and feels very sorry about that now, I give him quite a bit of credibility, he should know what he's talking about and he doesn't say it's like any other religion at all.

mechanically, the organization may behave differently from most other religions, but that is unrelated to its validity as a belief system. interesting story though. more reasons to cheer on anon.

[Ronin]

it's a belief system born out of implausible stories like most any religion. people should be allowed to believe it, sure. and other people should be allowed to ridicule its nonsense.

hear-hear!

Sure Scientology is a pretty obvious offender...as it demands money from it´s followers and ruins lives directly....

but other religions in the past have done the exact same thing....sure they now appear as more benign organizations...maybe that´s the normal maturity process of a religion or something....but in their core they are pretty much the same thing.

I´m completely an anon sympathizer....sure we don´t know exactly who is behind it...but I can´t deny the validity of their actions.

[Viking]

I´m completely an anon sympathizer....sure we don´t know exactly who is behind it...but I can´t deny the validity of their actions.

Am I lost, or is it not 4chan, the, uh, website.

[Big_John]

Am I lost, or is it not 4chan, the, uh, website.

not exactly.. i mean 4chan is where the term 'anon' originated (in this context), and the idea of an 'anon entity' was born out of 4chan's message board design, but it's something bigger than that one website now.